Well, it's finally time. Tuesday is our first day of school! We are starting so much later than all the other tri-state schools because we are reopening two schools. That meant getting them ready, reconfiguring, and moving over 100 teachers. It was a ton of work for teachers and support staff, but the end results look pretty darn good!
I will traveling between two schools this year, so I had to get two rooms ready. Luckily, the awesome stuff I won from
CTP went a long way! I took a TON of pics for you to see...
The pics from S. Primary
Here are a few before pictures.
I was little bummed that there's only a chalk board in this room. I prefer a dry erase board (and of coarse dream of a smart board), but I'll take what I can get!
Check out all those cabinets! TONS of storage, plus a sink at the far end! I'll be using the drawers to store student art.
Let the work begin - with a little help ;)
It was hard to tell in the first pics, but the walls were 5 shades of white, cream, dirt, and more. My friend, Leah, was kind enough to give me some paint. It's a soft buttery yellow. Very cheery! This is my husband and dad hard at work!
I used plastic table covers as my bulletin board backgrounds. They are bigger than roll paper, so I can cover the entire board (even the gigantic ones above the cabinets). They are perfect for boards that you don't plan to change often (they do get holes when you use a stapler on them). The choices of colors also made me happy! TIP: If you want bigger, but don't care how thin they are, go with the ones from The Dollar Tree, or the ones that are .97 at Walmart. If you DO care about the thickness, go with the ones from Party City. They are a bit better quality, but not as big.
Eye candy! My awesome stuff from the
Dots on Turquoise line at Creative Teaching Press arrived! It makes a perfect addition to my red and turquoise classroom!
So here's what it looks like when it's all said and done. Not the best angle or lighting, so here's a few more...
I used the bulletin boards around the chalk board to display the Elements of Art. I've since added a sign that says "Elements of Art" above the board. I haven't come up with anything for the Space section yet. So right now it's just an empty space... which IS space, right?! LOL
I'm using the
Dots on Turquoise library pockets to keep track of behavior. Each class will earn a color strip to eventually make a rainbow. Once they earn a rainbow, they get a free choice art day!
Tables are marked with the 10' paper lanterns from
The Knot, and 6' Dots on Turquoise circles. I taped two circles back to back, marking each side, then poked a small hole to add to the lanterns.
So this is actually TWO gigantic bulletin boards. I covered them with the plastic table covers and a strip of paper. (My plan is to put up binder clips using push pins and have this as a student work display board. The binder clips will allow the work to not get holes when hanging.) The border is strips of plastic table cover stapled in a wavy pattern.
The poster came from Target. It came with a bunch of paper paint brushes that I will use for labeling.
The drawers store student work and are marked by teacher on the stars.
My friend Courtney gave me these giant paint brushes... aren't they awesome!? The add the perfect touch to an empty corner.
Bringing some of the Dots on Turquoise border to my desk ties it all together!
Here are few detail pics from M. Primary (I forgot to take before pics and whole classroom pics... Ooops!) They're in no particular order...
A R T is velcroed to the board. Each of my classrooms will use this to earn the rainbow strips mentioned above. If they are not behaving, a letter comes down. They can earn them back, but need all 3 letters to earn a strip. I used more of the 6' Dots on Turquoise circles to make it.
Art Word wall and Rules board. Words will be added to the board as the year passes and we learn more art vocabulary.
The rules are simple. 1. Show respect (people, supplies, art) 2. Follow Directions 3. Try your best. I don't like to get complicated with the rules. I think these cover it all! Below the rules are the consequences... both good and bad.
Both schools have this posted at or on the door. Students need to sign their name when leaving the classroom and erase it when they return. This helps me keep track and helps me out in case of an emergency or fire drill.
M. Primary has a "Meet the Stars bulletin board made with all Dots on Turquoise supplies. These library pockets will work the same way as S. Primary - with classes earning color strips to make a rainbow.
I love this quote, and have it in both classrooms. Love the paisleys too.
The
paper lanterns at M. Primary are the same as at S. Primary. Love them!
I don't have a ton of storage at M. Primary, so I'm using these bookshelves to store student work. The one on the left has a paisley that the says 1st, and the one on the right says 2nd. I brought color to this side of the room with the Dots on Turquoise border, paisleys, and my sad attempt at big tissue paper flowers (although they don't look bad from a distance).
The red basket is marked Free Draw. I'm filling page protectors with paper as make-shift white boards for when students finish early.
Gotta have my desk decorated too! All of my "tools" are neatly organized in herb pots that I purchased at Target. Color matches perfectly!
I'm using the side of one of my filing cabinets to keep myself organized. We are on a four day rotation, so keeping track of who I have when is going to be a bit more challenging than I'm used to. Hopefully this will help me out!
I painted some cheap wood frames that I purchased at Micheal's and added some felt flowers with buttons sewn on to match my red and turquoise decor. Aren't my kids just too cute!? My awesome friend of 35 years, Carrie, took the two pics of my kids. You should check out her work at
carriecompton.com
The plant is fake (my thumb is red, not green) and the "flowers" are cute button blooms that I made with buttons and wire. The ladybug is a timer.
I'm using the name tags from the Dots on Turquoise line for the vocab words on the word wall. I attached them to red card stock and store them in an extra library pocket next to board.
I only have one bulletin board available for Elements of Art at this school. But it turned out cute!
So what do you think?! Two schools were a lot of work, and honestly, still a work in progress. BUT, I think they will both be great learning environments for my little 1st and 2nd grade artists!
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~Stacey
