September classroom of the month
By Angela Watson
Who doesn’t love seeing how other teachers arrange and organize their classrooms? I’m starting a new series here on the blog which features a a photographic tour of a different classroom each month. I’m kicking off the series with some photos I took in my co-worker’s room: Mrs. Robinson’s second grade in Fort Lauderdale. I’ve always loved her organizational prowess and bright, stimulating learning environment. (The fire marshal, however, views things differently.)
The view from Mrs. Robinson’s classroom door.
Love this desk arrangement: it’s great for cooperative learning and shared materials, but still gives the kids plenty of space to work independently.
Classroom library.
Science area. Also, conveniently, the sink and bathroom area.
Here’s where she teaches reading small groups.
More center areas.
Fabulous class-created bulletin board.
Mrs. Robinson does most of her instruction from this chair, with the students sitting at her feet. This kind of proximity control really helps kids stay focused.
And there’s our first tour! If you’d like to have your classroom featured here (and trust me, there are thousands of teachers who would LOVE to see what you do!), email me the pics or a link to your photo stream. You can also view more classroom tours on my website.
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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I love this idea!! Thanks for sharing. Being a second year teacher I am alsways looking for a better classroom set up/center ideas!
No chairs at the desks? Maybe she has a class full of "standers" who don't like to sit and work! Cool classroom!
@Lauren: Isn't it fun to see other people's classrooms? Everyone has their own unique way of setting things up. So cool.
@Anon: LOL, actually the chairs were gone because this was afterschool and they were stacked up in the corner! However, this teacher does let her kids stand when they want to. 🙂
I can't believe how HUGE most American classrooms I see are. My class in Perth (Australia) would be lucky to be half the size of this one and we are about to move into a brand new school with rooms that are even SMALLER !!!
And I would kill for the amount of display space I see – I have 2 bulletin boards in total (each about the size of a door) and rely on wheelie boards and covering windows as well as hanging work from string hung all over my room to display my students' work/charts/etc.
But then… we don't have NCLB, we don't 'teach to the test', there is no such thing as performance pay and we are run by the government rather than a local school board – win some, lose some I guess !
(jmoor@iinet.net.au)