The Moffatt Girls Classroom!
I am SO excited to finally be able to share some photos of our classroom with you!
This classroom has been a labor of LOVE and something we have been working on for quite some time. Although the space is small and the ideas are simple, this is the classroom of my dreams.
Nearly everything in this room was built and made by The Moffatt Man!
I feel very thankful to have a husband who can make such beautiful things!
This built in bookcase stores all of our daily teaching resources.
The top part of the bookcase allows me to quickly access our resources throughout the day. Instead of searching and wasting time looking for something that I need, everything is right there and ready to use.
All of those bright and beautiful containers can be found at The Container Store!
I could probably live in an all white house, but our classroom needs a POP of color.
I used orange, yellow, blue and green containers to help organize our resources.
The orange containers are math resources and supplies.
Each box has designated items so that I know where to find everything.
I have containers for math games, base ten manipulatives, math facts, shelves for our NO PREP math worksheets, and containers with different manipulatives.
This color coded organization allows me to know exactly where to find each subject.
Although the subjects for each color stays the same, I am constantly changing the resources and supplies in the containers. For example, if you take a look at the picture above with the treasure chest, you will see a box labeled “Math Games”. I have a TON of fun math games that we use and I change these out every week or two.
This allows me to make sure that I am using all of the fun resources that we have.
If I can’t see it, I won’t use it.
The yellow boxes below are for our “Reading Resources.”
We have a lot fun things in there that I need quick and easy access to. I have times like a magnifying glass, reading games, dice, paperclips for spinners, a mini boggle word game and more.
Since I use play-doh a lot, I keep a box ready to go.
This is part of our Ready2Read supplies and you can read more about that {HERE}.
That post will also show what is inside that box.
I also use stickers quite a bit, so I have a designated box just for stickers!
The girls know exactly where to find their math, reading, history, science, art supplies, handwriting, writing, and craft supplies because it is all color coordinated.
They girls also know that they are EXPECTED to put things back.
I have labeled all of our boxes so that they know exactly where to put each item.
It is EASY to keep the space organized when everything has a specific space.
My moto: “Everything has a place and everything goes in its place”.
On the bottom part of the bookcase, The Moffatt Man built cupboards so I can store all of the extra resources that we use. We have math games, reading games, puzzles, science supplies and more underneath. This keeps me organized and I am able to easily grab what I need.
I pull resources from these cabinets to stock the game section above.
On the right side of the cabinet are blue and green containers.
These containers store things that we use on a weekly basis. We have kinetic sand, paints, craft supplies, history supplies, science resources and spanish resources.
Our Polka Dot Labels are available here:
This is probably my FAVORITE piece in our school room.
The Moffatt Man picked this old school street sign up at a flea market a couple of years ago.
LOVE this!
One of my favorite features about our classroom is the dutch door.
We live in Southern California and we get a lot of sunshine. I open then door, which leads to our backyard, on a daily basis. It give us fresh air and lots of natural light.
When it “recess time”, I just open the door!
Here is a picture of our history space.
It is pretty simple, but something we refer to constantly. We have The World Map, a map of the United States and cards for each of the presidents (which we are currently working on).
Next to the whiteboard, I have our Fluency Strips. You can read more about our Fluency Strips {HERE}.
I placed them on hooks low enough for easy access since we also use these on a daily basis.
When we are done working on a set, we just put them right back!
It’s organized, it’s ready to go, and they the girls know exactly where they go.
This is our whiteboard.
I LOVE this whiteboard and use it all the time!
Since my 2nd Grader is working on parts of speech, I placed these posters right above the whiteboard. I certainly don’t plan to keep them up all year long, but will replace them with another important learning piece once we have mastered these parts of speech.
I picked up this magnetic whiteboard for about $100 at Staples .
The shelf on the bottom of the whiteboard was custom made by The Moffatt Man to hold our erasers, pointing sticks and dry erase markers.
I LOVE this little caddy!
I picked up this magnetic container from The Container Store…of course!
This keeps all of our dry erase markers in one space! I know where they are and where to find them!
I also LOVE to label things, so I stick our labels on everything!
Labels bring a cohesive feel to a room and tell everyone exactly what belongs in that space!
On the right side of our whiteboard is my pocket chart.
I primarily use the pocket chart for our Ready2Read word family cards, but I also use it for other things.
This is our table!
I LOVE this table!
Custom built by The Moffatt Man, this table is large enough for all three of us to work together.
I didn’t want individual desks with separate spaces. I wanted one large desk that would allow us to work together in one space. Since I sit at the end of the desk, I can reach over and help both girls as they are working.
At first I thought I wanted a white table, but our white tables get marked up and dirty looking pretty quickly. The Moffatt Man suggested quarter sawn oak, since that is what they used in old schoolrooms. I am so glad we didn’t go with white! I LOVE how the wood brings a warm feeling to our white room.
The chairs are from Crate and Barrel.
This little caddy from The Land of Nod helps keep us organized!
We use these supplies DAILY! This caddy make them easy to access and to put back!
This simple caddy keeps our space clean and tidy.
In our caddy we have:
*Markers
*Shapes
*Glue Sticks/scissors/hole punch
*Colored pencils
On the left of the bookcase I have our trash can, which I also picked up from The Container Store.
Underneath the trash can is a box that saved my sanity!
In this box, I store all of our paperwork.
Everything that the girls do on a monthly basis gets stored in this box at the end of each month.
In this box, I store all of our paperwork.
Everything that the girls do on a monthly basis gets stored in this box at the end of each month.
You can read more about this {HERE}.
When you walk into our classroom, this bookcase is directly on the left.
I use this space to organize most of our Ready2Read resources and supplies.
Be sure to read more about how we organize Ready2Read {HERE}.
This bookcase is from Pottery Barn Kids.
These containers (from non other than The Container Store),
hold all of our Ready2Read resources and more.
They are super easy to access and ready to use.
If I am unorganized and wasting time trying to find something, then our day is less effective!
We get less learning done and everyone feels frustrated…especially me!
If we need dot markers, I just grab them.
If we need construction paper or lined paper, it’s right there!
I try to keep our classroom looking as clutter free as possible, but I also want our resources to be accessible. I placed our Sight Word Tablets on the hooks of the end cap of our Ready2Read bookcase.
Just grab and go! If I didn’t have a specific place for them, they would end up in a pile somewhere and we wouldn’t use them.
Once we master all of our sight words, I can easily place something else on these hooks.
In order to keep our room effective, I need to always rethink things.
If it doesn’t work, I’m not afraid to change it.
If it is no longer effective, we redo it.
This is our Ready2Read Word Wall!
We have a designated space for Ready2Read because it is our core reading curriculum!
The littlest Moffatt Girl refers to her Sight Word Caterpillar and Word Family Garden words all of the time! We read and review on a daily basis! We need access to this space, which is why we have a designated spot for Ready2Read.
That about wraps up the tour of our classroom!
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by!
Annie
[…] It is quite an obsession with me ? I have had a few requests for the labels that I use in my classroom, so I thought I decided to make an EDITABLE file! This would allow you to EDIT the labels in a way […]