Is it August already? In just a couple of weeks, I’ll be welcoming a new group of students into my classroom. I’ve been spending some down time in my classroom over the past several weeks preparing and getting things set up. I always love being in my classroom during the summer time because it allows you to work slow and get things done at your own pace. All teachers know, when school returns, the to-do lists become endless. My theme is not much different than last year. I like a cheerful, welcoming room as you will see!

Welcome to room 606

(Thank you to Kynslee’s Creations back home in Clover for my

new door decor with my new  married name!!)

Reading Nook/ Bulletin board for anchor charts

House Center/ Bulletin board to display work

Writing Center

Front of the room is set up for whole group learning

Back of the room where you can see center shelves, cubbies,

work time buckets, birthday wall, etc.

My computer area

Friends & Family board to display pictures that students bring in/

change over time to show pictures of how we grow and change over time

The Safe Place is a place for our friends to go when they are feeling sad or emotional

(It is located next to whole group learning so students can still focus)

Conscious Discipline Posters and Art Wall to display work

Social Studies display board

Math center/ display board

Lunch Menu where students will make a lunch choice each day

New name calls for a new monogram 🙂

I still have to add students names to the balloons 😉

I teach at a NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) school. Many of the rituals you saw in my classroom come from NAEYC. If you are a teacher looking to try some new rituals with your students, they may enjoy some of these!

Some of the rituals NOT pictured include:

Safe keeper box: students place a heart with their name on it into a box each morning

Kindness Jar: This year I am doing a kindness flower pot. Students can move their flower from the pot into the kindness jar for being kind and we will recall who was kind that day during our closing meeting

Wish Well: At the front of the room, you can see a purple tray on the wall. This is used to write absent students names on each morning and wish them well.

Celebration board: At the front of the room, you can see a blue tray on the wall. During closing meetings, we think of things to celebrate from the day that we worked really hard on.

Job chart: Each student in class has a job. It unites us as a class and makes them feel important. This year I really thought about jobs to create that would help me out as a teacher and jobs that the students would find enjoyable and get to do each day. Examples: putting the lunch sticks out, putting the hearts out, putting away book baskets, etc.

Alright teacher friends, its a new year, we got this! At the end of the day, we just have to love them and show them that we care. This is my second year teaching so this year is a pretty big deal because it is my SAFE-T year, also known as ADEPT year. Any advice?! Let me know in the comment section and share some of your classroom ideas!