Meet the Teacher and Classroom Pics!

Today was our Meet the Teacher Day!  While this day is always tiring (my feet are killing me), I love seeing all of my new students.  One of the things I love about being a teacher is that you get a chance for a fresh start every year.  It doesn't matter how difficult or stressful last year was, every August I get to start brand new with a brand new group.  This year, my group seems really sweet.  Lots of them are English Learners, so we'll be doing lots of activities to help them increase their fluency in the English language.  I was able to meet all of them except for two, and I had four new ones enroll!  My class of 20 is now 24 and will probably grow.  So much for a smaller class this year.  (Insert small sigh here.)

But, before they came, I spent a week or so getting my room ready.  Now, it's not as decorated as some rooms, but our county has a fire marshal who, I believe, was Attila the Hun in a previous life, and we have the strictest rules about classroom decorations.  No fabric, no curtains, nothing hanging from the ceiling, and only 15% of the wall space can be covered.  (Insert larger sigh here.)  Plus, I make a lot of my anchor charts with my students, so a lot of the blank wall space will be filled up with our Daily 5 charts, our math charts, and some grammar anchor charts.

So, without further ado, here's my classroom for the week!!

View from my doorway looking into the classroom.

Right inside my door and to the right is a long bulletin board.  Part of it is my calendar math board compliments of Heather Perkins at Second Grade Perks!  I've had the hardest time finding a good calendar math system, but I'm so excited about this!  The rug is one of three I bought at IKEA.  They are $2.99 bath mats!

 These two pics are my back wall.  One side has my CRAFT board (compliments of Ladybug's Teacher Files), and the other side has my word wall.  (BTW, need some word wall cards?  I've got some on sale here!)

My desk faces the wall in the front corner away from the door.  This is the cleanest it will ever be.

Ready for a great year!!