My Second Grade Classroom 2012-2013

I thought I would start out my new blog with pictures from my second grade classroom this past school year. I tried to use two colors in my decorating scheme, yellow and green. My classroom theme was monkeys. I had monkeys on my bulletin boards, on my classroom door, monkey job helpers and I had a "monkey" of the week board. The student who received this weekly award, would get to put up pictures of themselves 

and their family members on the board and would fill out an "All about me" paper to put up on our "monkey" of the week board. That student also got to have our mascot, a stuffed small monkey, on their desk all week. 

I love putting my students desks in groups so they can work cooperatively during some lessons. Also, notice the beautiful tree outside my windows. In the back right corner of my classroom is the "reading" corner.

I also have centers and learning games on those white wire shelves. On that long table on the right, with the lime green skirt, I have books in clear tubs that are just Accelerated Reader books. I label each book with the AR reading level and the AR test number to make it easier for my students to find the AR quiz on the computer. I also have a tub that says "new" AR books and every week I try to buy a few new books at Goodwill. Every Sunday, the sale color changes at Goodwill stores and you can buy childrens paperback books that have the sale color for around 38 cents each! My kids would love to see what new books I brought in almost every week.

This is the "reading" corner.

The picture below shows one more view of my classroom. The bulletin board on the left is our "Bucket Filler" board. My students really enjoyed reading the positive notes that their classmates would put in their buckets. We would look in our buckets every Friday!

I will be back in my classroom in two weeks for pre-planning. I will post more pictures to show any changes that I make to my classroom decorating! 

Please check out my Pinterest Boards. I have found some AWESOME teaching ideas!  http://pinterest.com/ilovetoteach123/boards/