Classroom Tour

I thought I'd share what my room looks like.  My centres are not full of open, coloured baskets, but I don't like open storage, as it's very dusty where I live. There are some things in open totes because I haven't found what I'm looking for to hold the bigger things.  My goal this year is to get all the ugly totes out of my room, and replace them with new, white ones.

Lit Centres

Math Centres

                                                                               I keep my groups in fours, when possible, so it's easy to move around the room and everyone has a bit of space.  Behind the book shelf is my desk and messy corner.  It's great to have that little divider when I have things that I don't want the kids to see right away (like treats) and I have a place that's out of the way.  It's a great place to observe from.  The kids almost forget that I'm there.  I spend most of my time at the rainbow table after instruction, calling small groups.  The shelves on the back wall hold math centers in clear shoe boxes on one half, and on the other, math supplies. My Literacy centers are also in clear shoe boxes as well as some open baskets as the materials are a little larger.  I label everything and go through taking supplies out and putting away properly.  It takes so much time at the beginning of the year, but sooo worth it.  The blue pocket chart on the back wall will show centre groups and their daily centres, once we've learned them all.  My student cupboard holds all of their supplies (we share in my class) and the shelves are labeled there too for easy organization. 

Student Supply Cupboard

So far my little ones are doing really well at getting things out and putting them away.  I'm lucky as the teacher next door has similar routines in his class, so half my class came in with some idea of how things work.  It helps the guy next door is my husband!