Make Sure You Don't Miss My 2017 Classroom Reveal

I'm so beyond thrilled to share my new classroom with you guys! I put so much work into re-working this space over the summer. After I started the school year, we lived in our space for a few days, and then we made tweaks to the layout as a class. I am pretty sure this is how our room will be for the rest of the year, at least for the most part!

I was super, extra lucky this year because Oriental Trading Company reached out to share some of their amazing classroom products with me for review in exchange for my honest opinion. LET ME TELL YOU... I already knew I loved Oriental Trading, but I REALLY love a few of the things they shared with our class this year. I feel like there are a few things that really made the room pull together. I'll show you everything!

Above is the view from one of the corners of my room. You can see a good shot of most tables here. A few people asked me where I got the rug on Instagram. It came from Walmart! I ordered it online and looked at rugs that were on clearance. So far, I'm really pleased with it.

Above you'll see some of my yoga balls, some math manipulatives, our word wall, our class hermit crabs, and our mailboxes. The math manipulative containers used to come in some kind of ugly pastel colors, so I spray painted them to fit with the room. I have some green, teal, and gray containers now. I much prefer those to the awkward pink, purple, yellow and green containers they used to be! I just used Rustoleum. If you have plastic containers you hate... don't buy new ones! Just get some spray paint!!! It's cheap and easy.

Oriental Trading Company totally saved my mailboxes with some plain, black duct tape and some awesome washi tape. I used some contact paper on the sides of my mailboxes, covered up the sides with the black duct tape, and covered the edges of the mailboxes with washi tape. Instead of attaching labels with names to the plastic things that I put the washi tape on, I attached them to binder clips. That will make next year so much easier! I cannot tell you how darn ugly this mailbox system was, but it was so sturdy! I couldn't throw it out. This turned out better than I could have imagined. Never underestimate what a little tape or contact paper can do! The contact paper I got was from Amazon. There's tons of it on there!

Move a little to the left, and you'll see the rest of the word wall. I have another yoga ball table (those two gray ones were $20 on Amazon!) You can find cheaper yoga balls sometimes, but I find these to be a sturdy brand. I don't need to spend $10 on a yoga ball just to replace them in a month. My Gaiam yoga balls lasted all year last year and they are still going strong. The cheaper ones I got from Walmart popped within 1 to 2 months. 

I also have an awesome drawer system, and the top of it serves as a work surface. That drawer system came from the Jane app, which is also a website. It's super sturdy and I could not love it more. It was $40 if I remember correctly... not too shabby for such high quality drawers! Every other comparable item I saw was at least twice the price.

And here's a shot of my classroom library! One of the library boxes is missing, but I am really proud of how many books are available to my students. I (Well, it's not missing. It's just sitting in my teaching area because I'll be using it for a lesson tomorrow morning.) I have about 60 boxes of books for the students to pick from. Half are leveled, and half are sorted by genre or topic. I just don't think one shelf of books cuts it. However, it takes a LONG time to gather that many books. I cannot recommend Scholastic Reading Club more; it will get you TONS of free books... for very little effort. Make sure to check out this post I wrote describing how I use them! 

Students love sitting in the teepee, but I have a rule that it can only fit 1-2 students at a time. Inside of the teepee, I keep a lap desk students can sit on (one side is a cushion) or write on. I've also got tons of clipboards the students can use whenever they want. The wooden shelf on top of the book case is our writing station. It's filled with editing checklists, writing paper, etc. Finally, the black chair is our "chill chair," which students use for taking a break.

On the other side of the library, I have this little bench. I covered up a teacher area with that curtain. There are a few book boxes in there that I use for mentor texts, so I found it was important to cover them up. I didn't want students getting confused when book shopping! I store a bunch of my files in the corner because I don't have a desk. It's a bit over-flowing right now... but in a few weeks hopefully I will get some of that put away!! (YEAH RIGHT! HA!)

Here's another view of that little corner. I put my old teacher's desk on bed risers for a cheap standing table. The kids love using it! I also put two stools underneath incase they decide to sit. The two small rocking chairs came from Home Goods a few years back, and the big rocking chair was my grandpa's. One day I'll get around to painting it.

I used more of Oriental Trading Company's washi tape on my board to separate things. I love their lime green tape! You can also see my butterfly set up on the table by the smartboard. I put them in a tomato planter covered with tulle. Read more about how to raise Monarchs here. Next to that is my cart from Michael's. I love it! The caddies in my room also come from Michael's. They might still be there if you go soon! I also saw some nice lap desks made of plastic when I went, but I didn't grab any.

Here's another shot of a table I grabbed for $10 at a yard sale this summer. I painted it with more Rustoleum. Spray paint makes lazy people very happy!! 

This spot in my classroom totally surprised me. This is our closet, where we hang backpacks. I thought I'd put our pillows in buckets under here and that the top would just keep backpacks from falling in. Even though I have a huge class and not nearly as many hooks as I'd like, the kids keep the closet really neat this year. This is actually a space the kids like to use! They turn the tubs over and put one pillow on top. Again, the pillows in the pink bin came from Oriental Trading Company. I love that the pillow cases come off. They are machine washable. Let's be real... these look great now, but they won't in a few months. SO GLAD I can wash them so they will continue to look nice!

This is probably my favorite decorative touch in the classroom. The string lights on the ceiling make the room feel SO cozy and homey. In the morning, I often leave the fluorescent lights off and only keep my string lights, salt lamp, and floor lamp on while playing calming music or nature sounds. It makes for a peaceful morning of unpacking before Morning Meeting starts! I got these from Oriental Trading Company also. I love that the bulbs are PLASTIC. I got some bulbs for my back deck once from Target, and WOW did those things break left and right. NEVER AGAIN. I'm not bitter....

Anyway, these lights are LED, and they made me VERY happy while I was setting them up. You can buy them here. If you've broken a bunch of bulbs like me, you can relate to this!

FINALLY... big news! I got two new class pets! Our class now has "skinny pigs," which are hairless guinea pigs. They are sisters, and they are about 7 months old. This is their epic cage set-up by the sink. I am turning my classroom into a zoo. Guinea pigs, hermit crabs, and caterpillars... and in the spring we'll have chicks! Here's a better picture of Nibble and Nugget, who come home with me on weekends and days off...

Anyway, that's my room! If you have questions about anything you see, comment below and I'll make sure to get back to you!