Moving to a new classroom or changing grade levels can be exciting but exhausting. I recently changed classroom and am here to share ideas for classroom set up and room decor with you. It’s days before the start of school and the building closes for the Labor Day holiday weekend. I’ve done all I can to get this room ready for students! I’m out of time. It is what it is and it has to be enough! Ready, but not really. I need just one more week. Can we do a rewind please?

My classroom decor is a work in progress and probably will be for a long time. All of this happened between summer school, meetings, in-service and professional development days, hallway and building closures and a four person switch, each of us moving in as the other teacher before us moved out! I can’t tell you how exhausted I am. When the kids arrive, it will seem like a vacation!

How to get it all done:

Reach out to all of your helpers! It can be fun for them and a great bonding experience you will always remember! Most of the decorating itself was done in one day with the help of my awesome family and student teachers! I cannot thank my family enough for all of their help and patience during this whole production of a move!  It’s not Pinterest worthy yet, but I love my black and bright room! I hope the kids will too! This is my second grade classroom transformation!

Before Set Up: 

After Set Up and Ready for Students!

Well, what do you think?

This interesting theater-style desk arrangement was my son’s idea. I like the students to be forward facing for the first week or two, then we move into groups when I know who will work well together.

Next to it are my Beanie Babies reading strategies posters and a large closet that will be the location of our listening center when we’re ready to roll with Daily 5.

Classroom jobs and genre posters are by my glider for morning meeting and to refer to during read alouds. As we study each one, they will be moved to the focus wall. Anything that has to be moved often is on the board with Bucky Ball magnets. Our Common Core I Can Statements and Focus Wall Poster Set will be in the center board. The borders are dots on black by Creative Teaching Press which I just love because they go with anything! The boards which span the entire wall are covered with black fabric to last. It took three solid days to do the fabric and borders! What a job! I love my alphabet by Kristen at Lady Bug’s Teacher Files!

A boring wall jazzed up with some fans from the party store hot glued to the wall. These shelves are full of my word work materials and some manipulatives we use often. I have bright and black labels made, but will have to replace them later on.

This is my freebie CAFE poster board. All of the Strategy cards will be added as we work on each skill.

On the first day, we get to know each other by making a chart. Each student thinks of something they like that begin with the same letter as their first name. The kids come up with some really clever answers for this! Last year’s class poster will be used as an example. This way, we get to learn how to read each others names as well. We reread the chart every day the first week. I have six of my first graders again this year so they’ll have to come up with a new idea!

This will be the cozy reading corner and classroom library. The hundreds of books I have need more sorting by reading level and then the basket labels will be added. I bought the black baskets and bean bags at Walmart and hot pink and bright blue baskets from Dollar Tree.

So those are all of the pictures I have for now. I finally had to stop decorating and focus on team planning, my lessons and activities for the first week!

I’ll be back when I can breathe again with more close-ups, bulletin board pictures, cubby pictures and some photos of our first days fun!