New Year, New Decor!

I know... It's not exactly the "New Year" for school or the calendar, but I'm a little behind in posts.  😯

This past summer I stumbled upon a wine rack at the thrift store. (Maybe I shouldn't have said "stumbled.") Since I can't have wine in my classroom, I thought I would have the next best thing- COFFEE!  The picture on the right shows the wine rack after I removed the slats that held bottles of wine.  I thought it would make a cute coffee bar for my classroom.

I searched Pinterest for some ideas and inspiration.  I decided I liked the color combination of red and teal.  One of the biggest reasons I used the color combo is because I already had lots of red stuff in my classroom.  I had acquired a primary colored classroom theme by default.  I hadn't planned on changing anything, it just happened that I was inspired.

I had a blast looking for little things to add to my decor at Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, Target, and of course the thrift stores.  I had decided that I really wanted to make my classroom look and feel more "homelike."   We spend SO much of our day in this room, it should be appealing and comfy.

I found some cute wire picture holders on clearance.  The sales lady even reduced the price further because of a missing clip and a small ding on one of them.  I only paid about $15 for the pair.  I sent a letter home to my classroom families asking them to send in family pictures.  I posted them on the clips above the coffee bar.  I also have a cute framed poem about families propped up on the refrigerator.

I bought wire farmhouse baskets to insert in the coffee bar piece.  I keep snacks and other kitchen things like paper plates, napkins, and plastic silverware in the baskets.  I added a red chevron burlap bow to the bottom basket.

I bought the mugs at the thrift store and hung them on a rack.  My son added the lettering that says "The Classy Cafe." (My principal thought of that title.)  I bought the little wire 2 tiered holder at Hobby Lobby.  It's filled with napkins and K-Cups of coffee and tea.  I love when my friends come in to visit and grab a cup!

The little cafe table was something I had in my backyard.  One chair is broken so I only have one.  It was originally black wrought iron, but I spray painted it red.  I think it turned out cute!  I just threw a piece of blue polka dotted cloth on the top.

I recovered my 2 file cabinets with chevron paper in red, teal, and yellow.  I found the yellow curtain that is covering a large book shelf at the thrift store. I liked the little pop of yellow with the red and teal.  I used yellow knobs on my drawers of the coffee bar and desk.

Here's a picture of my desk area:

I painted the desk ($25 from the thrift store).  A friend gave me the little red polka dotted curtain to hang under the sitting area.  I just use the desk as a storage area so I stick things under it.  I found a bulletin board that I covered in red polka dotted fabric too. Then I added some accents of burlap ribbon for border.  The blue flowers came from The Dollar Tree.

My husband made the book shelf that is hanging above my desk.  I wanted an area where I could put some of my professional books.  Most of those books I keep at home.  I have a collection of books that is, according to my mother, just sinful.

I bought the wire 3 tiered hanging file at T.J.Maxx  (not sure if that is how you spell it).  I decorated a small lamp shade and added an accent lamp near my desk.

I wanted to make new book labels for my book bins and try to reorganize a bit.  I got a tall wire spinning book rack from a friend whose store was going out of business.  I found the toy chest bench at the thrift store too.  The accent pillows are made from bandanas.

The chair I had in my reading area was falling apart.  I found this red chair at a home store consignment shop.  I bought a yellow pillow at Target for an accent.

The wire 3 tiered book rack on the left is red.  It doesn't show up well in the picture.  I bought it at Hobby Lobby. The other small wire rack on rollers came from the thrift store.  I painted it and added a ribbon.  I kept the same rug that I already had.

Like I said, it was a blast redecorating this summer!  Here are a couple of other pics that show where we keep our i-pads and classroom supplies.

Thanks for stopping by!  Do you have a classroom theme or color scheme to share?

The Learning Calendar

Several years ago I started The Learning Calendar with my students.  I was teaching first grade at the time.  I wanted to find a way to help my students reflect on the day's events as well as what they had learned.  Originally, my thought was that if we talked about what we learned at the end of the day, maybe they could remember it for at least a few hours.  When Mom or Dad asked, "What did you learn today?" the response MIGHT not be, "Nothin'."

We started by meeting at the end of the day to talk about these things.  We would sit on the carpet while I modeled for the students what I wanted them to do.  I would say things like, "Today we learned about visualizing when we read.  Visualizing is when you make a movie in your head.  It was Joey's birthday today.  We earned 2 character rocks today.  In math, we learned to skip count by 5's."  Then I would write these things on a calendar that was posted in our meeting area.

The calendar had a small writing space which made it really hard for students to do the writing.  I ended up always writing our day's entry.  I really wanted this to be a student led activity in the end, so I designed a much larger "calendar."  (I had the idea, but I didn't build it)

It is attached to the wall at a height for students to write on.  We have one student each week who is in charge of writing on The Learning Calendar.















Our calendar really is a large roll of paper.  It scrolls behind two small plastic pieces that hold it in place.  I made a template from poster-board that goes over top of the paper.  It has a place for the number of days we have been in school, the temperature and sometimes we have a drawing of the weather (like a sun), the date, who is recording the information, and what we learned.  It's a simple way to collect some data that we review later in the year.

The big white space is for writing what we have learned.  I have tried to teach the students to begin their entries with "Today we learned..."  or "We learned that..." because I really want the focus to be on the learning.  They usually include some other little notes too, but that 's fine with me.  It makes it more original and memorable when it comes from them.



We continue to write an entry a day for the entire year.  At the end of the year, we have a Celebration of Learning.  This is when we display the learning calendar.  It is really cool to see it all rolled out for the entire year.  I usually do this in our school's gym because it takes up so much space.

Students enjoy looking for things on the learning calendar that they remember throughout the year.  Sometimes they look for special days like field day or when an author came to visit.  Other times they look for their birthday or when a new student joined the class.  But it also reminds them that we have really learned a lot throughout the year.  They remember when we just started multiplication in math.  Now the students are great multipliers and can do this independently!  The students have such a sense of accomplishment when they review The Learning Calendar.

It's also great for parents to see.  They are often amazed at how much we accomplish in the year.  The Learning Calendar really helps document our growth and accomplishments.

Do you have an end of the day reflection piece?  What do you do?  I would love to hear some other ideas!

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My Classroom

I thought I would give you a peek inside my classroom.  I teach second grade in a self contained class.  I have tried to make my classroom warm and inviting.  Here are a few pictures of the inside of my room. I plan to talk about certain features in future posts.  Anyhoo, you get the idea.  I didn't really choose the colors with a great deal of thought.  It just seems that I started to accumulate stuff with primary colors, so I went with it.  I'm too far in to change the color scheme now.

I love seeing inside other people's classrooms!  My favorite part of back to school is getting my room ready.  Each year I try to add something new to spice it up a bit.  We spend so much time in our classrooms.  I think I decorate as much for myself as I do the students.

Welcome to Teaching Tips and Treasures!

I have finally made the leap from blog stalker to actual blogger.  I am really looking forward to sharing ideas and collaborating with others!  I have been so inspired through other teaching blogs.  I hope to be able to add to the conversation.

If there is one word that summarizes my teaching philosophy it would be independence.  I use this word a lot in the classroom.  I tell my students that we are always learning and working toward being independent.  My job is to give them tools and strategies that enable them to do things on their own.

"Independent" is posted above my Daily 5 charts

How do you move students toward independence?

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