We're excited to turn our blog over to Ashley N., a Kindergarten teacher in Marquette, Michigan. Ashley's mom is a member of the Pacon Customer Service Team, so of course she is very familiar with Pacon, and was already using several Pacon products in her classroom. We love how bright and colorful her room is.
As you will see, Ashley's room is very organized. She uses many Classroom Keepers® to help control the chaos. Keep reading to find out more about Ashley and her fun classroom.
About Ashley
This will be my 8th year teaching (7 years of Kindergarten and 1 year of Physical Education and Technology). Prior to this I worked with the Title 1 program as a teaching assistant for 3 years.
I love being able to watch my students grow during the year. With kindergarten a lot of them come in at various levels, and by the end of the year to see them reading and writing is a huge reason I choose to stay in Kindergarten.
The Classroom
As you can see from the above photo I incorporate flexible seating into my classroom. This is my 4th year using flexible seating. I have pillows, wobble stools, regular chairs, IKEA stools, wiggle cushions and a standing table.
The first few days of school we go over correct ways to sit at each table and they know if they are not sitting the correct way I can move their spot. I typically start the year out assigning spots and rotating every week so they all get to try each table. Once that is done, I let them pick their seats every Friday for the new week. I have the students stay at their assigned tables during work time, but if they are playing they can go anywhere.
The students seem to really enjoy the choices to sit, because for those that need to move a little there are options for them and ones that do not have a preference there are options for them. I have also put wiggle cushions at my teaching table for when we work in small groups.
I used to spend hours decorating my classroom. Now this is my 4th year in the same classroom, so I can leave a lot of my things up, and just do minor updates in August. I have kept the same theme for the last 5 years. I even have a stuffed owl that goes home on weekends with each student and they share about their adventures with him
I always look for new things to add every year, but how I have my room decorated works for now. I like to focus more on the academic things since my room is set.
One of my favorite Pacon products I have in my room is Fadeless® Art Paper. Need I say more? It is Fadeless! I have black paper in my hallway where my students have their hooks... I have had the same paper up for 3 years and it still looks as great as the day I put it up!
If you look around my room, you can see I have A LOT of Classroom Keepers. Here's a list of what I have and how I use them.
- Classroom Keepers® 6-Shelf Organizer and Drawers
- storing art supplies in my cupboard
- Classroom Keepers® Crafts Keeper
- I actually use this and the Classroom Keepers® 10-Shelf Organizer to store paper I use for my writing curriculum. I have the slots numbered so I can just say what number they need to find!
- I use these as book bins for my students workbooks, writing, notebooks, etc.
- Classroom Keepers® Storage Tote Assortment
- This product is SO durable and holds up year after year! I use this as my monthly boxes and store activities, projects, things I teach during that month. Then, when it is that month I pull it out and everything I need is there.
My advice is to get things that are functional. A lot of decorating things are cute, but I like to find things that are cute and functional.