Ms. Kimball's classroom!

My classroom is designed with the idea that my students and I will be able to clearly maneuver around the room, but still be able to work in groups and see me when I’m at the blackboard. The classroom is designed for 24 students (but can accommodate thirty), in four-student clusters, and has several bookshelves and bulletin boards. There is space to display student’s work, posters, learning tips, etc.; a coat room/storage room; a listening center; a math center; a writing center; a reading center and a space for the morning meeting.

The desks are arranged in groups of four, with an additional desk at one end to hold trays and supplies the students might need during the day. The desks are all arranged so that the students can see me, when I’m at the front of the room, and I can see them, too. There are no learning centers or shelves in the direct line-of-site between the desks and the blackboard, and the desk groups are staggered in such a way that the students won’t block each others views.

I want to have three paper trays stacked at each desk cluster, with a tray for completed work being turned in, a tray for homework finished but not yet due, and a tray for assignments that are still being worked on during lessons throughout the week. I especially like the idea of a tray for ongoing assignments, because knowing they are in the tray, not in a studetns desk or backpack, will cut down on transitions to that activity. I will also have tissues, hand sanitizer and a dictionary at each group of desks. Each student’s desk should have a space or cubbie for them to keep their books and necessary supplies for the day. That wa each child can take out what they will need when they empty their backpacks in the morning, and have them at the ready.

My desk will be in the back corner of the room, unobtrusive, but still quickly identifiable to anyone entering the room. Behind my desk will be electronics, supplies that need to be doled out sparingly, and any books I think will help me in teaching my class, especially books that have ideas for quick learning activities to fill unexpected time, and reference books. I want a bulletin board next to my desk, with any information that I need at the ready, including student’s birthdays, schedules for recess and drop-off/pick-up monitoring, helpful hints, any personal information I feel comfortable displaying to my students (like family pictures or cards), and a calendar that points out important dates in the school year, such as holidays, teacher-workshops, parent-teacher conferences and after school activities I want/need to attend.
I would also like a filing cabinet under my desk, preferably next to the wall, where I can keep confidential information about the school, my students or anything else that I feel needs to be protected. It doesn’t necessarily need to lock, but I would like for it to be out of the way, to help keep it private.

The coat and supply room will have hooks along the wall for students' coats and emptied backpacks, and a cubbie or basket for them to put their lunch. Ideally, above the coat hooks will be shelves for older or infrequently used supplies, extra textbooks, and more. The mailboxes are between the Coat Room and the Computer center to keep them out of the way, but easily accessible. This way, if I need to send something home with a student, I can put it in his mailbox, which he can check when he gets his things at the end of the day.

The computer station is something I believe is important to any classroom, with students of any age, and I would hope to have two desktop computers that the student’s can ear the right to use. The computers are at the back of the room, in an an effort to keep them from distracting the rest of the class, and are close to my desk, so I can easily monitor the content the students are working on, or check to see if they are goofing off online.

Finally, I want the bookshelves in the classroom to be easily accessible to all of my students and myself. I want the shelves in the reading center to be filled with the books my students read for pleasure or independent assignments. The bookshelves next to the reading center, by the Coat Room, can house practical supplies: everything from office supplies like glue, markers and scissors to paper towels, soap for the bathroom, and additional tissue boxes and hand sanitizer. The shelves by the writing center will contain paper and pencils, coloring and craft supplies and books, both fiction and nonfiction, that are used in lessons. I will also have a bookshelf of any manupulatives I will use in the classroom, like blocks and tiles, tangrams, popsicle sticks or straws.

Writing Center

The Writing Center is a large, circular table at the front of the classroom. On the bookshelves next to the Center will be stacked trays containing several types of writing paper, and next to it will be an easily accessible container of sharpened pencils with erasers, colored pencils and markers or crayons for illustrations. I would ideally have room for four to six students to work at once. Having the Center near the blackboard means I can use the blackboard for writing prompts that everyone at the table will be able to see. Putting a bulletin board next to the blackboard means that I can display the students Writing Center work.

Math Center

The Math Center is the rectangular table, right when you enter the room. It is placed there to be out of the way, so students doing math work can consult each other with questions or play math-based games without distracting other students. While scrap paper and pencils are certainly going to be available at the center, I want this to be a space with several mathematical learning options. There will be worksheets related to current and previous lessons, of course, but I also want to make sure there are manipulatives, flashcards, math games and examples of practical mathematical applications that the students will understand. If I am doing a unit on currency, then I will have cut-out currency manupulatives, games and worksheets that teach about making change, adding money and proper decimal placement. If the class is working on time, I want to have movable clock manipulatives that students can reference. I want there to be enough calculators for everyone at the table, so if the class is working on counting by eights or fours, for example, or times tables, they can have use calculators to play games and make predictions.
I want my Math Center to be a place of cooperation and group learning. Not that I won’t expect occasional quiet work, but I want to use the Center to not only teach about math and it’s relevance to my students' lives, but also about working as a team, and being able to use resources provided to discover new ways of learning relatively unyielding facts.

Listening Center

The Listening Center is a semi-circular table by the teacher's desk. It is located near bookshelves, so that supplies, CDs, extra headphones and books can be kept nearby. I chose to make the listening center space smaller than the rest of the stations, because it is far too easy for primary-grade students to become distracted when working with technology, like a stereo, especially when they are in larger groups.

Reading Center

The Reading Center is a class library, with a rug and two comfortable chairs. I plan on having my bookshelves set up with bins or baskets of books, sorted by genres, reading levels, themes and more, all clearly labeled. I also plan on having a “reading binder”, sectioned off for each student, and kept in the library. When a student chooses a book to read, he will write down the date he chose the book, the title, the author and the genre. When he finishes it, he will write down the date finished and something he liked or learned in the story:

The Reading Binder not only allows me to see what my students are reading, and analyze the themes or trends in order to direct them to other books to explore, but also is a way for my student to have a visual record of what they have read – what they have accomplished in reading – which is an excellent self-motivator. So often students receive details of their accomplishments in fragments: they get tests and homework back sporadically, and usually don’t have access to their cumulative work. I am not a fan of having a star of accomplishment chart prominently displayed on the wall for the entire class to see (and compare themselves to). The Reading Binder is a way for a student to physically see what they have accomplished, which brings about a sense of individual pride.

One final note: my classroom floor plan doesn't include an American Flag, which is an unfortunate oversight, because I believe that national pride is something to be instilled in a child at a young age. For better or for worse, this is our country, and while people disagree and fight and there is constant turmoil on both small and large scales, there is still a reason to be proud to live in America. I support the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem in public schools, as they are often times the only cultural identity Americans feel they can claim. To that end, my classroom will have a flag, above the blackboard, by the entrance to the room.