Classroom

I love using a carpet to bring the kids together in a group, I have used sit spots in the past (oh COVID times...how we don't miss you) but much prefer using a rug. Not only does it create a sense of community but it also helps students learn body awareness (personal space) as well as collaborating skills like talking with a partner. The rug I currently have in my classroom was found at Ross.

There is large debate about calendar being part of morning meeting these days. I do find large value though in doing calendar daily. I don't put large emphasis on the year, or the date, or even the day of the week (I find that as we do it throughout the year, the kids begin to have a solid understanding of the order of the days without much direct teaching). It helps will student's understanding of past, present, and future. I use a black pocket chart that makes it super easy to switch out the calendar each month. I flip over the date each day before the kids arrive. 

I display a daily schedule that I keep in a daily schedule pocket chart making it easy to switch cards around as needed for our day to day changes. I use schedule cards that have a picture to match to help my striving readers and we track where we are in our schedule by using a clothes pin to clip where we are in the day. 

One of my favorite parts of our Morning Meeting is how many days we have been in school. I use this time to solidify and give a concrete example of base ten. I have tins that I found at Target hanging on my wall labeled as Ones, Tens, and Hundreds. Using straws we keep track of how many days we are in school. 

It took me a while to find the perfect teacher chair for group...but I finally found one at IKEA, I plopped a cute pink pillow on it and absolutely love it. It is the perfect height for reading Read Alouds to my kiddos and is supper comfy. It fits well at my table where my document camera and computer sit. 

I keep pens, markers, crayons, and a set of small student name tags on my table. I keep a basket with curriculum guides and a stack of blank paper under the table. HomeGoods has so many woven baskets that worked perfectly for bring my classroom decor together. 

I also keep a 3 tone chime at this table. It can double as a mindfulness activity (listening until we can't hear it anymore) or for attention getting or clean up cues.