Classroom Pics

My classroom is a happy place for me and for the students who spend their time here. By happy - I mean safe, relaxed, stress free, whine free (some days more so than others!), learning rich, discussion rich, and inspiration rich. It is also for some a place where they can yell it out, cry it out, or simply sit and pull it back together. Don't we all need that at some point? I refer to it as "Starbeck's Cafe" because back when I first read The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, I was looking for a tie in. I am rarely without a Starbucks in hand, and the students were all too familiar with that. This is how it looks on the wall....

I hot glued thumbtacks on the back of some wooden letters I found at Michael's and stuck them straight into the cork board. You will see, I spent a small fortune on them once I got started, but I LOVE the way they look in the classroom. Environment is a huge one for me, as you will soon see. As educators, there seems to be less and less we have control over. Our classroom environment and how we choose to let it make our students feel is fortunately still all ours. More on that later....
I am going to put out some random shots to get started. I plan to go back and address each part more later. Hope you enjoy! I'd love to hear your suggestions and thoughts.

This is what you see as you come in.

To the right....

Coveted seating for reading...

This goes with our reading strategies. I printed the strategy on the sticky notes (thank you, Pinterest!) and we change it out with new books and thoughts all year.

This hangs in the classroom library. I change the pics out every few months or so.

This is our most important anchor chart space. We interchange strategies often from CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary) and refer to it often. They have their own personal goals involving their areas of weakness, but they can all refer to any area as needed.

Mentor sentence anchor charts get stored here and they will sometimes come back and rummage through until they find the example they are looking for to use as a model in their writing. LOVE!

These are shared materials stored beneath their Book Boxes. They are Dollar Store baskets, and they have lasted all year!

This is my guided reading shelf behind my small group table. One of my favorite quotes hangs up there: How's that workin' for ya? I am not a Dr. Phil fan, but I use that all the time. If it isn't working.... fix it!

I serve many students with emotional and behavioral concerns. I'll post more on this later, but you would be AMAZED at how they use this wall. I have met a few adults who could benefit from these anchor charts as well. :)

Reader's Notebooks turned in so I can respond to their Reading Response letters. One of my favorite things to do in the whole world!! They are amazing thinkers.

I didn't take any pictures of the ceiling tiles, but many of them are painted. I let students paint them to represent their favorite books. Sometimes, they get to do it when they have met a behavioral goal. Other times (and most often) they come to me having been truly touched by a book and I let them paint the tile as a way of sharing. I will post pics of them at some point.

You will see a lot of ideas from Pinterest. I will give all credit back to the source when I am aware of it. If you are already on Pinterest, I am Mechelle Beck and would love for you to browse the boards I have. I use the ones for school DAILY. I am always looking for others to follow as well. It is such an amazing resource!

So, that's it in a nutshell. I am truly looking for new ideas and suggestions all the time. Please share! I can't wait to start sharing some of the amazing things we are doing in this room!