• I removed everything out of my room, with exception for the tables and shelves.
• This gave allowed me to concentrate on moving furniture instead of getting distracted by books and other materials.

• Room Size?  I measured it because I was curious.  Lots of visitors email me and comment at the size of my room...
• OK - - who said Kindergarten teachers can't do math?  We can!  My room is 31 ft. by 26 ft.  

• This picture was taken from the 3rd corner in my room.  You can see the doorway.  
• The doorway leads to our Learning Areas and another Kindergarten room.

• One of my walls is a Wall of SHELVES.  I  love them!!
• They are custom built from a local company, and not every room has them.  I cover them with curtains (that I made).

• I brought back in all the furniture and other things that make the room a classroom.
• This year, I decided to create two meeting areas (gray carpet and brown carpet).  The easel divides the two areas. 

• The book bins are empty now.  We won't start adding books until the first day of school. 
• We'll add books as we read them and use them during Reading/Writing/Math/Science/Social Studies Workshop times. 

• The red, white, and blue teaching easel is from Copernicus.  It's an "Expanded Royal Reading Center".
• I absolutely love, love, LOVE it. 

• "Where's your desk" you ask. I got rid of it!  And I'm happy about that decision.  
• By getting rid of my desk, I created a more student-centered room.  

• Here you can see the brown carpet area.  We will have our Writer's Workshop and Shared Reading mini lessons here.
• The easel is on casters and can turn around.  A pocket chart can be hung on the side you see, the easel has extending arms.

• Here you can see the gray carpet area.  We will have our Morning Meeting and Math mini lessons here.
• Book bins line the sides of the meeting areas.

• This is taken from behind our "Reading" table.  
• You can see our book bins, meeting area.  Behind them are student tables, which are also Literacy Corner areas. 

• Here you can see the book bins [again!], part of our reading Literacy Corner, and my teaching table area.
• You can also see other student tables, which are also Literacy Corner areas.

• This year, I stacked my two black chalkboards to create our calendar wall.  
• I've added some new components this year too: 100s Day Puzzle, Coins, Shapes, Money, Tooth Graph, and Birthday Graph.

• Here you'll see our Daily Schedule, Large Coins, Magnetic Shapes, 1-10 Number Line Tiles, and Code Date.
• You'll also see our Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow Pockets and our 100s Day Puzzle.

• Here you'll see our Days of the Monthly Place Value, Monthly Money, Monthly Calendar and Monthly Tally Marks.
• You'll also see our Birthday Graph, Tooth Graph, Today Is..., and Monthly Weather Graph.

• I have a wall of shelves, where I store Literacy Corner materials, and lots of other stuff, that I don't want little hands to get into!
• A lot of people have asked me what's behind the curtains...well, now you KNOW...!  :o)

• My first year in this room, I didn't have curtains, and although my shelves are neat, tidy, and organized, they still looked busy.
• Last year I made curtains.  I had to make 24 panels and buy 24 tension rods.  I found a really good deal on the rods though!  

• This is our READING LITERACY CORNER.
• We will also use this area for chapter book read aloud time "rest time" in the afternoons.  

• This is our POCKET CHART LITERACY CORNER.  The table is a student table and is also a part of the literacy corner.   
• The yellow hardware bins and the three 3-drawer units under them [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our MAGNET LITERACY CORNER.     
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our WRITING LITERACY CORNER.  The table is a student table and is also a part of the literacy corner. 
• The cart next to the table houses the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our LISTENING LITERACY CORNER.  The table is a student table and is also a part of the literacy corner. 
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our ABC LITERACY CORNER.  The table is a student table and is also a part of the literacy corner. 
• The three 3-drawer carts, and the red/gray hardware drawer unit  [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our NAMES LITERACY CORNER.  It is also a student work table.
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our HANDWRITING and FINE MOTOR LITERACY CORNER.  It is also a student work table.
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our WORDS LITERACY CORNER.  It is also a student work table.
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is our FELT BOARD LITERACY CORNER.  The table is a student table and is also a part of the literacy corner. 
• The green laundry baskets under the book bins [will] house the materials for this Literacy Corner.

• This is my teaching table.  We have Guided Reading here.   
• The cart behind the table houses teacher supplies, and other stuff that I didn't want on the "Wall of Shelves."

• They are empty now, but will soon  house materials for students to take home.  They are hung on shower curtain rings.
• I just emptied out 2nd semester homework bags and I'm in the process of putting together 1st semester homework bags.  

• Here's a close up of our writing literacy corner.
• The two bins next to it house our "Working with Words, Letters, and Sounds" materials.

• We like to use a variety of materials when we work with letters, sounds, numbers, and words.
• They help us to become better spellers and writers.

• This will be my 3rd year using these drawer units for student storage boxes.  Students bring them to their work spot.
• Students [will] house their pencils, crayons, markers, glue, scissors, etc in these drawers.  The drawers are removable.

• I use a nearby student chair when I work on this computer.
• It's a "dinosaur" computer and I don't like to use it.  I only use it for attendance and email.

• The corner shelf is used to store our BEE books (white).  The blue binders below are used as dividers (testing).
• I put the paper cutter on the top shelf, along with two "JR Sound Munchers" and a plant.

• This thing always seems to be in the way.  If you can't tell by now, I like to have clear view of all areas in my room.
• So, this gets shoved up against the wall of shelves.  I'm transitioning to "chart caddies" instead of using skirt hangers.

• My wonderful father-in-love (law) helped me make this three years ago.  
• We use it to hang articles of clothing when students take them off during the day.  It sure does come in handy!

• I had a dilemma last year when my class came with rest time towels and I had no where to put them!  
• These little 3-drawer carts are nifty for storing towels and extra sets of clothes (must have in Kindergarten!).

• These will house our math activities for Math Tub time in the morning (30 minutes each day).
• Activities will be added each day after they are introduced.

• I wasn't successful at instituting rest time last year.  I changed it to rest time read aloud.  I love it, as did the kids.
• I'm going to try rest time again this year, and students will be able to use "rest time friends" if they are quiet.

• Filled!

• Filled!

• I decided to make a NEW calendar for each month instead of putting on hooks to hang the calendar pieces like in  years past.  Instead, we just glue the calendar die cuts to the calendar and when the month is over, we hang them on our wall of shelves.  Every once in awhile I see kids reading them.  :o)

• Students often refer to this when they are spelling a classmate's name.  
• They pull the card and return it when finished.

• The walls are slowly filling with environmental print, showcasing student learning!
• Here you see our Graph of the Week graphs.

• Here you see our ABC chart and word wall (sight words and classmate names).
• We will continue adding words to our Word Wall.

• We added another unit due to all of the Math Tub activities/tasks we have learned about.
• Our math tubs are now ready to use!!  

• I'm on a stool!  So you can see the classroom from a "bird's eye" view.  Sort of...
• The beach ball Solar System hanging from the ceiling is from Learning Resources. 
• From left to right, you are looking at the Listening and Writing Literacy Corners, with the calendar between them.  Then you see our Small Group work table.  

• The sun obviously has a hole in it somewhere...(sigh).  I'm going to call them and ask if they'll replace it.
• From left to right, you are looking at the ABC, Reading, Working with Words, Listening, and Felt Board Literacy Corners.  On the next wall, you see our Calendar Wall.  The middle carpets (brown/gray) is our meeting area. 

• I love, Love, LOVE my Expanded Royal Reading and Writing Center!
• From left to right, you are looking at our Small Group meeting table, the Pocket Chart and Fine Motor Literacy Corners, and our meeting areas where we have mini lessons, read alouds, and meetings!

• I love, Love, LOVE my Expanded Royal Reading and Writing Center!
• From left to right, you are looking at the Fine Motor, Names, ABC, Reading and Working with Words Literacy Corners.  The book bins surround our meeting areas (brown and gray carpets). 

Here you can see our calendar wall and meeting areas.  I love the large meeting area.  It has worked out so well to have it that way this year.  We cozy on up when needed, and spread out when extra space is necessary.   The West wall also houses our Felt Board, Magnet (easel gets pushed up against the calendar wall so I can see every area from the table), and Writing Literacy Corners.  On the wall you see lots of graphs!

This year I decided to save each month's calendar and hang them.  Students read them during "Read Around the Room" if they are at the Reading Literacy Corner.  They also come in handy for identifying which curtain something is behind - - I'll say, "get a glue stick from behind September" and they know exactly where to look for it.  Pretty nifty!  Students will take home these and all of our graphs and other wall displays the last week of school.  We make new ones each year - - student created is best!  :o)   The East wall also houses our Fine Motor and Names Literacy Corners.   Oh, and you can see the math tubs on the far right.

On the wall you see our ABC chart and Word Wall.  We also have our Editing Pencil, and a few graphs.  Oh, and the orange, tall, skinny chart on the right hand side of the wall is our Wake Up Work anchor chart.  The South wall also houses our ABC, Reading, and Working with Words Literacy Corners. 

This year I decided to save each month's calendar and hang them.  Students read them during "Read Around the Room" if they are at the Reading Literacy Corner.  They also come in handy for identifying which curtain something is behind - - I'll say, "get a glue stick from behind September" and they know exactly where to look for it.  Pretty nifty!  Students will take home these and all of our graphs and other wall displays the last week of school.  We make new ones each year - - student created is best!  :o)   The East wall houses our Pocket Chart literacy corner and my teaching table.  On the wall you see more graphs, of course! 

Surprise!  I took down the ABC and Word Wall, and a few graphs (those got put up in another area of the room), but we won't have an ABC or Word Wall anymore this year.  Instead, we are going to make a FARM MURAL!

We will make 12 animals "TLC-style" - - and draw/paint/color a farm scene.  I can't wait!  :o)  The kids will be super excited when they come back to school on Monday and find the classroom rearranged, with a wall completely blank waiting for their creativity!  

I had to push all the furniture away from the wall and rearrange it so that we still had the ABC, Reading, Working with Works and Felt Board literacy corners.  It didn't take too long... 

We will add 1 farm animal to the wall and a few other details each week.  Towards the end of school, we will add more than one farm animal to the wall, so that we have enough time to finish them all.  In addition, we will create an "On the Farm" book (each of will make one).   So we'll have to make two pigs, two horses, etc...  One for the wall and one for our books.