Monday Made It, Classroom Peeks, and a SALE!

Just a reminder that my TpT store and Teacher's Notebook stores have a sale going on - 20% and 25%, respectively.  Be sure to check it out!

Now, this is my first "official link up" to 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made It.  I've hashtagged it a bunch of times on Instagram, but I'm making it official today. :)  It goes along with my classroom peeks.  By no means is my classroom finished, but today is my last "full day" of being in my classroom on my own time till teachers in our county start on Wednesday!

 
1.  Table Baskets

 I get so inspired now by Instagram and what teachers post on there.  In fact, I'm finding I'm spending more time on there than on Pinterest!  Shocker, I know!  I bought those baskets for last year and used them for my tables.  This year, I decided to dress them up after seeing a post on Instagram.  I found the peacock ribbon at Michael's and created the labels (one for each side).  I have put off putting my desks down (gives me more floor space to spread out), so hopefully soon, when I do a full class reveal, you'll be able to see them "in action."  

Right now, they're sitting on top of my literacy center drawers.  I stumbled into the red ones for $5 apiece at Walmart (can you believe it???).  Wish I had gone back and gotten more, but I wasn't that smart at the time.  That's why I also have a blue and white one!  (Ignore the mess of other things as I "restore" my room!).

 

 2.  Owl sign :)

The sticker came from Walmart for like 97 cents.  I also found the wooden sign and spray paint at Walmart, but the washi tape is from Michael's. :)  Can you guess what my favorite stores are???

3.  Classroom Peeks/Kinda Made Its:
We have ugly, drab, gray hallways.  I see so many cute painted hallways, but nope, not ours.  This year, I found the cutest border that fit my safari theme!  So, I decided it could "dress up" our spot outside our room where I usually hang up our work! :)

 This is my math corner.  With the new theme this year, I decided to dress it up a little - and what better way than to label everything??? I found some monkey labels I'd been hoarding saving, and used my massive collection of buckets (don't you love Dollar Tree?  It's like you can justify spending money on baskets when it's only a dollar!).  I have hundreds charts in pocket protectors for my students to use, when needed, and in the other bucket hanging down are student clocks.  I figured this would be handy since during Investigations, we use clocks a lot and it's a great way to review what they've learned for hour and half hour!

 My Math Focus Wall.  I created the vocab cards from a list of Investigations as well as our state standards words.  Popped magnets on the back and voila!  I also have a few posters with magnets I put up there as well, but haven't unpacked those yet.  I like being able to pull off the vocab card and using it in group than having a student putting it back.  It looks a little drab, I know, but trust me, it looks much better in person!

View around the desk:  At the end of last year, I loved the idea of the canvas bins hiding all my teacher books (which usually look like they're about to fall off the shelf!).  Cleans it up nicely, doesn't it?  I have my read aloud/personal collection of books, a filing cabinet, and a mess for right now.  It's gotten better since the picture was taken!



My "new year's" resolution!  I usually cannot see the top of my desk.  Seriously.  So, with the toolbox, basket, and cute peacock feather folders, I am promising myself my desk will NOT look like a filing cabinet threw up on it!  Right now, it's not toooo bad - it has been MUCH worse when setting up my room, I promise!  Snagged the lamp at Michael's when they put that section on 80% clearance - love it! 


My "reference area" and "oversize books" with a few friends hanging out for now.

 Am I the only one that "spreads out" when putting my room together?  Unfortunately, it's still there, but posters are on the "to do" list for today!

 Sad, isn't it?  Unused baskets and containers just cry out to be used, don't they?  Behind them is the mailbox I purchased eons ago that's held up pretty well over the years!  Also I collect pencils, glue sticks, and sticky notes for a classroom collection and hand them out very stingily during the year (else they'd be gone in December!).  I also collect the extra crayon boxes and scissors students bring in.  Otherwise, they'd be lost in that black hole students call a desk!  They're waiting there patiently in the drawer until needed!

 My "READ" Corner

 Front bulletin boards.  The green one will be a focus wall for Reading.  The striped is for the poem of the week and the brown pawprint is for the "featured anchor chart."  That green dot up there is a dry erase sticker from A.C. Moore that has actually stayed up there for enough days, I think it's safe enough to put the rest up!  I plan on writing my standards on them instead of the poster I used last year.  More fun, attractive, and less space!!! See that SMARTboard there?  It takes up a LOT of my board space (and my bulletin board!).  Don't get me wrong - I'm grateful to have it, but we got ours used and it can be VERY persnickity!

Another Pinterest-inspired idea.  Love the black paper above the whiteboard but my oh my, it was a PAIN with that border!  I should have used the decorated duct tape like I had planned, but was worried about stripping paint from the wall.  Instead, that border has fallen so much I literally have a whole roll of duct tape holding it up there (from behind of course!).  

 This is where I put my WBT rules and will put the noise level and other things up there that I want to draw student's attention to.  I swear, I've been getting the strangest sense of "deja print" lately - as in, didn't I already print this? Where the heck is it then?  Is it laminated?  I swear I laminated it!  Well, that was me last night and this morning! Whew!

 Last but not least, my back bulletin board. The brown pawprints will be my history/science focus board (see?  I already have magnet poster up).  The gold shiny one will have my meerkat job chart which I am still working on.

I hope you enjoyed some "sneak peeks" and know that there's more in store (I hope!).  I figured I have some "made its" throughout the post to make it an "official" made it! 

We start with kids on August 14th.  Wish me luck, Charlie!