Classroom Remodel Tour 2017

Hi yall
The last few weeks of the school year always seem to be when I kick into high gear about decluttering. I got my facebook timehop the other day and it said - "Yes, 14 days before school lets out is the perfect time to rearrange the room". Apparently, it is what I do. This year was no different.

As I update and remodel more - I will put more pictures up! :) 

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. This allows me to keep my teeny little blog up and running. 

I have had SO many people ask about my room, that I thought I would do a blog post for you guys so you can PIN AWAY!!! :)

I decided that I couldn't take the cluttered look any longer!  If you want to see the evolution of my room, go to my classroom tour to see all my pictures of before and after.

It has always bothered me that our district didn't give you much in the way of built in storage. As I talked to my father in law about how I hated not having storage, he said  - "hey kitchen cabinets might be the way to go". I thought  - well, people are going to think I am insane. Then I thought more and honestly, most people in my building already think I am over the top about my room so would anyone even notice a few new items?!

Now, I am THRILLED because my room is everything I had imagined it could be.
Off to the tour...

My teacher space makes me so happy.  Here are a few things that you should know. 

1. Everything must come out of my room over summer. It all goes into the hallway so that they can clean.  

2. I have had two back surgeries, so dragging all my junk possessions into the hallway myself wasn't going to work anymore.  Enter casters. 

3. My cabinets are from Amazon. (You can find them here or by clicking the picture below.) They were only $88.00 each.

 * Disclosure - they were a HUGE pain to get, but in the end worth it. You can only order one, so I had to have friends get the rest and have them sent to school. 

They were easy to bulid. They don't have a back, but my handy father in law added a wood back to them. ( the two that look lower haven't had the casters put on yet.)

4. My father in law put everything on casters - every piece of furniture that I could. 

The casters I got are multidirection (360 degree) from here.

These will allow me to PUSH everything out of my classroom and not drag it through my classroom, hurting the floors and my back. 

I use the teacher toolbox above and below.  This toolbox keeps EVERYTHING that I use just about daily. I love that they are all the bigger drawers. I need big drawers, as I don't use as much small stuff - or let's just say, I have so much small stuff, that I need big drawers. 

I love my toolbox, I got it here. Click the picture below to find the labels for the toolbox. 

I also have a regular toolbox, that is blue and you can find that one here. 

These 3 drawer bins have been kept me organized. There are two sizes. One is a larger paper holding drawer set. You can find it here.  The labels are from here. The other is a three drawer set that is smaller and hold things like pens and pencils.  You can find the smaller ones here.  The labels are from here. I keep all of my writing utensils here. I have a TON and they all have a home.  Click the picture below to find the bundle of labels. 

 The cabinets below are incredibly nice. They were not cheap at $150.00 each. I had a gift card, otherwise, I wouldn't have purchased these. I would have gotten more of the amazon ones. The stuva ones to the right have been discontinued but they should be brought back once the tipping hazard is fixed. Find the galant ones here.

The galant series are very well made. They do not have casters. My father in law put casters on these ones as well. 

Inside, they house ALL of my curriculum for Math, Science and Social Studies. I use Iris project cases to hold all of my curriculum. They have been a GAME changer. I have used the filing cabinet. I have used binders. These have been worth the investment. 

You can find the cases here or by clicking below. 

 This is my focus wall and word work area. 

This is my newest area that I have reorganized. 

*the tall drawer cabinet piece is the Ikea Stuva. It has been discontinued, but they should have it back once the tipping hazards are fixed. This is secured to the wall. It holds my printer at the top. It holds my printer paper, and construction paper. It also holds all of my laminators, electric three hole punchers, and my electric staplers. It also holds my actual tools to keep all of my stuff tightened. 

*My table is from Amazon - you can find it here. 

My focus wall is the FIRST thing that my students look at when they are writing or reviewing. The black clear pockets are both horizontal and vertical (even though I have that digraphs poster in the wrong spot) You can find the horizontal ones here, and the vertical ones here. 

 The grammar posters are from here.

The shelf below is the Kallax shelf.  I just turned it on its side and put on casters. You can find the Kallax here.  There is a cheaper shelf available here but it isn't ikea. You can find it here.

The containers are from Big Lots, but you can find them here. 

You can find the labels here. 

I have been asked what goes into the bins. Here are a few things:

Word Work Task Cards
start with level A-1 and go up through level C-3. Each card has five words. Set one starts with only substituting the ending sound. Set two substitutes either the first sound or ending sound, while each word only changes one letter at a time. Set three can substitute any sound in the word, still only changing one letter each line. Each set has 45 words - with 135 cvc words in the entire pack! 

The boxes are called Iris Photo boxes. 

I used the rings to keep my cards together. These small rings make it so that they fit easily into the task box containers. 

I also use these magnetic letters for students to build word families. Students have four cards. One is to put together a puzzle, then read the card, write the word, then build the word. 

Click on the picture below to see my word family task cards. 

My students also play puzzler. This is another sight word game. Students pick a picture card, then, they look at the chart for the secret letter (they really can be confusing), then they have a bunch of mixed up letters. They must fix them to become a new word. 

Click below to see my differentiated puzzler sight word game. 

My students also use these Sight Word Fix it Sentences. 

By far one of my student's FAVORITE centers. They do so well with them. They come in pre-primer, primer and first grade. Don't worry - second grade is coming! 

Click the link below to grab them! 

These are the boards that you can use in your room as well. Click the photo above to find these boards. 

I use this shelving system to house all of my boards(click on either photo to grab the shelving!)

Inside the drawers, you will find my fine motor and stem bins. 

my students can grab stem boxes or other fine motor activities. They also can find shoe tying center, and peg board.  Of course, they also use dollar spot erasers to make their spelling words. 

My classroom doesn't have spots for backpacks and jackets - unless you count the hooks that I trip over daily. After surgery, I just wasn't trying to trip anymore. I found these sterilite bins on amazon. You can click the picture above or here to find them. 

This is my math tub, recess, mailbox and student supply area.  

My first year teaching I bought 5 of the grey bins at the top. 

You can grab them by clicking here . They are amazing. They are solid gray plastic and match EVERYTHING.  I suggest sticking with black, grey, or blue. White does start to show kicks and dirt. I have gone from 5 bins to 12. When I want a theme change, I switch the sign (They are held on by velcro dots)

I use flexible seating in my classroom, so my students need a place to keep their spelling notebook, poetry notebook, reading books, morning work pack, center packs, and pencil bag. They take only what they need. The bottom row of bins hold all of that. They are from Ikea (shocking - right) They are the trofast. You can find them here You will need bins to go inside. 

My labels for these are from here. 

The purple recess bins are from here. The labels are from here. 

                       The end is a mailbox and is from here. Now, I know this is expensive, 

                                            but it is solid wood and will last forever! 

I keep all of my math activities inside the tubs. There are hands on activities or games.

The black six drawer bins are all connected. You can find them here. 

Click on the picture above to grab the glue dots that I use to hold the labels on the outside. 

Here are some other pictures of my room I thought you would all like: 

I invested in these white containers. They were a dollar each ten years ago. They have a flippable lip to stack them SUPER easy. Find those here.  I bought 30 of them. It has been 10 years and they still look like new. Not ONE has broke. Last year, I tossed them into my dishwasher and they look BRAND NEW!  If I change themes - I pop on a new themed label rather than tossing containers for new ones.  You can find these labels by clicking the picture or here.

Latch bins are KEY to hold supplies. Look at this mess under my sink before - now look how great they look. I have an index and can find anything!  Find those labels here or click the picture above.

I no longer use these on a shelf, but here is another option using a shelf you may have in your classroom.
Find the labels here.

My library is always a work in progress. You can find these bins here from Steps to Literacy. These ones have stood the test of time. You can try cheap options, but you will end up wanting quality ones. You can find my editable labels here. 

I hope that you enjoyed the trip around my classroom. As I update my library and student desk area, I will share more. :) 

I will also take a video classroom tour so you can see it all live.