This update has been a long time coming, but I am finally done with my room! As a coach, I don’t get a ‘classroom,’ but I do get to place my office in the building’s book room. This is a room where we house our Calkins Units of Study books. Even if it is a glorified warehouse, it’s still “my” room, and it needed some flare. So, at long last, here is my office space!

And where are all these books, you might ask? Here they are!

See the post below for Before Pictures. That 70s yellow was just too sad for me, and I had to brighten it up with more white. I covered my desk in contact paper, covered the walls in white butcher paper, and added as many pops of color as I could. The wall is also covered in book jackets of my favorite elementary read aloud books. I hope you enjoy this fun makeover!

If you have a blog with before/after pics or brag pics of your classroom, I’d love to see! Please link in the comments below 🙂

My students can do this amazing magic trick with pencils. Every year, I start with 50 beautiful bright yellow sharpened #2 pencils. By December, I only have about 2 left. WHERE did they GO? My students won’t tell me, because great magicians never reveal their tricks.

Well to combat the disappearing pencil trick this year, I decided to use pencil flags. They are inexpensive when compared with the flower pens, and an easy visual reminder that the pencil belongs in room 204.

I used Duck Tape brand rainbow-colored duct tape purchased from Walgreens for about $3.50.

Some former students (now seniors! ah, where does the time go?) were visiting me today as I set up my classroom. They said the flags were a cool idea and they think they might actually work. Here’s hoping!