This is the front of the classroom where whole group instruction takes place. You can see our Open Court cards at the top and our word wall directly in front (where my kiddos can’t miss it!). Our calendar is hanging on the side wall. Other miscellaneous things: musical instruments, journals (in the brown box), pointers (in the blue trashcan, chalkboards/chalk bags in the green basket, magnetic daily schedule on the board. You can also see our behavior chart. Everyone starts the day on green. Children doing an exceptional job are turned to purple; those who need several reminders are turned to yellow; those with many reminders or very extreme behavior are turned to red (doesn’t happen often).

This is the view looking to the right from the carpet area. The shelf holds our puzzles, games, play dough, and a variety of bucket blocks (Tinker Toys, magnet blocks, Bristle Blocks, big “Lego-like” blocks, small wood blocks). Behind the shelf on the closet door is our center sign up for “choice” centers (mostly play/developmental centers). To the left of that is our door to the playground. To the right is our science center shelf. Further to the right are our cubbies and Lego table. Our Marble Works game is stored under the Lego table (much too large to fit on a shelf).

Directly behind the Listening center is our Writing Center. On the top are our clipboards for Write the Room and our Book Browse “baskets”. On the shelves we have chalk (the back of the ABC shelf is a chalkboard), colored pencils, markers (stored in ice cube trays designed for sports bottles), letter stamps and ink pads (in drawers), pens and pencils (fancy kinds), old cards and envelopes for play, picture dictionaries, picture and word stamps, dry erase boards, and Magna Doodles. We have a variety of paper in the bins (construction paper, old worksheets for playing school, and carbon paper (in the brown box).

This is a close up view of the Science Center. Some of the things we have: baskets with plastic animals and related books (whales/sharks, dinosaurs, bugs, rainforest creatures), magnet materials, locks, kaleidoscopes, color paddles, Magnetix, magnifying glasses, rocks, marbles, shells, balance scale, discovery bottles, View Masters (with mostly science related disks). To the right are our globe and our Leap Pad. I store materials and the prize box for my fifth graders under the table.

This is our Library and Computer areas. The books are organized by topic in the baskets. Our current theme (winter) is displayed in the bookcase. I bought both rocking chairs at flea markets for about $5 each. The bean bag “stump” was on clearance at Target for $3.88. My song charts hang on the “recycled” pocket chart stand. I staple two charts back to back on a hanger.

This is a view of our cubbies. Two of our four kindergartens are lucky enough to have cubbies instead of lockers. The wall above the cubbies is empty because we were just beginning our snowflake addition projects and I need to clear a space to hang them.  Our snowmen chalk drawings are on the left wall. On the table to the right (which is my volunteer table/fifth grade table) you can see the stack of dishpans. I use these to store/organize my “must do” centers for the week. I also store more materials under the table. The pocket chart in the center of the picture holds our birthdays. Soon we will change it to phone numbers. Each morning the children must find their birthday before getting breakfast.

This is our block area. I alternate between “big” blocks and “little” blocks depending on our theme (currently we have little blocks). The plastic bin holds most of our vehicles/signs/etc. I purchased the carpet at Home Depot for $20.00. To the right of the block area is the door to the hallway. Behind the block shelf is a VERY short hallway to our class bathroom and a storage closet. Above the blocks is our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom bulletin board. It really needs to be updated since it only shows 21 kids and I now have 24.

This is a view of the back of the classroom. We have 2 sinks. The open shelves are used to store paper. Unfortunately they get very messy. On the counter we have a record player, the letter sound tubs from Lakeshore (which are great but expensive), guided readers, sight word readers, our microwave, and our paint supplies. The bin on top of the microwave holds emergency sub plans. You can also see our easel and paint rack. Above the sinks, every child has an apple with his/her name on it. We hang their work under their names.

Directly across from the Library are our ABC and Listening Centers. I use the individual walkman tape players at our listening center ($5.00 at Walmart). Each tape player has a colored dot. The tape and book that belong to the tape player have the same color dots (tape is kept inside the player—only I flip the tapes). All three things are stored in gallon size bag with a matching dot. Our ABC center has a variety of materials: letter links, letter tiles, VTech letter games, beginning sound objects (in the Tool Box), foam letters, letter puzzles, letter transformers (one of my very favorite finds…just like the real Transformers but they turn into letters!), name bottles, word tiles, magnetic letters, file folder games, etc.