Check Out My Classroom!

Hey everyone! Week one is D O N E!! Whew what a week it was! For some reason I can never really remember what the first week of school is like. I NOW exactly remember why!! IT IS SO DARN EXHAUSTING!!! I think I mentally block out the beginning of the year after it is over. Seriously, these students are wide eyed and curious about EVERYTHING!! I forget how much talking, directing, modeling, talking, explaining, talking and redirecting you have to do! Am I right??!! There is NOTHING like that first week of school..especially in Kinder!

So before I begin showing off some pics of my room let me give you a little back story. I teach at a charter school which means every kid that is signed up may or may not show up on the first day of school. Soooo because our numbers are not 100% set we were told by admin that we may be changing rooms after the first week. Yep you read that right! Some teachers would be moving their ENTIRE room! 

Luckily for me with the class I teach most if not all of my students do show up. I knew my classroom spot was probably not going to change but, like the rule follower I am, my set up was just the basics I needed to get through the day. Now I know what you are probably thinking...who would NOT want their room to be perfect, set up and ready to go for that first day. Right?

The past few weeks in my personal life have been the most trying times I have ever had. SOO because of all that stress my new motto for this school year is

Life is too short to get upset and mad over thing I have no control over! While I love my job more that anything, it is not my entire life. It is probably 93.5% of my life but, I have to remember that I have a soo much more to foucs on at times too. This saying has really helped me with this start of the school year. Maybe because all of what was happening to me and my family made me O K with not setting up my classroom 100%. I knew that no  matter what my room looked like my students would walk into a warm, caring and fun environment. 
Would it look like way I wanted it to? No, but over time it will! As this past week went on I started to add more and more to my room. It is looking better and more like my "home".

Alright with that said here are some pics!

 Here is our cubbie area. I have 2 kids per section put their items in those cubbies.
The crates on top will be filled with supplies once they arrive.

 These are the kids mailboxes. I give my kids numbers and that is how they know which one is theirs.

 There were 2 things I HAD to have up and ready to go...#1 my alphabet

#2 my calendar area. With those 2 items I could make anything work! I changed up my whole calendar area this year and I am loving the way it looks! Most of this awesome calendar set came from Wild About Firsties! She has this set as a fan freebie on her fb page! It is AWESOMESAUCE!!

 This is where I keep my literacy centers for the week. Along with some other teacher controlled items to use.

My focus wall which stayed pretty blank this first week. Truth is I am hoping for a new white board so I am not making this are tooo cute just yet.

My teacher area. I use a horseshoe table as my desk. I love it this way! You can also see my toolbox I made this summer and, of course all those Target dollar tree signs I found this summer!

More and more areas for storage. You can never have enough right??!!

                       Another look at how I store some manipulatives

My classroom library. I loved the way it turned out. So colorful and organized! Just like me ;)

Here is what the room looks like from standing in the doorway. It is not what I hoped it to be but, it turned out to be fine! The walls will soon be decorated and my kids work will be displayed with pride!

               Here is another view from the back of the room looking out.


Yesterday as a class we put together this area. They were so excited to "help me" set this up! I do love the POP of color it adds. Of course I forgot to take a pic of what it looks like with the kids birthdays up so I will do that this week.

So there you have it. I will say this is the first time in my 22 years of teaching that my room has ever looked this bare. I know it will get better and more cheerful each day!

I would love to hear what you think about it! Would you freak out if you could not decorate your room the way you envision it to be? Or would you be like
Elsa from Frozen and just " Let It Go"?