Aloha! I've officially been a 5th grade teacher for 2.5 weeks! And it's going well! Today I wanted to take some time to show you some classroom set up that is working!
When I came in my room this summer, I had enough desks for 16 students, but I knew I would have 25. Instead of begging the custodians to find me more desks, I decided to embrace the challenge and try to go for more alternative seating this year!
I ended up getting rid of all desks except one double that was set pretty short. I got a kitchen table for free on Craigslist, pulled a rectangle table in from the hallway, and utilized the existing round table, kidney-shaped table, and computer desks for student seating.
Now, since my students don't have desks, where do their things go?
Backpacks go on this
backpack cart from Lakeshore Learning. Thank you Donorschoose! We just wheel it out to the hallway during classtimes.
All supplies are shared and go in these drawers on the bottom shelf. The labels are from School Girl Style's
Flamingo Watercolor Set. I used the font
Sweet Peony. The middle shelf has clipboards, crayons, mini-staplers, and date stamps. The top is where I set down my curriculum books or read alouds, colored pencils organized by color, along with loose leaf paper, tape, extra scissors, pens, and index cards in the letter trays.
Homework gets turned in each morning to these student mailboxes. I also use it to pass back papers, tests, and notes from the office. Thank you again, Donorschoose! I've had this Quill
Literature Organizer for 6 years and it is still going strong!
Book boxes are really important in my room! They house independent reading books, reading journal, writing journal, and a science poetry book. When kids finish assignments, I don't have a fancy fast finisher area, I only allow them to read or write. They can grab their book box, get cozy, and get to work!
I bought this
booktruck from Demco a few years ago when I was drowning in text books. I love that it has double sided storage and moves. This year each group has a large magazine file to house social studies folders, reader response books, and spelling journals. On top is old leveled readers that I let the kids take home if they want. The other side is all the extra loose leaf paper, composition books and folders.
Homework binders and planners go in chair pockets, just like my last year's class. These are the large Seat Sack Plus from
The Original Seat Sack Company. They are my FAV! Super durable!
These girls are sitting at my free kitchen table!
There are enough chairs for every child, even though they are not required to sit in them and they sit in new seats each day. The kids are grouped into 5 heterogeneous groups of 5 for our current social studies and science units. I'm doing expert groups/jigsaw activities for both units, so it's super helpful to have them in the same groups. As they come in in the morning, each group decides where they want to sit and places their team sign on the table. The table number holders are from Amazon. I went to two different restaurant supply stores on island and they didn't have them. I tried to buy local! Lol.
At each table is a supply caddy for supplies they need more often: pencils, erasers, glue, scissors, and crayons. Some of the caddies are from
Really Good Stuff and some are from
School Girl Style. Melanie has some awesome colors in her shop!
So far, I'm really happy with this set up! And the kids and I can easily move tables and chairs to the side to have more space in the classroom for dance or drama. And I'm happy to not have extra things from home all over the classroom, just the necessities!
What are your favorite storage tips?
This year in 5th grade, I'm using Seat Sacks again. This time I opted for the larger sized Seat Sack Plus for the bigger chairs. They have two extra smaller pockets and also came with a pencil pouch!
