Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Why I Teach Wednesday: Call Me Shallow

Typically I post sweet, touching, or even humorous stories that illustrate how rewarding the life of a teacher can be...my students are the biggest reason I teach, and an inspiration on a day to day basis. 

However, it's summer.  And I don't have any new adorable stories.  So I'm moving to a more shallow reason why I teach...the creative outlet.  So I decided to show some pictures of my latest classroom theme (this will be my 4th year with the same theme)...Dr. Seuss.  I haven't finished my room for this year (HA! I barely started!! Eeek!), but I'll give a few snapshots of my room over the past three years.  While I came up with some of the ideas myself, most are Pinterest inspired or straight up Pinterest copycats.  I'll do my best to give shouts out to the things that I cannot take ownership of.

So, without further adieu, here's my classroom!

I LOOOVED this sign, but sadly it was destroyed.  I bought it from the western section of Oriental Trading.  Then I colored the arrows with ink pads and added a Seussy font.  I think it looked like it came straight from one of his books!  I sure miss this thing!

The inside of my door...cute Cat in the hat white board for memos (gift from a friend) and our "Ready for the Hall" chant!

Ignore the ugly unpeeled tape.  I've since cleaned that up!  But my bathrooms are labeled "Who Girls" and "Who Boys" :)

I bought this alphabet frieze from a book store, laminated them, and turned them into my wall alphabet!


My set up the first year I did Dr. Seuss. 



This sign is by the water fountain.  I made it using Google images and my Dr. Seuss font.

Library Center (This year I have RED tubs so they'll look better with the Seuss stuff!)

"Word Jail" for those words that break the phonetic rules we study.  The kiddos LOVE putting words in jail!  We also LOVE to make the siren noise. 

An idea I got from Pinterest...framed a class list and used it all year for checklists: who brought field trip money, who turned in forms, etc.

I used these rubbery placemats at the beginning of the year to mark where they sat at the carpet.

I adapted this from a pin I saw on Pinterest.  I turned a "Lazy Susan" into a prize wheel. 

Where they get their "mail" every afternoon (graded papers, notes, etc.)

Adorable clock a colleague gave me! :)

I took an old school bus bulletin board piece (already said "Oh the Places We Will Go") and added some Seuss characters to the windows.  Then I'll put pictures on the black line (cork board) to make a timeline of our year.

Another Pinterest idea...clothespin "How We Get Home" chart.  I made the Seuss labels on the computer.

These baskets are where they turn in notes or money in the morning (blue basket) or class work (orange basket).  I got the highlighter idea from Pinterest...students have to put one line through their name with the highlighter to make sure that their name is on it.  Below the baskets, we have their "Early Bird Work."  These are different educational but simple activities they can do when they are finished with work early (butterfly metamorphosis puzzle, counting boxes, flashcards, hundreds chart puzzle, simple word games, etc.)

I label my centers with Dr. Seuss themed labels (as seen in my post about my PowerPoint for literacy centers).

Pinterest steal..using Germ-X as the bathroom passes.  I started this last year and they lasted all year!  Brilliant!

Another Pinterest steal...Any time a student finds a game piece, manipulative, etc. on the ground/desk, they put in the missing pieces bucket and I can put it away correctly later.  This has helped TONS with no interruptions during a lesson/work time.


I switched to white ice tubs for their reading tubs this year.  The bags are from the Target Dollar Spot, and these are what they use to take their guided reading books/reading logs home in every night.  Also, I have extra white tubs (top right) with all the extra folders, journals, etc. so that when a new student comes, all of the stuff they need is right there ready to go! (Pinterest idea)
I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into my Dr. Seuss classrooms from years past.  Soon (hopefully!) I'll be through with this year's and I'll post any updates at a later date.  I hope the beginning of your week has been off to a great start, and I pray the remaining few days are even more blessed!  And I'll end on this...THANK GOODNESS FOR PINTEREST!  Can I get an 'amen!?'

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