Changes in 4th Grade

It has been too long since I last posted! School is crazy busy and I haven't figured out how to manage students and my own classes at the same time.

Anyway, the first major change you will notice is my new design! How great is this?! Thank you SO much to Megan - I am completely in love!

What seems like forever ago, I posted this picture on Instagram...

Jumping back to some of my classroom photos from the first week of school, you can see the eyesore that drove me crazy! 

 I hated that dead shelf space under my SMART Board. It would be perfect for picture books, but it isn't close to my library so it never made sense to keep any there. I tried keeping seasonal and holiday books there, but they never got read. So, somehow I thought up this idea, and I love it!

Each student used a folder - they had one extra since I changed some from what I planned when I made the supply list. We put a label on it (that's how I mark all of their notebooks and folders - makes it so much easier!) with an adorable student from Melonheadz. This is their "What Now?" Folder. Whenever students have work that is unfinished, it goes in this folder. The storage spot is conveniently located by our turn in bin, so it is easy to check when they turn something else in. It also is nice to keep it separate from their drawers so that unfinished work does not get lost in the shuffle of other papers. So far, it is working great!

One last change in the classroom took place today and I can't wait to see students' reactions when they come in tomorrow. Another eyesore in my room last year was the old heating units with the plain metal panels. It drove me crazy, but I just hung some posters over it and called it "first-year-in-this-classroom-it'll-have-to-do" decorating. This year, I decided that wrapping paper would work well.

However, after a couple weeks of school, it was being torn off and looked awful again. So, with parent-teacher conferences coming, I knew I needed to fix it. I turned to trusty Amazon to look for some printed contact paper. What I found was even better - chalk board contact paper!  I can't wait to let the kiddos use this for center work and free time (wait, what's free time?!).

I'll post an update with how it is holding up after a while! For now I'm headed back to Amazon to find some nice contact paper to cover my desk!