Classroom arrangement

Student desks are arranged in groups. Student names are on magnetic name cards on the side of each desk all facing the center of the room. (These are for substitutes or other adults who visit the classroom.) Each table has a basket with individual student's book pouches for easy access to reading.

Classroom Library Check-out

"Whooooo's Reading What?"

This is how I keep track of the books checked out from my classroom library. The library card pockets are numbered 1-20. When a student checks out a book, he/she fills out a bookmark with the title and slips it into their numbered slot. When they check it back in, they put the bookmark in the book and put in back in the leveled basket where it belongs. The next time another student wants to check out that book, they can simply take out the previous bookmark and place in their numbered slot. I keep a basket of sliced construction paper and index cards for use as bookmarks.

Science Word Wall

A small corner became home to our Science Word Wall. I make each set of cards as we move into new units.

Compliments Board

This is our "Compliments Board". Any time another adult in the building pays a compliment to my class, we write the compliment down with the date, the name of the adult, and what was said. Once the board is filled with compliments (20), we have a celebration with lunch in the classroom with special treats! The kids love looking at the compliments they've earned and its a quick reminder of how their behavior should be!

Math Word Wall

These are common 3rd grade terms for our Math Word Wall. I'll also post them as a document so they can be printed.

Fiction/Nonfiction

This quick reference poster hangs in the Reading Nook and gives kids a quick reminder of differences between these 2 genres.

Daily 5 posters

Small posters for "Daily 5".Kindertastic Blogspot

Attention Grabbers

Attention Grabbers

DonorsChoose.org

If you've never heard, DonorsChoose.org is a website where teachers can submit a project, choose the materials they will need for the project, and then donors will donate to your project. I gave it a try last month and was pleasantly surprised! My goal was met in just 2 weeks! The whole project from start to delivery took less than 1 month. I received 153 books (mostly nonfiction) and 30 book pouches all for FREE!! Thanks so much to wonderful organizations and foundations who support education!

anchor chart action verbs

Another re-usable anchor chart for Action Verbs.

Lighting

These paper lanterns are one of 9 lamps around my classroom. Curtains, rugs, and lamps make the classroom more cozy and add a sense of security in a place where we spend so much time every day.

special touches

NFL player Darrin Smith came to visit & read to my class! He sent an autographed football card to each student. When our local Little League team won the Little League World Series a couple of star players came to read to my students. They autographed the cover of our local phone book that they were pictured on. Personal framed items like these can make a classroom feel more special.

Decor

Little touches can add to the class room atmosphere. This "Tree of Knowledge" sign is hanging from a branch on my tree. I added branches around the clock to help it meld into my owl and tree theme.

Job Chart

This is my Job Chart. I added the jobs (typed onto labels) on each tree at the bottom.

anchor chart adverbs

I decided to start making re-usable anchor charts. This adverb anchor chart is laminated and the words that answer each question are written with a Vis-a-Vis pen to allow erasing. The students generated the list of words during a lesson. Of course, I will still create K,W,L charts, T-Charts, and Bubble Maps as we go along, but I'll have several of these re-usable anchor charts to save time with some of the Grammar, Reading, and Math lessons.

Paper Bag Narratives

These "Paper Bag Narratives" integrated science into our writing. Students decorated the paper bag to look like themselves. They then wrote a narrative as if they were the paper bag. They had to include different things they could be reused for in order to avoid the garbage dump! The narrative writings were then glued to the back of the bag for display. They had some very creative ideas and some even got into persuasive writing begging to be reused rather than thrown away!

Focus Wall

I'm working on my Focus Wall. I'll add single pocket charts under each heading to slide weekly focus elements in and out to make changing easier.

Student Work Displays

I painted this "Tree of Knowledge" on one wall and added clothespins to display student work. Sometimes I add lights, a variety of work samples, and anchor charts to display the progress through a unit.