#mtboschallenge Week 3: Sharing Classroom Photos

This is Week 3 of the #mtboschallenge on twitter.  The challenge is to blog once a week for the remainder of 2014.  Each Saturday there will be a different prompt shared to blog about.  The prompt will be shared prior to Saturday on twitter using #mtboschallenge  You can link up on my blog (or any other blog that shares the link up). Also link your blog post on twitter with #mtboschallenge .  You can copy the following graphic into your blog post.  Each Sunday @druinok from  Teaching Statistics will host a 3-2-1 Summary prompt where you can blog about anything you choose.  We really hope you join the challenge!

This week we are sharing photos of our classrooms. I cannot wait to see everyone's rooms!  This post is very very photo heavy and explanations for the photos are in the captions.  I will let the photos do the speaking for themselves.  I take all my photos with my iPhone because it is quick and easy. I know they are not the best quality, but I take all my photos on my iPhone.  All these photos were taken at the end of the day Friday right before I left school.  We could leave at 11:30, but I finally left at 1:00 PM when my husband called to tell me they were all hungry and I needed to get home so we could go out to lunch.

This is a virtual 360º tour of my classroom, starting with the view from the right of the door and circling around.  I tried to make sure I got everything.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Enjoy!

The view of my classroom from the hallway

Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite

Top Ten List Poster I made on Vistaprint

Those cabinets are currently at maximum capacity, decluttering is on my to-do list

Posters ready for 1st day Post-It activity and boxes of texts to be handed out

Going through those white boxes and tossing is on my to do list

Another to do list item is redoing the CC standard posters and changing the border on the cabinet

My anchor chart stand I have been waiting for since my previous principal promised me one, patience is a virtue

Math Focus Wall has been revamped slightly, I may do a separate post about it in a few weeks

My teacher resources bookcase, wish it was black

We were the 7th grade Dodgeball tourney runners-up last year, some posters from that

This is where I keep artwork from my sons and notes from students, I have a pile of stuff more to add

On top of my paper sorter

I completely love how I've organized my back shelves this year

This is where my kidney table will go once it arrives, the B & G person forgot to order it last Spring so who knows when it will arrive

My happy place!

Wider view of my teacher corner

Paper sorter and desk

My Elmo is between the file cabinets

Another desk view

Elmo and lapdesks on bottom of the cart

Side of my file cabinet

Everything is ready to go for Tuesday

View of my classroom from my teacher corner

Window ledge decor

I change the border monthly and put seasonal decor

Pencil sharpener, kleenex, and MATHia graphic organizers

Learning stations/math games bookcase

I just love this corner

Close-up not finished but good enough to start school

Calendar and bell schedule

Another table for small groups, napkins ready for breakfast Tuesday

Computer cart and extra desk that must stay in my classroom taking up space because there's nowhere to store it #teacherproblems

Scrap paper basket and student planners ready to be handed out on the first day

Window cling looking out to hallway, to the right is a door that lead to outside, we consider our rooms the cul-de-sac

View to the left from my door

View from my door

I hope you had fun seeing what my 7th grade middle school classroom looks like.  At back to school night one of my parents told me that my classroom looked like something off of Pinterest.  I told her she could very well see photos of it there.  I hope we get lots of people linking up to this #mtboschallenge because I love getting a peek into others' classrooms.  Thanks for stopping by!

To share the code on your blog:  get the InLinkz code

Easy classroom decor for Christmas

Despite Thanksgiving being so early this year, Christmas really came quickly.  I guess implementing a new curriculum has the effect of making it seem like all my days run together.  I did manage to do a few very simple, but cute touches in my classroom to make it feel a little more festive, while believe it or not, keeping within my color scheme.  

My windows all decked out.  See the green and blue snowflakes hanging off the light?

I will replace these with snowmen after break.

I have some other snowmen window clings for after break.

These will be up until Feb.  

Snowflake border that will stay up until Feb.  Don't I have the best view?!

Pink snowflake.  LOVE!

My favorite decor item.  I was sad to take it down on Friday.  :(

I really like to keep the holiday decor simple and as "wintery" themed as possible so it can go up after Thanksgiving and stay up until Valentine's Day.  Everything was bought after Christmas last year, with the exception of the snowflakes.

Teacher gifts for my boys.

I hope you are all having fun with any last minute holiday preparations.  We are doing our family of five Christmas celebration tonight after dinner at PF Chang's.  I wrapped all the boys' presents last weekend and I swear every single day my 7yo asks when we are opening our "family" presents.  Gosh I wish I could keep that boy little forever.  To see Christmas through the eyes of a child who still believes is just about the best thing ever.  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I am hoping to get myself back on track with blogging during my Christmas break.  I have lots of ideas to share with all of you!

Classroom Photos-Part II

I finally got around to taking some photos of my classroom a week ago (and it was a dark rainy night at 7 PM so the photos are a bit dark).  I posted my Classroom Photos-Part I.  Those photos really just gave a 360 view of my classroom.

Today I am posting some more close-up photos for you to see.  The focal point of my classroom this year is definitely my Math Focus Wall surrounding my SMARTBoard.  I have to say I love it and promise that I will dedicate an entire post just to that once I get it completely finished.  It continues to be a work in progress.

My favorite addition to my classroom.

Another area that I love is the corner where I keep my Learning Stations/Math Manipulatives.  I moved my Desktop computer over there and the "Be a Star" bulletin board which is still under construction.

Do you love the zebra border?  It's magnetic!

Still under construction

These are a couple posters I have on the back of my classroom door, so when the door is closed students can see them.  I designed them on Vista Print and you may have seen them before on Pinterest.    I have seen others that have used my idea to make their own version.  Now that we are doing Carnegie Learning I would like to make some new posters that fit our delivery model a bit better, but these definitely work for now.

First Five Minutes Poster

Two Minute Countdown Poster

One of my favorite areas is my teacher corner.  I have a pentagonal shaped room that has a very small back corner area that is pretty useless, but it ends up being perfect for my desk and file cabinets.  Several years ago the custodians put up the shelves on the back wall which made the space much more useful.  This year I really pushed things back because of creating the focus wall and to give as much space for student desks as possible.  It is very crowded cozy in my classroom!  I love how my back corner is organized and this year it's even better than ever with the filetastics I purchased this summer.

One of my favorite purchases of the summer!

My desk.  You can see my hour files on the right.

The full view.

My no sew banner.  Those strips are where I pin all important information so it's right at my fingertips.

Back shelves.  Need to make labels for everything.

My paper sorters.  Don't you LOVE the zebra file folders?  And my fave the wall of artwork from my sons.

This still needs to be organized, but it is neat for the most part.

Love my lanterns.  I spy another filetastic.  I have four total.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my classroom.  I am hoping to get back to posting more regularly on my blog.  The first couple weeks really kicked my butt with all the technology integration (well that part was easy, it was when the technology didn't work that was tough).  It has been a huge learning curve this year with a new curriculum (Carnegie and I LOVE it!) and the technology shift (not used to PCs at all).  The good news is that other 7th grade math teachers and I are all muddling through it together.  We have PLC time three days a week for content so it has been a blessing to be able to work together and troubleshoot together.

My students have been great and my class sizes are 26, 27, 28, and 28.  The poor 8th grade teachers have classes of 30+.  Fortunately for them they have much bigger rooms than ours.  I do not know where I would put too many more bodies in our tiny rooms.  I actually have 29 desks in my room so I am waiting for a little bit to make sure none of my classes go above 28 before I get rid of the extra desk.  That will give a little more space for walking between those two groups of desks.