Oh my goodness friends! I am so excited. I made a video of my room and toured you through it before I put up any student work. I wanted you to be able see how you might use the space if this room was yours and then see what I did with the space!
I am very committed to Collaborative Learning this year and try really hard to plan lessons where the kids work together in groups of 4 as much as possible. The result has been deeper friendships, deeper understanding, and of course more fun.
Many assignments have 4 names on the top since it was completed collaboratively. This is how I display their amazing work.
Sentence frames like “I ______ dot it because ___________.” help kids to participate meaningfully in their groups. These are especially helpful for English Language Learners who are still developing their feel for and/or confidence in our language.
Another focus this year is Thinking Maps. But you know Thinking Maps are not always pretty. Below is the world's ugliest Double Bubble map. 
I store my centers in these little lime green trash bins from the Dollar Tree.
The darling “froggies” are from Creative Teaching Press. I love them!
These are my centers, for the first week of September.
I love Creative Teaching Press’ Chevron Series! I used the desk name cards for my “Fun with Names” center.
I cut up some of my extra desk name tags to make flash cards!
I had a whole bunch of fun with borders and wrapping paper this year!
Below is the world’s easiest bulletin board. I just blogged on how to make it last week.
These are my student boxes. I don’t like desk names tags, so this is what I did. I wrote the kids names on chevron adhesive labels. Then, I stuck them onto lamination sheets, ran them through the laminator, and after I cut them out I stuck them on each box with Gorilla tape. 
Now this is one of my all time favorite tips! I made my phonics wall interactive this year. 
The cards are easy up and easy down because I put them up with push pins. The hole had to be enlarged, but now they are up and down a million times a day. The kids love to do making words with the big cards! The little circles help me get the cards up really fast with out having to sing the ABC song to get the cards in the right spot.
Jen Jones is a genius and these discussion cards are the best thing ever. They are free in her TpT store! If you have read Jen’s blog or been teaching more than a minute you know the power in making connections when reading.I am encouraging connections this fall with a connections chain. When connections are made we add a link! I used leftover border and pink construction a paper to make this. 
We all have that corner where all of our stuff ends up. This is mine.
I have written about “Shout Outs!” here… I love them. This is how I store them. LOVE LOVE LOVE
New this year, is Fall Fluency. The kids are really taking off as readers!
If you noticed I am a Chevron fanatic. I met Heather of Creative Teaching Press in Vegas and fell in love with her and Creative Teaching Press. Heather invited me to visit headquarters and I had the time of my life! Here are a few pictures from my afternoon there!
This company truly has heart! Even the lobby is gorgeous! Every person was warm, friendly, and had decorated their desk area with amazing Creative Teaching Press materials !!!
This company truly has heart! Even the lobby is gorgeous! Every person was warm, friendly, and had decorated their desk area with amazing Creative Teaching Press materials !!!
Of course I could not take everyone’s picture. Lots of people were thrilled to meet me, but were feverishly covering up top secret designs on their desks! If they were stashing stuff, I tried to keep my camera down. This is the amazing customer service team. These are the beautiful ladies you are talking to when you call Creative Teaching Press.
I have to tell you, I was so impressed with the Creative Teaching Press factory. The staff was amazing and I was thrilled to hear that they use local printers! Everyone was working feverishly, but joyfully packaging materials. No heavy machinery here. Your borders and bulletin board sets are counted and slid into plastic sleeves by loving Creative Teaching Press hands. Creative Teaching Press is by far one of the best companies ever.
I want to say thank you to Creative Teaching Press for opening their doors to me. I also want to thank them for not only making our teacher lives easier but also more beautiful!
These are the amazing products from Creative Teaching Press that I used to create my Chevron Classroom:
Products:
- Pink Scallop Lots of Dots
- Frogs Large (10 inch)
- Frogs Small (6 inch)
Freebies:
Jen Jones Critical Thinking Sentence Frames
Teacher to the Core Pink Chevron ABC Circles
Vowel Pennant post and freebie
Grading work Post and Freebie from Learning in Wonderland
