Learning in Wonderland Classroom Tour

Welcome to our class!

I’ve changed some parts of my classroom this year and I have to say that I’m loving how everything turned out. Please note that this is my 12th year of teaching and I did not create this environment overnight. It’s taken years to accumulate and/or create everything that is in this classroom. I am including links to all of the resources that are in this post. Some resources are from my shop and some are from other teachers on TpT. I am also including the links for the furniture I picked up from Ikea, as well as some Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. If you choose to use my Amazon affiliate links, the price is the same however I receive a small commission for referring you.

Now on with the tour!

When you walk into my classroom, you’ll see my desk area right away. I connected my desk and small group table to save space and it works really well for us.

I love this quote along the top of my classroom. It is a constant reminder to be kind to one another. I made the flowers using some patterns I found on Etsy.

Desk area:

I have a window sill right by my desk that I like to use for storage. My progress monitoring bin is right there so that I can access it quickly when it’s time to test my kids. Having my teacher toolbox right there is so handy too!

These brag tags are from Primarily Speaking and Husky Loving Teacher. I found the pocket chart at Target. Target brings these back every summer in different colors.

Classroom Calendar

Our classroom calendar is right over my desk and the library. The placement is great because it’s easy to see from all areas of the room. I struggled to find just the right calendar for my classroom. I gave up the search and just created my own. I was able to get it printed at Staples for around $5!

Here is a closer look at it. I used StikkiClips to hold the numbers and the card inserts to the right.

Library

The class library is one of our favorite spaces! The bins and books are labeled according to their bin which helps my kids put their books away in the correct place. If you would like to get more info about how I organize our books, please read the post link below that is loaded with info.

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Next to the library, we have our new futon. I found this one at Ikea. It is comfortable but tough enough for daily classroom use. I custom made the pillows using an online service. If you would like to create the same pillows, the link is below.

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Over to the right you will see our built in cubbies. In this picture you just see the book bins in there but during the day, you’ll find my students’ backpacks and supplies inside each cubby. The book bins are all from Lakeshore, except for the teal ones. The teal bins are from Target. They no longer carry this shade though. Just to clarify, I do not have 30 kids this year. We usually have between 25-30 kids. This year a charter school opened near us and we are now at about 15 kids per room. These labels are from last year and I’ll be updating them soon for my new kids.

There is some storage above our cubbies that I covered up with some fabric. Above the area you can see some toys with the word READ. The letters are from Joann’s. Most of the toys came from Kohl’s. The bus was from Amazon.

Smart Board, Bulletin Boards, and Storage

Do you see that bench in the middle? I purchased it a few years ago when I was in a different classroom and I could not make it work in this room. I moved it all over and it just wasn’t fitting right. I was about to give it away when I decided to give it one last try in between these shelves. I am so happy I tried that. It fit like a glove and finished off this whole area! My kids love to read on it. In fact, many of them read on it on meet the teacher night!

Here is another view of this bench.

I’ve had a ton of questions about this cushion. I used @easyteachingtools tutorial to create it. Putting it together wasn’t hard at all. Wish I had done this long ago!

The bins on these Ikea shelves have been unlabeled for a couple of years now. I decided it was time to label them because it was hard to find what I needed quickly. I’m obsessed with how they turned out!

On the left you will find my focus wall bulletin board. This board is essential in our class. All of our reading skills are on it for the week. We refer to it all the time!

On the far side you can see our objectives board. Below that you will find our test bin where my kids will be turning in their tests. I like this to be a separate bin so that I can just grab those papers and take them home to grade. Here you will also find one of my favorite classroom tools. This Giant Timer is a must have for all classrooms. We use it every day, all day long. The best thing about it is that you just drag the dial to the time allotment you need and the area time is shown in red. It decreases as the time runs out. It can be difficult for younger children to understand digital timers but this makes it so easy for them. It keeps us on track during the day.

Here is a closer view of our objectives board. This board is also a staple in our classroom. I like to put all of our skills for the week on the rings and I just flip through them each day to find the ones I need. My admin LOVES this board because it’s easy to find our skills that we are working on. If you use CCSS, you can purchase my friend Debbie’s objectives posters for grades K-5. If you don’t use CCSS but want to use these, good news! The posters come blank in my pack so that you can type up your info!

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Moving over to my west wall:

Our rules are to the very left. We refer to them often so this placement by the carpet works perfectly for us.

Next to that you see our grammar wall, classroom helpers board, and our technology for the Smartboard.

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On the other side of the whiteboard you’ll see this area:

This is our centers bulletin board. We are required to post our objectives for everything and centers are no exception. All I have to do is switch the cards around when we do a rotation. The grouping cards are placed below just in case a child forgets their group. (Sometimes happens between long breaks.)

This Let’s Read area is brand new in our room. I remembered that I had some Lakeshore ledges in my cabinets. I spray painted them black and attached them to the wall with some Velcro (looking back I wish I had used Command Strips to attach). I used six ledges to create this display. A box contains three ledges so I only needed two boxes to do this.

These shelves are unfortunately no longer available, but I’m linking some beautiful clear ones you can use instead. You would just attach them with Command Strips and you’d have a very similar set up.

Right below is our picture book nook. The month’s read alouds go in here and we read them when time allows.

Storage Containers

These containers save the day! I’ve always liked to copy ahead of time but I would always lose all my copies before I even had a chance to use them. I now copy one or two weeks ahead of time and put them right into my subject bins. I can then sort them into my weekly bin when I’m ready to prep those copies.

Over to the right you will see this area.

Our pencil sharpener and our pencil drawers are right there for easy access. This cubby from Target is perfect for holding our community supplies and some bins.

Zooming up above our door is our fairy door! My kids LOVE the desk fairy. She leaves notes and treats occasionally when she spots clean desks. Part of the fun of the desk fairy door is that it is super realistic. It took me a while to find a door that looked so real. I put it above the door so that it couldn’t be touched.

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That just about wraps it up for us! I hope you enjoyed the tour! If you’d like to see video of my room, you can go to my IG and it’s saved in my story highlights.

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything you see here and don’t forget to pin this post if you’d like to refer to it later!

Hope you have a great year filled with special moments with your students!

Desk area:

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Classroom Calendar

Library

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Smart Board, Bulletin Boards, and Storage

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Storage Containers

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