Hello blogging buddies!
Well, I made it! I survived my first week – and it was AWESOME!!!
I will blog about it in more detail in the near future (when I can get over the need of a nap every afternoon!)
Today I finally want to share some pictures of my
finished classroom!

Here’s the view from when you first walk in:
I’m going to move clockwise around the room:
Here’s the “Baggage Claim” where the students hang their backpacks and lunch boxes:
Sink/Cabinets (very handy!)
My classroom library, part one (fiction)
Classroom library, part two (fiction continued)
This bookshelf is behind my desk area, keeping all of my curriculum books and idea binders:
This pink crate holds the picture book read-alouds I plan to read throughout the year:
Yes, I definitely still read picture books to my fifth graders and YES, they LOVE it! 🙂
Classroom library, part three (non-fiction):
Here’s where I organize and store my task cards, student journals, and spare paper:
Here are the bulletin boards in my room:
Rules of the Road
You can read more about my Bible-based Classroom Rules HERE.
Flight Crew: Classroom Jobs
(sorry for the glare – everything is happily laminated for use year after year!)
Postcard Exchange:
I’m SO excited to participate in a postcard exchange with teacher bloggers around the country:
Isn’t that map awesome?!?
I bought it at Wal-Mart for $5!
40 Book Challenge
I am jumping on board The Book Whisperer’s 40 Book Challenge. I got the cute bulletin board set from Melissa at Wild About Fifth Grade
This board is where we will post our wonderings:
I blogged about that simple idea HERE.
For now, I used these awesome Brain Riddlers from Rose Loiacono
And now we’re back at the front!
Here’s the view of the door:
These are my bathroom passes – the student puts it on his desk, goes to the bathroom, squirts some sanitizer on his hands, and then puts it back. It’s a visual reminder as to who is out of the room and it cuts down of germs for those kiddos who “forget” to wash their hands 🙂
I decided to double name-tag my desks this year, because I liked the idea of having name tags on the front for me (or a sub) to quickly reference, but I often put them in groups, so these name tags will sometimes be covered. Therefore, they have these passport name tags on top of their desks too:

I’m trying out sign language hand signals in the classroom this year.
I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
Each month we will focus on a different character trait to work on:
WHEW! Thanks for making it all of the way through this picture-heavy post, friends 🙂
If you have any questions or want something explained in more detail, please leave a comment and I’ll e-mail you ASAP. If you’d like to learn more about my travel-themed classroom, you can click on the tab at the top of the page:
I’m linking up all of these ideas that I’ve MADE with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics