Classroom Reveal!

Here is a peek at my classroom from last year!

Our meeting area - my students choose a numbered rug, rocker or wobble cushion and the rest sit on the benches. We have a schedule posted on the wall so everyone gets some days on the bench.

The benches started the year by the windows, which was a great spot with all of the natural light. However, I found they make an awesome visual divider for our meeting area.

The area is a great spot for eight kids to sit at during rug time. I added two Otto Storage stools for our stuffed animals (plus they added two additional seating locations) and put a space between the benches. 

That made a nice separate area for 10-15 kids and left the rest on the floor. This made our rug time run a lot more smoothly with everyone spread out.

This shelf changed a lot over the year. The trays stayed all year, so they could grab one whenever they needed it (painting, puzzles, sorting, or even if they just wanted their own workspace!) You can read all about how I use Target trays here!

The stuffed animals got too messy throughout the year,  so they moved to the storage stools.

The book stands were great for the start of the year, but eventually I stored activities for reading/math groups on there and moved the books to other areas.

My bookshelf, with all of my books arranged by genre using Lessons With Laughter's amazing library labels! The color coding makes it so much easier for me and my students to find books! 

My comfy chair (with my personalized pillow a former student gave me!) and my sad looking whiteboard! This spot is perfect for meeting and whole group lessons - but of course there is no whiteboard on this side of the room. 

For now, I am using dry erase paper, but I am hoping to get a real magnetic board this year to put in that area. I would love to be able to use my magnetic math tools there!

Daily voting area and clean up station. We also stored whiteboards and clipboards there - but I'm thinking of moving them this year to our writing station.

I adore this writing station, I was lucky enough to get this - and most of my furniture - thanks to Donorschoose.org. I think I might change it a bit this year too, hopefully I'll post a picture sooner than next summer! ;)

Mailboxes for my kids, I used the labels it came with at first, but they kept falling off. I ended up switching to adhesive labels - less cute but way more functional for K-1 students!

Our awesome measuring station! This door has always been kind of an eyesore. I got the measuring tape on Etsy and The Book Wrangler created these amazing posters that are endlessly entertaining for my students - an anyone who visits our room. You may not enter without first seeing which animal is the closest in height to you.

I have about six alphabet lines in my room, but this one is one of my favorites. It is actually a great tool for writing too - they use it for write the room, and when they are writing stories! 

You can read all about how we use loose parts in our room here!

 

Math and reading shelves for center time - easy to find and clean up!

More math bins! This is my favorite spot and I am actually getting a new shelf from Lakeshore for it this year. I cannot wait to see how everything looks on it, and I promise to post pictures sooner.

My sink area, which is great in K, but needed some contact paper love since it was white and everything was staining it.

Storage shelves behind my table - I finally added labels (after 4 years). It was so much easier to find what I needed quickly this year!

My side of the "whiteboard." It's actually a green chalkboard I covered up with dry erase paper. It does not erase well, so it currently holds my magnetic math tools for whole group lessons. The kids have the left side to play with their magnetic tools on.

Our light, Lego and puzzle tables! These are some of my (and the kids) favorite spots. I did end up donating the multi colored chairs to our pre school and then I bought those amazing green chairs on Amazon. The kids love them!

The meeting area from the bench perspective.

I actually hung up new posters on the last day of school. I never laminate, since the glare makes to too hard to read. They end up getting a bit faded and smudged from the kids touching them all year. This is their favorite place to read, write and learn new words! 

The tables do not look like this currently. I took off the contact paper (it was about two years old) and my sister and I will be headed in to redo them later this month. I love that the contact paper tricks your eye into thinking they are all the same - but mostly I love how easy it is to clean. As you know, Kindergarten can get a bit messy and I am am all about the quick cleanup! 

So, that was my classroom setup from last year. Overall, I loved the flow of the room. I may have to change the setup a bit if I end up with a  larger class.

*The Amazon links in the post are affiliate links.

If you would like to know more about using contact paper in your classroom, check out this blog post!