Inspiration for the Room

I've been thinking about how to set up my new room and have gotten some wonderful ideas from Pinterest and bloggers that I follow. I've also been scouring those Really Good Stuff catalogs to see what I might need or what I might make myself. This will be my third year teaching 2nd grade in a row- I used to loop first to second (I did that for six years) and then I volunteered to take over a class for another teacher who was transitioning out of the classroom and into a specialist position. This year, our principal decided that we would begin looping second to third grade so I will start a new loop with second grade this year. I'm excited because I know the curriculum in my sleep and I have a lot of siblings of kiddos I used to have in this group.

I am so lucky to be in a school that is fairly new. We opened in 2005 and the rooms in our building are beautiful and there are very few that don't have windows. We all take our turns in those rooms. :) This year I have a room style I've never been in before. It has extra cabinets! Well, just two extra but you know how nice those can be!

Here are some of my ideas for my room so far. I'm not sure if I'll have desks or tables (since we loop, we usually have desks one year and then tables but we'll have to see how my group of teachers divides them up).

This idea is from Pre-kpages.com. She used inexpensive crates and zip-tied them together. I think I might have to do this to house some of my math whiteboards, games, and flashcards. Last year I bought a shoe rack organizer from Target that was somehow used as a step stool and was broken. Such a bummer. I'm toying with the idea of using crates like this or waiting until those shoe racks go on sale again. The good news is that if I do buy the crates and the shoe rack, I could always make these instead:

Another option for seating/storage is this lovely:

Isn't she gorgeous? It's actually an Ikea Expedit bookshelf laid on it's side and covered with foam and fabric. LOVE THIS! I have a bench that has seen better days and would love to replace it with one set of these. 

I also have a shelving unit like the one below sitting in my garage.

I found this photo on Really Good Stuff- and the drawers are almost $100! Yikes! I waited until the Recollections brand one was on sale at Michaels and used my 15% teacher discount. I don't even think it was full price at Michaels for $100. I've seen ones that have the ten drawers in two columns which I do like better but this will work fine for me. I am going to use it for my centers- not sure if it will be word work or math yet.

Tomorrow I will share with you some display and bulletin board ideas!