If you haven't noticed it is July! And I love planning for my upcoming new classroom!
Since I can't get into mine yet, I found a handy online tool that has really helped me think through how I am to arrange the furniture in my new classroom and what centers I am going to have. The website is FloorPlanner.com. It's FREE! And it has lots of different furniture options. The best part is that this is not just drag and click and hope it works. You can enter in actual dimensions! So it is true to life, if you measure things. Check out my future plans here.
I've changed them slightly over the summer as I realized I forgot something or where will that go, etc. It's been really fun! I have a lot of things labeled but if you're curious and have a question, just ask! Here's a view of the page you work on. Find furniture and things on the left and then click and drag them into your room. The hardest thing I remember was beginning the floor. But keep playing around with it- you'll figure it out!
Since I can't get into mine yet, I found a handy online tool that has really helped me think through how I am to arrange the furniture in my new classroom and what centers I am going to have. The website is FloorPlanner.com. It's FREE! And it has lots of different furniture options. The best part is that this is not just drag and click and hope it works. You can enter in actual dimensions! So it is true to life, if you measure things. Check out my future plans here.
I've changed them slightly over the summer as I realized I forgot something or where will that go, etc. It's been really fun! I have a lot of things labeled but if you're curious and have a question, just ask! Here's a view of the page you work on. Find furniture and things on the left and then click and drag them into your room. The hardest thing I remember was beginning the floor. But keep playing around with it- you'll figure it out!
As you can see I'll likely have 12 students this year. I don't know how we would've fit in my old classroom. It would've been a squeeze. Last year we all fit on one of those area rugs for small group and for circle time, so to have two put together doubling as my library and circle time area is very exciting to me!
If you didn't notice, I'm going to try to put a beach umbrella in my library with a little beach chair and I'd like to make a palm tree for over by the listening center if it's not too much. I love going for a classroom theme, but I also understand it has to work in a classroom environment. If you're wondering what those circles are under the boards, they are beach buckets. I was hoping to not have students store anything in their desks this year, but we'll see. I'm not as sure that will work as I was when I purchased the sand buckets.
Don't you just love Supply Island? I'm pretty sure I stole the name from someone else, but I'm thrilled that my old supply station is now actually going to be an island. It's a small filing cabinet I have and it will double as a magnetic board for the kids, since they used to use my desk, and I'm not taking that with me this year(stay tuned for a post on how I do that).
If you didn't notice, I'm going to try to put a beach umbrella in my library with a little beach chair and I'd like to make a palm tree for over by the listening center if it's not too much. I love going for a classroom theme, but I also understand it has to work in a classroom environment. If you're wondering what those circles are under the boards, they are beach buckets. I was hoping to not have students store anything in their desks this year, but we'll see. I'm not as sure that will work as I was when I purchased the sand buckets.
Don't you just love Supply Island? I'm pretty sure I stole the name from someone else, but I'm thrilled that my old supply station is now actually going to be an island. It's a small filing cabinet I have and it will double as a magnetic board for the kids, since they used to use my desk, and I'm not taking that with me this year(stay tuned for a post on how I do that).
I'm also excited about how many bulletin boards I will have this year! When I first came to this school, there weren't any bulletin boards in my classroom! Once I finished out the year, I had 2 put up in my room and 1 in the hallway. This year I'll not only have those three, but there is a huge one already in my classroom and I'll have a large one in the hallway. I'm excited to have a Math Marina, Literacy Lagoon, Reader's Reef, Birthday Beach, and one for student work and art projects. I'll just get a small bulletin board out of storage for Brag Tag Bay and I won't need one for Writer's Warf, since I can post writing things on Literacy Lagoon's bulletin board.
With going from so little bulletin boards to so many I am hoping I can come up with many meaningful ideas that won't need to be changed out too often. Last year the only thing I changed was my door decoration for the holiday or season. I still plan on doing that and switching out my hallway bulletin board the most. Last year one of my bulletin boards was my word wall. It ended up being too small and so I couldn't add many words to it. This year I decided why have an alphabet up in two places? I'll just hang words right under the ABCs above the board.
Don't you love how my rolly-chair can swivel from circle time to the desk area? I didn't over think that one, it just happened and I'm so glad I did. I don't often teach a lesson from sitting, unless I'm at a small group table, but this will be handy to just have it available to me.
With going from so little bulletin boards to so many I am hoping I can come up with many meaningful ideas that won't need to be changed out too often. Last year the only thing I changed was my door decoration for the holiday or season. I still plan on doing that and switching out my hallway bulletin board the most. Last year one of my bulletin boards was my word wall. It ended up being too small and so I couldn't add many words to it. This year I decided why have an alphabet up in two places? I'll just hang words right under the ABCs above the board.
Don't you love how my rolly-chair can swivel from circle time to the desk area? I didn't over think that one, it just happened and I'm so glad I did. I don't often teach a lesson from sitting, unless I'm at a small group table, but this will be handy to just have it available to me.
Also, my Science Center changes through out the year into a History
Center and then a Health Center, depending on what we are studying at that point in the year. This used to be outside my classroom last year in a hallway that I only shared with a library so it was interesting but it worked out.
Lastly, I am glad to have a large enough wall for all my Morning Meeting posters. We have Saxon and Math Meetings have a lot of components and last year I had a big window dividing the posters and some students couldn't see as well. Here, every child can sit facing the wall and there should be plenty of room for the Calendar Captain to go from poster to poster.
Although I love floorplanner.com, I do realize that sometimes floor plans can be deceiving! I'm hoping everything won't be squooshed when I actually move everything in. But I am prepared to make changes, if need be!
Center and then a Health Center, depending on what we are studying at that point in the year. This used to be outside my classroom last year in a hallway that I only shared with a library so it was interesting but it worked out.
Lastly, I am glad to have a large enough wall for all my Morning Meeting posters. We have Saxon and Math Meetings have a lot of components and last year I had a big window dividing the posters and some students couldn't see as well. Here, every child can sit facing the wall and there should be plenty of room for the Calendar Captain to go from poster to poster.
Although I love floorplanner.com, I do realize that sometimes floor plans can be deceiving! I'm hoping everything won't be squooshed when I actually move everything in. But I am prepared to make changes, if need be!
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