After Pics

Yesterday, I completed my room set up. We had until 1 p.m. to wrap things up and the experience left me feeling a bit like a chef on the show Chopped, frantically plating food as the seconds count down on the clock. In the end, I made it, although I still have to sort out my leveled books. That's a big job in itself, but I'll get there soon. Hope you enjoy the trip into a combined 2/3 classroom in Toronto. I want people to see what you can do with limited space and without spending much money at all.

- Erin Hawkins

Here's the view from the doorway. I borrowed the layout idea from the slightly old, but still excellent board publication, Teaching Children How to Read and Write. I will try to take some pictures of suggested floor plans for different grades and share them at a later date.
The large carpeted area is a teaching area for reading, writing, social studies, and science. It's also an open area for a student reading lounge. The area has two coffee tables kids can use for writing if they need an alternative workspace other than a desk.
I was going to get rid of my teacher desk entirely, but my mom, a retired teacher talked me out of it. I came up with a good compromise: computer desk. I can still pull out the little writing tablet if I need to write something at the desk. The green felt park scene tablecloth is from Pottery Barn Kids. I found it brand new at a Goodwill in Scarborough for $1.99. The wooden chair was bought at a yard sale in St. Catharines last year. I bought two identical chairs for $5.00. The gingham seat cushions came from Ikea.
Sorry about the poor photo quality here. The natural lighting was uncooperative at the time. Anyway, here you see the class from the back looking to the front. This fabulous bookshelf on casters belongs to the school. It makes a great divider. Note the desks in table groups. I set out to create microspaces for teaching, rather than having the kids in rows facing the front. It's my hope that this layout will be more conducive to differentiated instruction, hands-on learning, and give me more freedom to pull one grade for specific instruction while the other grade works at a different area.
Looking in at the reading area. My dad bought the lovely map table at a garage sale in St. Catharines. He put the legs on it for me. You'll may remember the old tin tartan picnic basket (holding books) and neon orange magazine holder from my room last year. They were bought at a rummage sale and yard sale respectively. The blank wall will soon be the word wall. The pocket chart was given to me by my sister.
I liked the chair which was already in the room. This whiteboard/chalkboard easel was picked up at an East York yard sale back in the early spring for $5.00. The wood/rattan magazine holder on the floor was bought at Goodwill and cost $2.99. It now holds big books I'll use for teaching. I'm so excited about this year! The leveled books will go in those little orange and green Dollarama bins on the bookshelf.
This wooden chair was in our school and slated to be trashed. It was covered in shelf-liner and as a result would need a lot of Goo Gone to remove the stickiness. Since I'll be using it for messy art-related activities, I decided to recover it in shelf-liner. I found this gorgeous roll at Zellers for $8.99. The vintage cooler box was bought at a yard sale for next to nothing. It holds felt and other fabrics.
This easel was bought at a garage sale in St. Catharines by my folks. Students will use it for creative activities linked to science and social studies.
I've turned the students' desks around so that they can't use it to stash junk in. This always drives me crazy. Also, students will not have "their desk." I'm doing this so that I can work with students in different groupings without having kids complaining that somebody is sitting in "their desk." The will get their own cubby, which you'll see further below.
There were so many random wash basins filled with random books when I moved in. I'm going to sort them by genre/author as soon as I have time.
Side of writing centre. Here are the cubbies that the children will keep their work in. I didn't have enough spaces for the whole class, so a few kids will get a file folder. My sister got the cubby shelf at the tail end of a garage sale for free. I think they just wanted to get rid of it. Sweet.
Beside the cubby shelf is the bed in breakfast tray that will be used for "Today's work." I bought this at a yard sale a long time ago. Below, the rattan basket will hold the weekly homework. It used to hold my son's (clean) diapers. True.
Here's the writing centre. I love this space. The little round table came from an estate sale in St. Catharines for $3.00. The carpet was donated by a teacher at my school. The cursive alphabet is at a low level so that the grade 3 students can work on their cursive.
Yet another teaching area. I may use this trapezoid table for guided reading. I'll just pull it out and we can sit around it.
Here's the math centre. Luckily there this dividing shelf was already in the class and filled with math manipulatives. I just moved it and turned it into a dividing wall. The big easel was already in the class. Love it. I put a desk calendar on the easel so that we can meet in the morning to briefly look at the days of the week. I'm going to have interactive bell work set up in the centres for when the students arrive. I want to start each day with a meaningful activity.
Shells on the math shelf. I want to put things out that will stimulate inquiry with the students. I may have to move the plant when the gerbils arrive. The basket was thrifted at Goodwill.
The stool was thrifted at Goodwill for next to nothing.
You may remember my vintage flour/sugar/tea tins from last year. They now hold math manipulatives. I want to work on my collection of math-related picture books for the class so that math and literacy are more closely connected.
I garbage picked this bookshelf in the summer. I remember seeing it out by the curb on my way to my reading course. I told myself that if it was still there on my way back home, I was meant to take it. I was a hot slog dragging it home, but now I'm really glad it's in the class. It's holding science encyclopedias and those amazing Getting to Know Nature's Children books on animals.

Here's the listening centre. The little orange vinyl stool is a sewing basket. I bought it at an estate sale for $2.00.
My CDs and a whole lot of cassettes. I'm a bit sad that there are no books to go with the cassettes. Not to mention that it's pretty old technology. I guess I could teach the kids how to use tapes. This is one step away from 8-tracks. Break out the Jethro Tull.
Realistically, I think I'll spend my Scholastic bonus money on CD/book combo packs.

Extra storage is always handy.

I garbage picked this drying rack at a daycare on Danforth. It needs new shelves on the bottom. I'll have to run to Rona.
Dollar store hula-hoops for word study activities. This cupboard seriously needs some jazzing up. It's on my list.