Freshened Up My Classroom!

My goal for the summer was to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate, and boy did I need it!
Although the time went by much too fast....... Mission accomplished!

Here's a look at some things I did to freshen up my classroom. I first need to tell you that
my room has had a split personality for a couple of years.  I've always had a red, white and
black themed classroom. When I began teaching second grade I moved into a room with a
bright blue wall.  EVERY shade of blue is my FAVORITE but it didn't really go with anything
I had in my classroom!  It's taken me a couple of years to finally replace the last of the red
and I'm still working on a few little things...priorities right?

With the help of a little spray paint, duct tape and LOTS of new labels I've almost completed
the switcheroo!

I spray painted some of my book tubs and found the rest of these baskets
at Big Lots.  Our past summer cleaning crews have had a real knack for breaking
things, especially bookshelves! I finally caved and bought these metal
shelves at Target.  They're super sturdy and as a fun little bonus, the zig zag pattern
on the front kind of matches my chevron borders.

My classroom is pretty small so I condensed my library and made new labels. 

I have one more shelf

and several boxes of books to try to squeeze in here!

I updated my word wall and daily schedule with these ADORABLE labels from
Ladybug's Teacher Files.  I LOVE her design and color sense and how clean and clear all of her labels are!
You can find them {HERE} and {HERE}

Ladybug's Teacher Files

Ladybug's Teacher Files

 Here's how I used them...

Labels:  Ladybug's Teacher Files  Flag graphic Krista Wallden Creative Clips

I  made these new calendar numbers to match...

Graphic: Ashley Hughes   Font: Kevin and Amanda

Here's the start of my math wall...

I'm in the process of updating a lot of my math and ELA visuals and reference charts to match
my new colors.  Rather than remaking them I used a little duct tape to cover the red! I found this
polka dot duct tape at Big Lots.

I did have to remake the 'standard form' chart because somehow it disappeared!  How does that happen?

I'm now a little duct tape happy after seeing these on Pinterest!   Laura from First Grade Spies
has a fun blog post on how she used duct tape to pretty up all sorts of things!
Stay tuned!  I have a ton of these frosting containers!

Pinterest via First Grade Spies

I had a lot of great finds and accumulated quite a pile by the end of the summer!
I found these goodies at Target:

I removed the staples and cut apart the pages of the wipe clean books so I could use them in my math stations and  I was so excited to find turquoise pocket charts!

Every year I head to Lakeshore to stock up on people colors construction paper.
While at the I Teach K and Differentiated Instruction conferences this summer I added to my dice
collection!

My kiddos love these books!  I first found them two years ago at the DI conference and stopped               by her booth again this year hoping for some new ones. These were created by high school teacher,   Carolyn DeMoss, looking for a creative way for her kids to practice math skills. You can check out Carolyn's website {HERE}

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for their Teacher Week 2013! 

 Stop over to see some fabulous classroom digs!

Well, I'm off to plan!  We actually started school last week and I have all sorts of things to
show you but first things first, right?

Have a great week friends!