Future's so BRIGHT

Setting up my classroom for next year already! I am making a big jump from first grade to fifth, but the nervousness is gone and now I'm just excited!  I tried to stick with my sports theme from last year, especially since I bought all kinds of stuff (don't tell Mr.Marshall o_o) buuut after a few days in summer school it was just feeling too primary. ... side note,  I have a TON of sports themed classroom stuff to get rid of now.... 

We - the fifth grade team, Ilean and I - decided on a neon color scheme, love it! That led to the BRIGHT idea - see what I did there? 

I'm planning Bright ideas boards,  our future's so BRIGHT we have to wear shades - for goal setting,  basically I'm getting very Laura with it ♡ Here's a peek of what's going down so far! Neon every where! 

SIDE NOTE #2 - I'm even changing the ol' blog to go NEON too ... though it's a work in progress, I'm making my own headers and blog buttons since I'm too poor to pay to have it done right now aaaaand let's just say I'm not a computer scientist

Firstly, I learned my lesson after printing my life away last year,  no more color ink for me!  I've spent way too much money on ink cartridges, sigh. I'm printing everything on bright paper instead :D

The classroom economy:

Classroom Jobs Board:

Headquarters - right by the door - this is still a work in progress, 

I can't wait to post a FULL ON tour of the class! 

Calendar Math is also up! I was sad to give up my daily morning math review until I found Stephanie Moorman's post about Calendar Math in the upper grades! Check out her post HERE

Her blog is amazing! 

close up!

That's where I'm at so far! I have trainings all next week and then I should have lots more time to spend setting up - I'll get an awesome tour posted. I'm thinking I'll make a video happen :) Even though I hate the sound of my own voice lol

Class is where the heart is

I've been on vacation for a whole two weeks.... and I'm definitely ready to go back and hit the ground running to get my all stars ready for the CST. Today I made what was supposed to be a quick trip to my classroom to get everything set up for next week, and of course I ended up staying for at least 2 hours. On a happy note, I finally have the room organized the way I want! on a sad note, it took until December to get it going haha. It didn't help that when they gave me my keys in August the room was twice the size, then due to super high enrollment they literally built a wall and split my room in two - needless to say we are pretty pressed for space, but we are making it work and I am in LOVE with my classroom :D Here it is!:::!!!:::

Our classroom library, the book boxes for Daily 5 were the best dollar store find ever! check out the tupperware aisle. We've got the book return basket (blue) and the book hospital (green), pillows that the kiddos can take to be comfy during Daily 5 and our teddy bear, aptly named Someone - for when there is an odd number of students reading to someone.

The catch all corner - whiteboards/markers/erasers, Listen to Reading station  (love these wireless headphones!) writing paper, lit circle folders - each team has one, stoplights - my SOLO cup management system, BUILD math tubs, math manipulatives and extra reading anthologies.

Word wall - I printed each letter Capital and Lower case on a different colored  sheet of paper and laminated them.

Words with the sound of the week and sight words.

I only added this picture because I want to brag about the number line a little - it has really helped students who are struggling with comparing numbers.

The math corner - green pocket char holds examples, I'll put up random notes on the white board, the rest is student work - I have their hundred charts up right now.

I have a few kids who KEEP ME ON TIME! probably helps to have these above the door :)

PUBLISH - We are in between writing prompts - as you can see - this is the are reserved for publishing Star Writing :D the clothespins on a line make it super easy to put work up quickly. Each star has a students name on it.

laminated and stapled to the wall - not the prettiest most 'pintresty' thing in the world but it's working :)

My corner - I gave up the giant teacher desk for two student desks, shoe organizer, and my hanging files. I absolutely love how it is working out. Of course all my all stars names are right behind my desk :)

I attempted to add labels to my hanging organizer buuuuuut .....

A little bit of whole brain teaching :)

Classroom jobs rotate in number order.

A little bit more whole brain teaching. 

Part of our morning routine using our calendar and counting the days we have been in school.

From Baggie to Board

Another reason I'm enjoying the baggie idea! At the end of the week, when I'm going through them for participation points, I also choose great work to display on our bulletin board!

For some reason, I was having the hardest time figuring out the best way to post the kids work, I needed something that would be flexible enough to be updated constantly. After a few failed attempts with plastic sheet protectors, staples, etc... I had an epiphany! I used clothespins and yarn to make mini clotheslines up on our bulletin board (the Great Work Grows Here poster is from the Dollar Tree, love it!) I happen to have a picture of each of my students, which I glued to the clothespins!