Organizing my Classroom

Am I the only one who has to change things up a bit in my classroom each year?  I get bored or something and feel like I should rearrange or just do something to switch thing up.  At the end of last school year I decided I need to do some rearranging.  Here are some pictures of what my classroom looked like when I came in the first time after the custodians had finished waxing the floor.

This is a view from my front door.  That HUGE bookshelf was at one time against that back wall, but the shelf was just too big for the space so it has now found a new home elsewhere in the building.  The shelf is sitting on top of my student tables.  In the back corner by the purple bulletin board is my computer and desk.  I am seriously contemplating getting rid of my desk this year.  I hardly ever sit at it!

This is my computer and desk area.  It is obviously a complete mess at the time this picture was taken :)

Here is what will be my carpet/calendar area.  I am standing right next to my guided reading table when I took this picture.  The student tables are to my right.

And now let's take a look at my classroom after a few weeks of hard work :)

Here is my new carpet/calendar area.  It is a chalkboard behind the blue paper so I just put magnets on the back of everything.  I LOVE my carpet because it gives each student their own space.  This is one of the first things I teach them!

My desk area which I have organized to the best of my ability.  I have contemplated getting rid of my desk and moving my guided reading table here.  That would give me a little bit more space by the back of my carpet.  Let's be honest how much time do we kindergarten teachers spend at our desk???  Not much!

My new word wall is separated into boxes.  The stars list both the uppercase and lowercase letter for each box.  I will add the students' names and sight words as we learn them throughout the year.  The table in front of the word wall will be my writing station.  I don't put out the materials for stations until I have explained them.

Last but not least, here are my student cubbies.  On that blue bulletin board I will put each student's picture with a little index card sized sign with their name on it.  I haven't completely decided what will be stored in the cubbies, but at the moment this is what I am thinking:  crayon boxes, journals, and coloring book.  I plan on putting pencil cups on each table so the students won't need to get there crayon boxes just to get out a pencil.

Hope you enjoyed my tour.  Tomorrow I will be posting about one of my favorite management tips!