Classroom Set-Up

LOVIN' the counter tops!

My mission to create my dream classroom continues as I get ready for the new school year.  I have spent the last three days at school and feel like I have barely made a dent!  I decided to blog about the progress to motivate me to keep on truckin'.  I will just focus on the good stuff that is happening in room 203!

I am LOVING my new cabinets!  I rip out workbook pages and sort them at the beginning of every year.  Having all this counter space has made this job so MUCH more enjoyable.


I am still trying to decide what I want to store inside of the cabinets.  We have five different reading books in my room.  Five books times 25 copies of each = 125 reading books.  YIKES!  They take up so much rom and they are so heavy!  I managed to fit all of them in the bottom of one cabinet.  Out of sight and out of mind!  The best news is that I still have more space under the other cabinet.

I had some small shelves lining one of my walls.  The shelves stored lots of materials, but they had some issues.  This was the best picture I could find of the old shelves.  See them in the background?

This was an old photo so I don't have a release for this little lady.
Trust me when I say, she is WAY cuter than the cartoon face!

Here is what I did not like about my old shelves:

• All of my clutter was visible.  I love my stuff, but I don't love looking at it!  
• The shelves were cheap particle board and the bottoms had buckled from storing all my reading books. 
• They were also a dark wood and I am trying to get everything to match.  
• The tops of the shelves were getting very worn.

I looked at many websites and stores.  To get really good classroom shelves would be crazy pricey!  I found some shelves at Target that I think will be a great solution for me.  

This is my new shelf from Target!

Here is what I love about the new shelves:

• They have closed doors that will hide unsightly boxes!  
• They are tall so that I can take full advantage of my space.



The shelf on the left is the finished product.  Still working on the others.

• I can change the knobs to match my classroom decor.

Polkadot knobs!!!

I put four of these shelves side-by-side on one wall.  I just started filling the shelves and am so excited about how it is coming together.
I have most of the bottom filled and am working on filling the open shelves with containers that match and hide the contents.  I have buckets on top with books sorted by authors that we do for author study.

I found these cute clear paint cans at Joann's and I am such a hoarder that I think I need them everywhere!  I have already put a ton of small ones in my writing area.  Now I am using the gallon size cans to store random materials.  I think they look super cute!  I keep buying all that they have at my local store and then checking for more like a maniac.

Just looking at this makes me happy!!!

Hopefully, I will have some awesome "After" pictures to post soon.  Setting up the room takes so much time!