MathRm218: New Year, New classroom

I have been very inspired by things that I have seen or read from many people I follow on Pinterest, Twitter and blogs. This summer, I have spent a lot of time in my classroom, (90+ degree heat - no air conditioning in the summer!) preparing my room for the upcoming year. I have always tried to have my classroom organized, clean and welcoming but this is the first year that I have theme decorated! This just does not come naturally for me. So thanks all those who have shared great ideas and inspired me to do something out of my comfort zone. I did not realize how much fun it would be and how excited I would be for the new year to start. Here are some of the projects that I have completed. It is still a work in progress and I will update as I add new things. I welcome your comments and suggestions. Here is to a great new year in 8th grade Math room 218!

My desk - When I moved into my room two years ago, I was offered this small metal desk that was rusted , dented, had drawers that would not open and closed correctly and chipped laminate on the top. The first year, my husband straightened out the dents, painted over the rust and fixed the drawers. This year, I Mod Podged the desk top with wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby and had a piece of plexiglass cut to fit. I also Mod Podged the sides with material from same store. I love it !!!

My desk sits beside one of my white boards. I have put the chalk tray to good use. Now I have color coordinated binder clips at the ready!

Behind my desk sits my only bookshelf. I made a no sew (as I am not a sewing kinda girl) curtain to cover the front. It looks neat and keeps the dust off of things on the shelves. I used a tension rod to hold it in place.

Above my desk, the ugliest clunker of a T.V. / VCR combination is mounted to the wall. What else to do but to cover it with and inspirational poster and add some coordinated border? Out of sight, out of mind.

I Mod Podged my file cabinet with wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby. To get a clean look, I removed the hardware first

To coordinate with my file cabinet, I used the same wrapping paper on an old plastic drawer system. Now I know where all my markers and highlighters are. Notice the clipboard hanging from a Command hook. I Mod Podged wrapping paper, scrapbook paper and added ribbon trim to several cheap cardboard clipboards that I use around the room.

The front of my room. My extra large Smart Board :) :) :). The computer cart on the right was found in a junk room on another hall. I covered the top with vinyl tablecloth that I bought by the yard from Walmart

On the left side of the Smart Board, I have my behavior chart and a small white board that I purchased from Walmart. I used a coordinating boarder around the board to cover the plastic frame. I write the daily standards and essential question here.

On the right side of the Smart Board is the class birthday wall. This set, as well as all borders, labels and cards that I used can be found here: http://www.creativeteaching.com/c-524-bw-collection.aspx Not only is it important to recognize students on their special day, but one of the big concepts of 8th grade Math is Functions. Birthdays are a perfect IRL example of a function...everyone has exactly one.

The small table is an old student desk with the legs cut down. I covered it with table cloth material bought by the yard from Walmart. I folded a pleat at each corner and stapled in place.

This book shelf is the first thing that you see when you enter my room. It was made for small paperback books. The shelves are so narrow that I didn't use them the first two years that I was in this room. I finally found these white ice bins in Walmart that are just the right size to fit on the shelves. The bins are covered with extra material from my desk and are used to store markers, colored pencils, rulers, etc. I attached wrapping paper to the back of the shelves using double sided tape.

My white boards are bordered with black and white shipping tape from Walmart and coordinating black and white pennant boarder.

Assignments Board: The left board is for the daily classwork agenda while the right board is for daily homework assignments. I sectioned off the board using shipping tape from Walmart. When the students come in to the room, they can see what homework is due and pages/concepts we'll cover each day. Absenteeism is an issue for some of my students. When they return from an absence, they can view the assignments that they missed.

In an attempt to teach students to take good notes, use them as a resource, and have something for parents to look at, I have started using a modified version of the Cornell Notes System. I used two poster sized sheets of notebook paper taped together to resemble the marbled composition books that the students are using. Most of them are doing a great job with their "Math Bibles".

Above my assignments board is the class word wall. The little owls have small clothes pins hot glued to their feet. I will clip the word card to the owl's feet.

These no sew curtains were made from clearance picnic table clothes from Hobby Lobby. The mini blinds have a coordinating border hot glued to the valance.

New life was added to an old Math poster with green bulletin board paper and black border.

The back door to my classroom is the perfect place for my Pi poster. I used shipping tape to secure it to the glass.

The student table was Mod Podged with the material from Hobby Lobby. The skirt was hot glued to the table and trimmed with ribbon.

This pencil sharpener from classroomfriendlysupplies.com is my favorite addition to my classroom this year. The only design flaw is that it does not mount to the wall. It was clamped to my student table but it got really messy when the students emptied the shavings tray.