My Classroom

Since I actually have a classroom now, I thought I'd pop in and share a little bit about what I am doing.

I am teaching 4th grade in a Catholic school in San Diego, CA. I am having so much fun! It helps that I student taught in 4th grade in UT and had an AMAZING master teacher! Many things I'm doing are because she showed them to me.

Here was my classroom at the beginning of the year.

From my desk facing the class

Facing the board

I loved having my kiddos sit in U's. It worked so well for so many things! They were all able to see each other when they were talking and that was huge! It also worked well for partner work because the person behind them (if in the inside U) was their partner.

Now, my kids sit in groups. We are doing some more group projects and are doing some sort of center work every week so groups make more sense right now. I like that they are able to collaboratively work  in one area.

As I started teaching and realized my style, my students don't sit at their desks very often. When I am teaching, they are taking notes. Some students prefer to sit at their desks and others on the floor. I allow them to choose where they want to sit when I am teaching as long as they take notes and are still participating. It's worked well so far!

I have a smart board, but it's an ENO board. I'm not a fan of the software and have been using the SMARTboard software. It's been working pretty well and having that capability has made a WORLD of difference! My students are so much more engaged in the lesson when they can come up and participate. I also love how I can save all of my notes/lessons so that I can refer to them when re-teaching and/or writing tests.

The door you see in the front of the room leads to a large closet that is housing many, many things! Outside, I had the students each bring in a picture of something that makes them happy. I think I'll have them refresh it with the holidays approaching. I have loved having that "happy place" in a prominent location and I think the kiddos like it also!

There's my class in a nutshell.

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