Visit Heather's Heart!

Heather's Heart is my newest follower.  I went to check her blog out and I couldn't believe all the cool stuff she has on her blog.  The coolest right now:

Check it out!  click on the image above to go directly to the page!

Clutter Free Classroom #8

If you are just joining or want to see what the "Clutter Free Classroom Project 2013 is all about, click on the image above.

Challenge #8: Organize your group area.

Being a play based classroom, there is not a lot of work that needs to be done at a desk.

That being said, I do have a circle time area in which I do much of my instruction.

The carpet is front of this chair. I sit in the
chair while doing circle times.  I have the
read aloud books in the file cabinet on
the right.  I use the white board to
write and show students how to write.

I sit in my chair while doing
circle time.  I have my posters
that help students be ready:
"Are you ready"
with the photos and words of center
time expectations. 

My calendar time is also my circle time
and my work area.  I keep the supplies for
calendar in those "bubbles" I got from Walgreens
(see post)

As for where I do my small group work when I pull the students out for play, I have been thinking about it, and begging my husband to take my shopping for what I would love to do.  I want to have a shelf close to my area with the supplies we use daily (scissors, crayons, colored pencils, etc) with in reach rather than always having to get them out of the art closet.

I also plan on getting a projector in my room soon and would need a shelf that would be the proper height and in width to hold the projector and the computer.  I thought this shelf I had in mind would do both jobs since where I do small group is right in front of the white board.....

I have been thinking about this, planning, and figuring since I saw the post last week.

That being said, I went shopping and found the shelf of my dreams at a price far from ideal.  I was going to splurge, but I gave up using my credit card for lent and did not have the money in my bank account today.  So, I call my mom semi-venting about the situation.  My mom says to me, "Why don't you just make one with all that wood you have in the garage?"  The wood she got for free when Walgreens re-did their back storage room and was throwing it out so she took it and put it in our garage......ANYWAY, that is what we decided to do.

We went into Menards bought screws, foam brushes, and "L" brackets.  We set to work:

My loving husband helping out, but not loving this.  If you can see, there are INCHES of snow on the ground.  It snowed 3 inches last night.....the 15th/16th of March and we have inches of snow!  So sick of winter! but I digress....

We drew out plans, measured, cut, hammered, nailed, screwed, and glued.  We then brought it inside.  It leans.  I am not sure why, we have nails, screws, and glue holding it together, but it still wobbles.  This means, it needs a back.  I am on a search of light weight wood to put on the back.

Tomorrow comes paint. I am just going to do a simple white I already have lying around the house.

***Update: 4/3/13***
The shelf is officially painted white and in my room!  Love it!

Found some shelves
at Shopko on Clearance!
Made the shelf from press
board.

This is my  small group time work area.  I have the
students sit at table 1 (left) and I sit on the end
at the bottom of this photo. all the supplies I need are
now here, and the papers I use for the day are stored
 on top rather than sporadically around the
room because I had no surface area. I used this today
and it ran SO efficiently!  I love it!

Updates!

I continue to update the "Letter of the Week" tab and the "Isn't this aDOORable" tab (as we do it).

I also added a "My Classroom" tab. As I update my theme, I will update the photos, but for now I hope it would help an early childhood teacher trying to figure out how set up one's room.

I know as a first year teacher with a classroom of my own for the first time, I didn't know where to start!  I had a "you mean I can do what I want?  How do I know what I want" moment for many weeks when school started.

Want more photos?  Have questions how something is set up, where I got it, or how it is made?  Comment!  I promise to get back to you!