In front of that is the Puzzles & Blocks Center.  Behind them are the 5 Center Tubs.  Behind this divider are two tables.  One we use for Math and the other we use for Morning Meeting.  Then the wall in front of the Morning Meeting table is the Teaching Wall.  The corner to the right of that is my Reading Table. (same place as always)

Closer view

This picture is of something that's never made it to the site.  This is my built in bookcase for all my teacher resource books.  You can see on the top of the shelf paper boxes full of units and the first row of shelves is my units that I've begun putting into binders for easier access. 

In front of this shelf, you see my Magnetic Letters Center (on the front of the desk, back of another desk, and the back of the small filing cabinet.  On top of the desk facing the camera are tubs with supplies for my students to pick up and take to where ever they're working. Each tub contains crayons, scissors, and glue.  Beside those are a can of extra pencils, a cup of hand-held erasers and then small books on a turnstile.  Beside that is my Reading Center.

To the left of the shelf, you see our TV/VCR combo.

Stored on top of the cabinets are part of my units.  I store them in copy paper boxes.  Each unit/theme is stored in a box (or two or three) and labeled.  Everything that goes with that unit is in the box except for reproducibles, etc.  They're stored in a binder or file and left where I can easily access them so I can add things as I find them.

This is the west wall of my classroom.  The bookcase is mainly storage space for misc. books that aren't part of a unit/theme and aren't being used in the reading center.  The tubs are filled with excess books and tapes for the listening center.  The green shelf was made for me by my husband and it stores our puzzles on top, and our blocks on the bottom two shelves.  The red beanbag is part of the listening center.  I bought a big crate that stores the books and tapes that aren't part of a unit.  The tape player, book, and headphones sit on the crate.

I use SRA Reading Mastery I & II (Direct Instruction) as the backbone of my reading program ... along with lots of other stuff.

The tubs on the floor hold our Take-Home Totes.  These are activity totes that I made to encourage parents to work with their children at home.  They span many different levels and skills.  Most totes are brown envelopes with directions that have been laminated.  Inside the envelope is an activity.  It might be a puzzle, a game, a file folder activity, a book with an activity, etc.  There's always either a written activity for the children to complete with the help of their parent, or a response form for the parent to sign.

Each tote is numbered, and I keep a "check out" list on a clipboard for organization purposes.  The TA checks the tote back in and makes sure that all pieces are returned.

It just so happened that when I'm using my pocketcharts, which is daily, that you can't see my desk from the doorway. Often, this turns into a good place to hide on my planning period or after school! ;)  Also, the corner isn't quite so junked up now (this was right after I moved in at the beginning of school).  I now use that space between the wall and the storage cabinet to hang my song charts and even more books/tapes.  They hang on an extension rod that runs from the wall to the storage cabinet.

Behind their desks, you see the Reading Center (with the two yellow chairs) and beside that more puzzles.  They are housed in some of those nifty stackable and snap-together crates that you can buy at Office Depot.  They come in different colors and they coordinate great with my yellow, green, blue, red color scheme.

On top of the crates is our Mailing Center that I put in place in Feb.  The Center was made from a wine box that came with the dividers already in place.  I just added contact paper to the outside and name labels to each cubby.  Beside that, you'll see the Writing Center.  That's the place set aside for the students to write their messages that go in the mailbox.

You can't see it very well, but at the end of the Writing Center table, there's a utility box with letters for using in the pocketchart.  I'm adding a close up of both the letters and the chart to the Literacy Connections page.  So you can see and read more about those there.

Here, you can see one of my pocketchart stands.  I use several pocketcharts at once, so I have them back to back on each stand.  I hang them using the grommets provided, then I pin the excess material so that it doesn't flop over.

You can't see it, but on the back side of the Reading Center and the puzzles, is a 6 ft. long, 2 1/2 ft. tall shelf painted blue.  My husband made me 2 of those.  The blue one holds my math materials, and a red one holds my Lang. Arts materials.  I used these as a room divider, along  with some other shelves to partion off the main hub of the classroom.  That hub is in front of the Teaching Wall (white board).  There's a round table there where the students sit and work.  That's where we start our day off with Morning Meeting. 

You can also see the easel to the left.  It does all kinds of jobs.  The side you can see has a flannelboard.  The other side has a magnetic chalk board.  It also comes with a very strong magnetic strip of wood with 2 pegs so that it turns into a Big Book easel.  I've recently discovered that the moveable strip of wood works very well for holding my short writing chart that we use both for Daily News and for Writing Workshop.

This is a close up of the Reading Center.  In the background, you can see children working at the table that's the "hub" of our classroom.

In the foreground, you can see the edge of the table.  This is the hub of the classroom.  Lots and lots and lots of teaching and learning goes on at this table, and in this particular spot in the classroom.  After we finish Morning Meeting here, we do some kind of thematic unit activity.  I usually leave the children working here while I start pulling reading groups at the reading table.  The TA (when I had one) would monitor the children working here, as well as those completing Centers and doing seatwork.  The children get to make the decision (most of the time) what activity they're going to work on and where they want to work on it at.  As long as they're getting their assignments completed and are actively engaged in learning, I try to leave as many choices open to them as possible. 

And to the right side of the Computer Center is the door leading into the hallway.