Over the summer I spent a lot of time getting my classroom ready for school.  I was lucky enough to have my hubby take a vacation from work, which allowed me to spend some quality time setting up my classroom and getting it ready for the new school year without my kids around. I had a pretty murky vision of what I wanted so to really flush out what I wanted I decided to create a style board so I could try and put some actual images into this vision.

1. Copper pencil cups
2. Blue picture frame set
3. Clipboard display
4. Gold lamp
5. Blue rug
6. Coffee
7. Plants
8. Pencils

Once I decided on a color palate it was time to add in some items that fit the vibe I was going for. I knew I wanted my classroom to feel a little cozier and homier than a traditional classroom. I also didn't want to fill the walls with a lot of stuff, because I want my students to be the ones who ultimately decorate the room with their work. I started off by painting a bunch of thrift store frames in my colors. I left them all blank for now, but the plan is to fill them with black and white candids of my students throughout the year. I am also going to add some sort of inspirational quote to that big blank space, but I can't think of the perfect one.  Any ideas?
The next step was getting some of the curriculum-esque things up. One of the things I'll be teaching this year is Washington state history. I was able go online to our state website and download and print off highway maps dating back to 1909. I hung them up on a section of wall and created a makeshift time line out of coordinating paper (although I'm not sold on that part yet). I still need to hang up the most recent highway map, but I love seeing how our state had changed over the past 100+ years.
I am also going to try something a little different for our writing time. I had a class set of dry erase boards and I used a large bulldog clip to clip a blank piece of paper to the front. I hung them from command hooks along the wall near my student desk groups. My plan is to take a photo of each of my students, like a book jacket would have, to create the feeling of each of them being real live authors. During writing time they will each be able to grab their board and find their perfect writing space within the room. They can use the dry erase board as a way to test out spelling ideas or write questions for me so that I can circulate through the room and conference with students without hundreds of interruptions.
When I first moved into my classroom I had 4 large rolling carts filed to the brim with student library books. They were so bulky and took up a lot of space. I picked up some boards and bricks and built these long and low shelves along the front of my classroom. I deliberately did not level the books so that there is no stigma as to which section students are choosing from. I want students to feel comfortable and confident in their reading ability no matter where they are.
As you can see I've been super busy and I have a few more exciting projects to share with you in the next couple of weeks.

As I've been planning for the first few weeks of school I have come up with some fun printables to go along with some of the nuts and bolts of our joining together as a community of learners. I wanted to share one with you today! This scavenger hunt is modeled after the amazing work of the Responsive Classroom group. I spent quite a bit of time studying their philosophy and watching it in action while in school (and student teaching) and truly believe in the power of building a foundation for learning. This activity will be one of the ones I do on our first day of school and I can't wait to learn a little bit more about my new students!  It is geared at a middle elementary level (3rd/4th grades), but could easily be adapted to fit a younger or older crowd.  The download is in PDF form so you just need to click on the image or here to save it.  It is a special kind of PDF though, one that can be edited via PhotoShop.  I do ask that if you edit it to suit your classroom, you link back to me as the original creator of the document.  Thanks! :)