Another Opening, Another Show and Back to School!

So yeah.  I've been meaning to blog.  Really, I have.  But prepping for back-to-school combined with Tech Week and performances of the musical I was in, combined with Staff Development just didn't work well for me, time-wise.

(That's me on the bottom right--we had a BLAST doing this show!)

But it was all worth it!  I am sort of recovered physically from the past few insane weeks.  We just finished the 2nd week with students, and it's been good so far.  I have a very sweet group of kids, if a little talkative and energetic.  :)  I'm really looking forward to learning and playing with them this year.

Anyway, I wanted to share some pics of my classroom even though there are still a few finishing touches I plan to put on it.  (Is a classroom EVER truly "done?")

Haven't decided if I'm going to keep this display for Daily 5 check-in yet...

Will probably change this board to a Writing board for anchor charts, etc.

My new storage area for Word Work activities!  Love it.

(Need to take down that poster!)

My new writing area.  The stuff under the table is junk I still need to sort through and store somewhere.  :(

All my supplies for Work on Writing, so organized, whoo!

We are launching Project-Based Learning this year.  

My PBL board looks better now, but I haven't snapped an updated pic yet, sorry!

Our character quality of the month, Conflict Resolution Wheel, R Time Rules, and Rules for good manners, etc. are displayed here.  (The ugly dolls are my bathroom passes!)

My new Authors We Love wall!

I love how it turned out!

Reading cushions and buddies.

Our Wish List at Meet the Teacher

(about 1/2 of the items were taken, yay!)

Smartboard and my new alphabet line (made by me!)

I have since completed sectioning off the chalkboard on the left, 

and I'm still not sure how I feel about the BRIGHT lime green duct tape.

I HATE chalkboard!

My birthday photos will be posted on the black & white chevron board.

Yay!  The little brown table by the window will house our BioBubble Aquarium!

The next step is for me to allow my kiddos to research what fish and other items we should

buy to put in our BioBubble.  If you haven't seen/heard of them, you should definitely check them out.  SUPER COOL.  I think an aquarium will be a very calming presence in our classroom, and I'm so excited to get it up and running!

Math manipulatives still organized from last year.

(I have since put the label on the bottom left bin, heh.)

Storage for our extra supplies:

pencils, markers, crayons, glue, and baggies

Construction paper storage!

Also, I put the kleenex boxes inside that little lime green basket.  Much cuter.  :)

All the new books I accumulated over the summer.  WHY?!  

Why do I keep getting more books?!  LOL.  It's a sickness.

YAY for awesome library storage!

Guess that's about it.  For now.  If you made it this far, bless you. :)

Hope everyone's beginning of the year is going well!