Go 4th With Mrs. Kirkland: Room Setup

I have done a few things in my room so far and by although things are moving along much more smoothly this year I am by no means almost finished! My room is in shambles right now, but I have completed a few boards that I wanted to share. I like to change things up every couple of years, not so much for the kids but for me. Every year no matter if I left it the same would be new for the kids, but I would see it year after year and it would get old, quick! Here's a sneak peek into my room this year....

Here is the theme for this year outside my door. The "Go 4th" part may look funny right now, but once the circles with the students' first names on them are up, it won't look so funny. I got this theme from another teacher blog I found recently. I like it :)

Another Pinterest inspired project, the Drop Box. This is a seemingly easy concept in that kids come in with dr. notes, notes from home, etc and drop it into the colorful box. I have it by my door instead of at my desk area because we have to turn in notes to the office so they can make copies of them and then they'll put the original in my mailbox in the mailroom. I thought it would save some time for myself and the kids to just drop it in the door when the come in in the morning.

This is the Target Reading area. If you haven't heard of Target Reading, then a brief explanation is: There is one main story that the kids read on Monday and re-read throughout the week and then answer comprehension questions each day. Along with the question, there is a sentence to correct and re-write and a sentence elaboration activity that lasts all week. It can be brutal in the beginning until the kids understand the expectation of them because they'll try and turn in papers with incomplete sentences and numerous spelling mistakes along with capital letters not capitalized and much more. They do however get it eventually and it helps with their writing and reading tremendously. Another similar activity I've seen before is called Mountain Language.

This board is another Pinterest found creation. I have my CAFE menu to the left and then I'll display the spelling/word work stations on the right. I may also include some sort of reading something or other in the middle. If you don't know what CAFE is, then click on the acronym and it will take you to the Two Sisters' site. They are fabulous at explaining, because they created it :) We are not allowed to have fabric/butcher paper behind our border per the fire marshall, but really it's less work for me and it looks fine I think.

Here is the math poster area of my room. I realize it's high on the ceiling and not "student created", but I found that last year the kids used the multiplication chart and place value chart a TON. Some students had their own copies to keep in their math journal, but the majority of the kids used the wall if they got stuck or needed a friendly reminder. The geometry posters are new and were only up about half of the year last year, but the kids like that one too. Then, I have had the positive thinking poster in my room every year so far. I can't seem to part with it quite yet.

This is something new that I have never done before and I got the idea off Pinterest. It's an inspiration wall and I want to fill it with pictures of my class doing things that show the different inspiring phrases on the poster. We will write a mission statement together and I haven't decided where I want to display that in my room, but I also thought it would be cool to have pictures of kids doing nice things for others. I put this above my guided reading table and writing station.