Saturday, January 28, 2012

My Room and a Mish-Mosh of Stuff!

Well, I'm finally posting some pictures of some of the changes I made in my room.  Here is how I set up my library.  It's actually been in this configuration before.  When I found out I was getting a new leveled library, I had to make room.  It turns out that going back to this set-up worked best.
That arrow and caption point out where I'm planning to put the new books.  I typed it in the picture, but it came out really tiny for some reason.  My library is arranged by theme, but I'm excited to add a leveled library.

The yellow shelf runs across the front of my room.  On the other side of my Pro Board is my math area.
I like my math area because it is organized and the vocabulary is posted up front and center.  My friends tend to incorporate the vocab in our math discussions more when they are visible.  That big blue cart is one of the two new shelving units I got.  It holds more math manipulative, but I turned it around because it is sort of messy looking.  Plus, I thought I could put a poster or two on the back blue side.  They were originally going to be bookshelves, but they turned out to be too deep for books.


Below is my new meeting table, otherwise called Big Bird by my friends.  Yeah, even they noticed it is really yellow!
I do love it, but I find it shows every pencil mark and grubby hand print.  I probably should have gone with a darker color.  The area behind the meeting table is a work in progress.  I'm still working on organizing my literacy materials in this area.

Finally, I'm showing you this area for one reason only.  Notice the arrow and bubbles I drew in.
See the bubbles on my whiteboard?  I had my VOICES board there before, but I moved it.  When I took the board down all the tape residue stayed behind.  It was fine for a while.  I knew it was there, but you really couldn't see it.  I also don't use the board for writing, so it wasn't a problem.  Then, I was out for a workshop.  A substitute wrote on the board and then erased.  Of course, it stuck to all the tape residue.  I've been trying to figure out a way to remove it without ruining the board.  The arrow points to a bottle of PAM nonstick cooking spray.  Someone told me that it will take off the tape residue without ruining the board.  I'll let you know if it works.  However, if you have any tips on how to clean this mess please share!!

So, here's an overview of the front of my room from the door. The meeting table is in the back.

One of the things I am going to do next year is tone down all the color.  I think it is all a little busy.  Have you ever noticed the difference between the classrooms of male and female teachers?  There are two male teachers down the hall from me and their rooms make mine look like I'm preparing for a carnival.  They have very spare rooms.  Not a lot of color, not a lot of fancy borders or posters.  Is this true in your school?  Next year, I'm going to find a happy medium between what I have going on and what they don't have going on!

Now, here comes the mish-mosh of stuff.

See these beautiful roses?  One of my students brought them in for me for the Chinese New Year!  Aren't they gorgeous?  I'm really not big on cut flowers, but these made me smile all week.  I hadn't really planned to do anything about the New Year, but I knew I had to. We watched a quick documentary on Discovery Education's United Streaming about the Chinese New Year.

I went to Staples Office Supply today and bought these.
Do you remember Paper Mate's Flair Markers?  I have love these since I was a kid.  It rivals my love of Mr. Sketch Scented Markers!  I'm hoping these will motivate me to attack the pile of papers I have to grade this weekend.  It's good to have hope, right?! ;-)

I also bought four of these Swingline Staplers.  They come in different colors, so I got red, purple, blue, and green.  Added bonus is that they were on sale for only $5 each and I had a 15% off coupon.
For some reason, my friends have destroyed every stapler I had this year.  And, I'm talking heavy duty staplers.  Why do they feel it necessary to make a fist and pound the stapler with all their might?  We are going to have yet another lesson on how to staple correctly when I break these out on Monday.

Finally, I found this anchor chart on Pinterest and had to share.
It is from the blog The Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher.  It totally reminds me that I have been slacking on teaching Latin roots.  I love the chart and may just have to borrow it.  The blog is by a first year language arts teacher named Miss Klohn.  Judging from her blog, she is doing a phenomenal job for a first year.  I even noticed she is using the thinking stems I use.  :-)

I have another post on some professional reading for tomorrow or Monday.  Depends on how the rest of the weekend goes.  If you do guided reading groups, check back.  However, the book I'm going to share is great for anyone who teachers reading, guided or not.

Enjoy your day!

17 comments:

  1. Have you tried Goo Gone? That always works to get sticky residue off for me.

    Ali
    What happens in kindergarten... lasts a lifetime

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  2. Oh, the stapler! Yep, in high school they still pound on it. I got one of those one-touch staplers a few years ago. It was DESTROYED within a week from the pounding. Now I just buy a series of cheap staplers with the expectation that I'll replace them frequently.

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    1. Hi Kim,
      I actually had my heavy duty staplers for a few years. This year's group of friends just seems to be stapler menaces! I'm just hoping these new staplers get me through the year. I plan to order some more heavy duty ones with my school budget money for next year.

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  3. Replies
    1. Okay Ali and Jennifer, I will be giving Goo Gone a try! Thanks

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  4. I loved seeing your room! It is so organized and inviting! I tend to make some alterations this time of year too...your pictures are inspiring me to do so this week. Thanks, I always enjoy reading your blog!
    Kristen

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  5. I love the colors in your room! And I totally agree with you on the difference between male and female teachers. One of my good friends teaches down the hall from me and his room is pretty bare. He's a great teacher though!

    I've tagged you in a post too - come check it out!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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    1. Hi Sara!
      Thanks for tagging me. I can't promise to answer all those questions, but I really appreciate the thought. :-)

      Isn't it funny how male and female teachers decorated differently?! I have to say the male teachers in my building are great teachers, too. Just goes to show you don't need all the hoopla to be a great teacher. Only problem is I tend to love the hoopla stuff!

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  6. I really like your colors! I'm a big fan of polka dots and primary colors. Rubbing alchohol will take tape adhesive off desks, so I don't see why it wouldn't take it off of your board.

    Quick question: Did you laminate the paper you used for your VOICES board? Is it bulletin board paper? I need to put mine up!

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    1. Hi! I'm going to try both the rubbing alchohol and the Goo Gone. PAM was not a total fail, but it took forever to remove most of the goo in one spot and way more muscle than I have!

      The VOICES and FACES strips are pieces of scrapbook paper that I taped together from the back and then laminated. I just bouight as book of solid rainbow colors and it was enough for both boards. Good luck with your board!
      -Nancy

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  7. Lysol has been the solution to all my whiteboard problem. Spray a little on the adhesive as let it sit, spray again and wipe!

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  8. Lysol has been the solution to all my whiteboard problem. Spray a little on the adhesive as let it sit, spray again and wipe!

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  9. I just use the expo board cleaner, smells really stinky but will get anything off of anything - I use Sharpies to write seat numbers on my desks and then clean it off with expo cleaner - it's gotten tape residue off of my white board, ink marks off of my smart board - it's a miracle.

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  10. Try the "Oops" goop remover. Wait maybe it's called "Goop"...no I think it's oops. Regardless, it works great on soooo many adhesives!

    Also, my favorite thing to clean our white boards are the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Very handy!

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  11. I'm sure you've figured this out by now, but in the future if you need to de-sticky something again: smear some peanut butter on a sticky spot and then wipe off the next day with something hard and flat like a credit card or razor blade. I do this for taking labels off jars and price tags off picture frames. Works like a charm.

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  12. I thought about you today when I saw a pinterest post on removing permanent marker...http://pinterest.com/pin/121667627403575024/. I hope you can access it from that address. It involved using Colgate toothpaste.
    Your blog is fantastic!

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  13. My solution to the stapler problem--an electric stapler. There is no pounding the students just slide the papers in and it staples automatically. I have used the same one in my classroom for several years!

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