CLASSROOM REVEAL 2015!

This year's classroom is by far my FAVORITE when it comes to decorating.  I had a blast doing DIY projects, hanging bulletin boards (and re-hanging them), and coming up with new/improved ideas to keep the kids interested!

My classroom "facelift" began back in June/July.  My school was going through phase 2 of their re-carpeting and man was I excited!!!  I took this as an opportunity to work on my big DIY project!!  I had these old, laminate, wood book shelves in my classroom.  The previous teacher had stuck stickers all over them and then later peeled them off, which took the laminate with them.  They needed a serious pick me up!

I asked my boss if I could paint the bookshelves....IN THE CLASSROOM!  Lol.  The deal was, that it had to be done before the old carpet was pulled out of the room.  So I went to work!  I headed to Home Depot and chose colors.  I wanted grey and blue, but I wasn't 100% sure.  I was there for an hour and was completely excited by my final choice!!  I even used the Home Depot Paint App to see what the final product would look like.  :)

The week before I left for Vegas for the TpT Conference, I took to my bookshelves.  I sanded, primed, and painted.  

I had never done anything like this before and I was really excited, but nervous.  After all sorts of mistakes, I was really happy with the turn out!!!  There were 2 bookshelves, but I only took pictures of one of them.  Ooops!!  

 Once I was done with the shelves, I locked my keys away and promised I wouldn't come back into the classroom until August.  I stuck to that (sort of).  I came in to drop things off, but didn't start any "REAL" work until August 1st.

It began with a major must change in my classroom.  When I walked in, they had installed new paper towel dispensers in the classroom.  The problem was, it was installed on my bulletin board!  haha.  I talked to our maintenance person and asked that it be moved.  He made the changes so that I could get to work on my boards.

I then began work on my boards.  I was SO proud of my boards.  Since 5th grade is a huge Social Studies year,  I knew I had to have a social studies board.  I am starting off my year with a simple US Map on the board.  We have already started talking about the 50 states and will begin working on our state reports!

 My FAVORITE board EVER was my student work board.  Up until the end of last school year, I didn't really understand the fascination with AstroBrights.  That was until I created this board.  Now, I am OBSESSED!!!!  I can't tell you how long this board took to make.  The first time I put the black paper up, I was short by about 3 feet on the second layer.  The boards are really big.  So the top was easily covered.  The bottom...not so much.  So I removed all the paper and realized I had no more back.  I ran to Lakeshore Learning and picked up new black paper.  I had to start completely over because they were different colors of black.  The dyes were different.  Once I got the paper and boarder up, I started with the AstroBrights.  Of course, they were not lined up correctly, so I had to take them down and start over.  The struggle is REAL!!  Lol.  I think after about 2 hours of putting paper up and moving it, I finally got it!  I stepped back and looked at it and did a happy dance.  It looked AMAZING!  I was so proud of my board!!!!!

I was also proud of my other boards...My personal board is a favorite of the kids.  They love to see pictures of my family and friends and hear stories about them.  :)  My birthday/rules/calendar board turned out awesome too!!!  I was just over joyed at the final product this year!

Another project that I spent a large amount of time on was my book corner.  I went to Wal-Mart and found these amazing bins that were only $1.00 each!!!  I purchased them in multiple colors and it got me excited for this project!

I decided to completely redo the way the books were organized.  I wanted to organize them into genre.  This took a LOT of time.  Thankfully, I had 4 days where I could just sit and focus on the books.  I looked up every single book on Reading Counts and put them into the genre that was listed.  Once that was done, I put them into their new bins and added genre tags to the front.  Once I placed them on the shelves, I again took a step back and did my happy dance!!  :)

There were so many other mini projects that took place in my classroom.  From organizing pens, to refluffing puff balls, to creating birthday goodie bags, and hanging up their reading check out pockets.  It all began to come together.  Since I teach at a Catholic School, I wanted to be sure my prayer table was something the kids would enjoy and feel comfortable visiting if they needed time to reflect alone.  Overall, I am so happy with the way things turned out!  I am also really excited to add photos to their classroom Instagram board on the closet!  :)

 

Before school started, my staff went on a retreat to an beautiful location in Santa Cruz, Ca.  We spend time as a staff,  at the beach, which makes the meeting portion a heck of a lot easier!  We do team building activities, have a bonfire, enjoy s'mores, and get some of our "meeting" stuff done, all while listening to the sound of waves hit the beach.  It is something I look forward to every year.  Here is a sneak peek...

 The day the students walked into the classroom, I knew the year was going to be a good one.  I went to bed the night before school, knowing that my classroom was complete.  It was something I was so proud of and content with.  It was different than past classrooms.  It was filled with new ideas and new colors.  On the morning of the first day, students came in to a goodie on their desk.  It said, "5th Grade is Going to Rock!"  The board in the hallway, said, "Let's start 5th Grade on the Right Foot!"

I think this year in 5th grade truly is going to rock!!  We are definetly starting off on the right foot!!  I hope you all have a wonderful school year!!  :)

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