Classroom Makeover (Kind Of)

I wanted to share my mini classroom makeover with y'all. As you know, I got rid of my teacher desk a couple of weeks ago. This week I worked on organizing my new "desk", small group area, and revamping my supply storage and math tub storage.

Here is my new "desk"...

I still needed an area to connect my laptop to my SmartBoard and for my Doc-U-Cam, so one of my amazing teamies had this arrangement in her room, and I thought I'd give it a try. I love it! My clutter is a work in progress, but it's not too bad for my first week without a desk!

I bought one of these toolboxes at Home Depot last weekend and it's already filled up with all my little odds and ends. It's not as pretty as other teacher toolboxes I've seen on Pinterest, but it serves its' purpose for now. Maybe a summer project!?.

I was also able to move my small group table to where my old desk use to be. I'm loving the placement of this too!

I'd thought I'd share how I organize my guided reading materials...

I have three groups. Everything I need to have for each group is in the group's drawer. Nothing groundbreaking... just works for me! Ha!

Inside the drawer, I have a folder that contains my handouts for the day, copies of the book, and the plans that go along with the book. We use the Good Habits, Great Readers reading program. 

Since I was giving my classroom a mini makeover, I decided to reorganize my math tubs and extra supplies too. Hey, why not right! It was only the week before report cards were due, I still needed to work on plans, grading, copying etc..., but you know how it is... one thing leads to another... before I knew it I was wanting to change EVERYTHING... well almost.

First, I had two out of the three tables that were lining my back wall removed. I put wire cubbies in their place. These red buckets (from The Dollar Tree) house my Math Tubs for the week. Last week we were reviewing money, so I had five money tub activities and one journal writing activity.

My money activities are from Jamie Rector. You can check out her pack here. I love it! These were great activities for my second grade friends! 

My math journal prompts come from Yvonne Dixon. You can find her March ones here. All her journal prompts are awesome!

The numbered buckets on top of my wire cubbies are my early finisher tubs. These are from IKEA. Three are math activities and three are for Language Arts. I allow my kids to choose which bucket they pull an early finisher activity from. The one means "I need help with this". This bucket has previously introduced skills that my kids may need extra reinforcement on. The two means "I'm working on this". This bucket has additional activities that support what we are currently learning. The three means "Challenge me!". This bucket has more challenging activities for either a skill we are currently learning about, or a previously taught skill. My kids love the freedom of being able to choose which tub they feel best suits their needs. I pull the activities for these early finisher tubs from many different places.

On the other side of my word work table...

This is where I store my extra supplies. My kids know where to find them, and they just go back and get what they need. The Pop Corn buckets are from The Dollar Tree.

I heart organizing! How do you organize materials for your classroom?