My Home Away From Home

Like most teachers, I spend a ridiculous amount of time at school. Because of this, I am a bit crazy about my room. If I'm going to be spending so much time there, I want it to be comfortable and cozy.

 I am blessed to teach at a school that is only two years old. I have wonderful technology- my favorite of which are solar tubes. Yes... solar tubes! They are wonderful! They let in natural light from the ceiling reducing our energy use and, by default, boosting my mood! Nothing gets me down more than the harsh glare of florescent lights. I hardly ever use the lights and my classroom is filled with cheery sunlight-except in the morning, or unless it's raining or cloudy.

I teach reading, so my favorite part of my classroom is our classroom library. It is my pride and joy! Nothing makes me more happy than walking in everyday and being greeted by the colorful covers of the books that fill the shelves. I swear, I am a book hoarder!! I may eventually need an intervention. I can't get enough of them! I truly believe a person can never have enough books. :)

I am an only child, and my parents absolutely spoil me. It's true. I admit it. Thanks to my mommy, I have had many-a-shipment of books from all over. My library is the culmination of countless trips to Half-Price Books, garage sales, teacher sales, and the ridiculous amount of books from mom. To be honest, I will never stop buying books. I believe that having our library as the primary backdrop in our classroom gets the kiddos excited to read. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep from browsing through the bins!

My library did not always look like it does this year. In the past, I have used the cheap plastic bins from Wal-Mart to store the books. Of course, anytime I needed more, they would be out of the color I needed, so my poor library looked a little something like this... (excuse the poor picture quality)

This year, my amazing parents gave me the best gift ever- new bins- and the good ones from Really Good Stuff!!! They are worth every penny! Thanks to a ridiculous amount of books my mom bought for me over the summer and the beautiful new bins, my library now looks like this...

Ahh... I just love it! Blue is my favorite color and I love how it brings a sense of uniformity to the books. If you like the bins, you can check them out HERE.

To get the kiddos excited about the library, it was off limits for the first four days of school. I tempted the kids all week with sneak peeks of various books from the bins but did not allow anyone to check books out. After a grueling four days, we had our grand opening! I made it a big deal- complete with a grand opening sign and colorful streamers. The kids were psyched when they came in the room! They were itching to dive into the bins- but of course, they had to hear the "we will respect our books and library" speech from me first. :)

The kids had a blast looking through the bins for the first time. We may have gone a little over our allotted reading time that day.... shhhh!

Here are a few other random shots of my room. I'm regretting that I didn't take pictures of the room BEFORE the kids came... oh well- you see it now as it is today!

These pictures were taken in the morning, so you aren't able to see the effects of the solar tubes... boo! You will have to use your imagination!

I conveniently *forgot* to take a picture of my desk... I guess you can use your imagination with that, too! :)

My classroom isn't anything fancy, but it's "home!"