This is the first year where I have stayed in the same room in the same grade. As I approached my room, I really wanted to make it more functional in terms of wall space. The physical space is almost identical to last year because honestly, it worked. With only minor tweaks being made to my room over the summer, I’ve had a hard time finding the motivation to share. I really do like our learning space but the lack of novelty was initially a struggle for me. So, 7 weeks in, here is our 1st grade learning space!
You’ll noticed there is no theme. Rather, clean lines, organized materials, and blue/green hints throughout our room. With lots of natural light and fantastic color-blocking provided by the district, I really don’t want to overwhelm the room with too much color or stuff.
Our Learning Nooks
The Space Altogether
Work on Writing
On the side of the desk, you see mini-dictionaries with theme-specific words with picture clues. Then, there is our bucket of clipboards. Our class journals become collaborative writing projects and our mailbox will be introduced after Fall Break (in two weeks) as we learn to write letters. Pigeon (Mo Willems’ creation) takes the mail from our mailbox and delivers it around the school!
Above our Work on Writing center, is our classroom alphabet and number line. To the right of the center, you see our class word wall. Last year, our word wall was much higher (above the cubbies) and I was never able to maintain it. This year, I’m hoping to use it more by keeping it reachable…we shall see!
Small-Group Space
Continuing to the corner, you see my Teacher Table. This is where my corner of the class is and where all of our small-group instruction happens. I have my white-board easel and chart paper, as well as, my 10-drawer rolling cart of organizing materials by day. I keep my guided math materials and my weekly-read aloud books on the top of the larger cabinet. In the larger cabinet, I store our math and reading games/manipulatives, indoor recess games, and other miscellaneous supplies.
Below the table, I have two 3-drawer Sterilite containers. The containers on the right are my personal drawers (snacks, data, basic supplies, notecards) and the drawers on the right are for guided-reading materials. The triad of silver containers were a gift from a student and I LOVE them. One container holds dry-erase markers, one holds highlighters and markers, and the third container holds pencils and pens. These are all materials I need for guided reading everyday and it makes them easy to access!
Our Classroom Library
Our library holds our new dry-erase focus wall. The best part of this focus wall is that I’M ACTUALLY USING IT THIS YEAR!!! Every Monday, I take a picture and text it to families via Remind texting. Each subject I-can has it’s own color (yellow = math, pink = grammar/writing, orange = theme, green = reading), the small blue sentence strips are for vocabulary words, and the Target pocket charts hold our must-know words. The blank spaces under the learning targets are where we add pictures/awesome work/examples. The ‘Our Learning’ header is MTF Jumpin’ Jack font that I printed on white cardstock and cut out…easy peasy.
Elephant and Piggie are our favorite book characters. Within the first few weeks of school, we had read all of Mo Willems’ books together and we fell in love. They are hilarious, silly, and just-right for beginning 1st graders. I used colored bulletin board paper to make the characters and hope to add a quote about reading on the opposite wall sometime soon… again, we shall see! 😉
Every student has their own book bin. I use navy book bins from Really Good Stuff and love them. Last year, I only had 2 bins break and RGS actually replaced them for me! Students keep just-right books in the bins and use them for Read to Self/Read to Someone.
On the top shelves are seasonal books that go on our library display shelf. They are organized by theme. You can see more pictures of how I organized our themed books in this blog post. On the two bottom shelves, we have our leveled books. Right now, I have Levels A-L out. Hopefully by November, I’ll be able to take our the A and B book bins and trade them out for themed book bins!
Listening to Reading
Our Focus Wall
Math and Reading Materials
Even if completely stacked, students can reach the top bins. I clearly label every bin so my friends know exactly what to grab and where to put materials back. This helps keep things organized and allows students to be in charge. My friends know that anything with a label can be touched by a 1st grader. If a bin doesn’t have a label, they need to ask me before touching! (The bins on the left are size small and the ones on the right are size medium.) On the bottom left, you see a thin, unlabeled bin. My friends know they must ask first to open this container (because it’s unlabeled). It holds all the dice I use for math games and differentiating math centers. I picked up a bead container from Michaels (with a coupon and my teacher discount) and it’s the perfect way to store dice!
So, there you go friends! As you can see, I just made a few tweaks this summer to make things run a little more smoothly and keep our learning a little more intentional.
Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope your school year is off to an amazing start. Until next time, happy teaching!
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Your classroom has soooo many fantastic ideas! Love how you organized your Listen to Reading..have been trying to figure out a different way! Thanks for sharing your room!
It looks great! It's bright and well organized. Love it!
Thank you so much, Jodi! 🙂
I love your space! So organized and bright. Awesome job! 🙂
Thank you, Gladys!!
I absolutely love your room! Thanks for sharing!!
It's so clean and organized! I love it. Thanks so much or sharing your space with us.
I'm wondering how exactly you run the math and word work tubs. Does each child take their own tub? What if two kids want to do the same center? I own both these center sets and am trying to decide how best to set them up =)
Hello! Partner pick and work on a tub together. Groups know they will have a chance to pick each tub each week, and if students fight over tubs they loose choice. We spend a lot of time modeling how to choose at the beginning of the year.
I have more information about how I run my beginning of the year math centers here – http://thebrownbagteacher.blogspot.com/2015/08/launching-math-centers.html
Thank you!
Gorgeous, simple, and function! Amazing job Catherine 🙂
Your room looks great! It's so organized and clutter-free. Thanks for sharing the link to my Littles, I appreciate it.
So bright and organized!! Everything just seems to pop off your walls. Love it!
Curious where you keep your student notebooks/work etc.?
Hi Kate! Our students have hanging baskets under our tables, so they store their notebooks and binders in those baskets.
I love your classroom! I try to keep mine clean/organized and theme free as well. I was wondering about your vocabulary words. Our school is focusing heavily on the use/display of vocab words this year so much of our wall space is taken up by that. (math word wall, science/ss words, etc) I LOVE how you have your vocabulary words included on your learning target display! At the end of the week/unit do these words move anywhere in the classroom for students to continue referring to them or are they put away? Just curious!
This class really nice for study and i read this article tell us first grade student how to study with new method for success thanks for share it letter of recommendation for pharmacy school .
I'm curious about whether you use a desktop computer. I noticed you said you turned your old desk into your student's writing center. I love the idea of not taking up even more space with a teacher desk.
Wow this is amazing! Makes me want to be a kid again 🙂 What are the 7 Habits? I couldn't see…
hi! I know this post is kind of late but I was just curious if you do any type of circle time or calendar. After 6 years of teaching kindergarten I'm moving up to first grade next year and am starting to plan my new classroom 🙂
I love your ideas! I need to streamline my room more to make it more functional. I got rid of my desks and got tables this year and want to be a bit more flexible with my kiddos seating! Do you use nametags/assigned seats and if not what alternative method works for you? Thanks!
I do have assigned seats and attached name tags to the backs of chairs. That way, they are easy to move! BUT, we don’t spend a lot of time at our tables so students are welcome to work wherever they need to!