Well, I should have known! It has been over a month since I have blogged. Somehow every year I allow myself to forget how crazy August & September can be. They are crazy in a good way, but crazy nonetheless. August was full of a week of PD (mostly upper elementary writing and science), two weeks of inservice on campus, and then there was that crazy Hurricane Harvey the weekend before school finally started on August 29th.
I have a long list of things I want to share with you, but perhaps most important is a classroom tour. Below I have included some pictures of my room with any explanations necessary. Please enjoy and feel free to ask any questions!
This is the view of my door. You will notice the balls and the chairs. This is simply the easiest place for me to store the balls when not in use because they roll all over the room. Those desks are a work place where students may choose to work but they double as a table for me to leave out hand outs, etc. The chairs are available to use anywhere in the room.
Here is another view of the same area. You can see the table where most of my students choose to use the balls during the day. I also write the topics for language arts and science on the board for them to copy into their agenda. I have yet to introduce "Keep the Quote." This is where it will be kept during the week once we begin that next week. We have also added our flexible seating guidelines to this bulletin board.
This table is higher than the other and many students choose to stand here or work in a chair. You can also see the couch where students work on clip boards. I have added their names to the word wall but that's all so far!
I have a Boggle board set up next to my clock for any time when we have a few minutes or quick finishers. I simply have them write their words in their notebooks. I will trade this out once a month.
This low table is very popular with my students. It is new in my room this year and I'm happy they love it so much. I also love the crate seats because they hold tissues, hand sanitizer, etc. that I have no space for in my tiny closet space.
This table has also been a hit. Behind the table you can see my library. This has been a big shift for me this year because I am not a reading teacher for the first time in my career. My focus with my library has been using it for mentor texts. I plan to feature mentor texts on that top shelf. Currently it is organized by fiction and non-fiction.
This is where I do a lot of my teaching and read alouds. I am a huge fan of having my students sit on the carpet so that they are fully engaged and can easily turn and share their thinking with a partner.
On my cabinets you can see my "ISHAMPOO" board. As we are reading, we have been keeping track of idioms, similes, hyperboles, alliterations, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, and other so that we can add these in our own writing. My students are doing the same thing with their reading teacher. When a student finds it, they get to add it to the poster. This has already been a huge motivator for my students.
Here is my "stage" that sits in front of my carpet. The kids love to work here and share their work here. I use this front board for most of my teaching.
This is my "teacher corner" where I have my small group table and all of my teacher supplies, in addition to the spot where I can plug in my elmo and computer. I am still trying to decide if I like how this is set up. I feel like I spend a good chunk of my day tied to this spot.
I am really trying my hardest to stay organized this year. You will notice my teacher toolbox and my days of the week drawers that I keep my copies in. I am trying to leave some extra space over here so that I have room for supplies once I start pulling my small groups.
This is the chaise and computer cart. I allow 2 students to sit on the chaise at a time. Students may also stand to complete work at the computer cart.
This is my supply area. I am happy to say that the "Dull" and "Sharp" buckets area going much better in 4th grade than they did in 2nd. The purple drawers have extra supplies that anyone can use. The file folders serve as my students' mailboxes for graded work. Underneath you can see the clipboards that students use for their flexible seating.
There you have it! This is the first year I have done full flexible seating and I am happy to say it is going really well so far. I have noticed a difference in my three different classes and how they manage it, but I think part of that is because I have them at different points of the day with different energy levels.
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave any comments or questions!
Thanks!
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