Back to School 2014

It has been a while since I have posted! I'm going to try and post more things that I do this year in my classroom.
Let's start with my classroom picture.

This year, I only have 22 students, so there are quite a few empty desks. I changed the arrangement this year and moved my small group table to the back. Last year, it was in front and I liked it, but I love it in the back!
The letters on the back cabinets are my word wall and for each new vocabulary unit, I add the words. The students have book boxes that hold their consumables.
When I teach, I allow the students to sit on the rug and take notes. They really seem to enjoy sitting on the rug so everyone is happy!

Standing in the front looking towards the back

Standing at the front, looking towards the left

Door is to the left of the file cabinet

The front of my class is somewhat boring. The door opens into my giant closet (pics coming soon!). I have the students bring in a picture of something that makes them happy so they can look at it and relax if they need to. In the pocket charts to the left of the board are spots where I put our focus cards. I have a card for each subject and I place our theme/focus for that subject. It stays up until we have a test, and then it switches out.

The front of my classroom.

During the first few days of school, I did a writing activity that I saw from Jivey on her blog. We read the book, Today I Feel Silly, and the students had to write times when they felt the same emotion as the girl in the story. The students did a great job with it!

Another first day activity we did was build puzzles. Each table got a puzzle and they had to put it together. Some were more difficult than others, but they all had fun doing it!

We also did the Saving Fred activity which was so much fun! I was really impressed with how well the tables worked together. The students had to write down everything they did/observed and then throughout the week, we took it through the writing process and they completed their first writing activity. I saw this activity on another blog, 4th Grade Frolics.

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