Wow. That's just about all I can say. Wow.

If you've read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, you've heard that line before. After a first week of school (yes, the WHOLE week) my kiddos and I were exhausted Friday afternoon! I've got 16 kids: 8 girls, 8 boys. They are sweet, well-mannered, good-listeners, and excited about reading chapter books! I'm loving them so far.

I wanted to take pictures of my classroom at the beginning of the year to show how I organize and decorate but every time I started to take a photo on Business Day I had a visitor, then would get side-tracked. This week was much too busy to even think about pictures!

First things first. My older sister has been teaching me how to use Photoshop (And by teaching, I mean me texting her a photo/question every time I get frustrated!) so I've been experimenting with coloring the borders I bought at Scrappin' Doodles over the summer.

I also bought several clipart cds/downloads from DJ Inkers, whose copyright states that I can't sell the things I make with it, only give them away. This means I get to share my cute One Minute to Go poster with you for free! You can download it from HERE, at my TPT store!

Here's a picture of my door on the first day of school. I've got my Shhh... testing poster ready to move to the front of the door as needed (got it from The Pinspired Teacher!), our lunch calendar, the back-to-school wreath I made, our end of the day checklist, and a bus poster we stick bus passes on. Pretty cute!

 The next thing I'd like to share are these amazing Quick Stick nameplates. I picked up about a million packages at the Carson Dellosa Warehouse sale a few years ago (for a buck each) but if you've never used them... go buy some RIGHT NOW! They are such a time-saver! They completely replace the contact paper cutting, did-i-get-it-even questioning I used to spend so much time fussing over! The best part is that it has everything my babes need. To start off the year I go with these simple ones, but will change them out for these once the kids start picking. The second set will have a number line AND a hundreds chart. I also like to start a nice discussion on taking care of belongings when I put on the second set, as they will last the rest of the year so the kids better not pick at them! Believe it or not, I've had good luck with it!

Third thing to share: I bought these items at walmart (a magnetic dry-erase board, enough magnets for each child, and some green tape... along with yellow spraypaint {not pictured}) to created one of those cute "I've Left the Room" boards that I've seen floating around Pinterest.

I painted my magnets yellow, so they would be cute, and cut the tape into smaller strips. I used a permanent marker to write on the board so it wouldn't come off, but can always remove it if necessary.
The kids so far L-O-V-E it! There is a terrible glare on this blurry picture (oops!) but you get the idea. I've got a spot for office, bathroom, nurse, errand, speech, tier 2, 3, 4, and computer lab. Right now it's mainly being used for bathroom (lol... I hate that part of the beginning of the year!) but as we begin our IE blocks and my kids are all over the place, we'll use it for that as well.

Here is my desk layout for the beginning of the year. I've got 4 sets of pairs, then two lines of 4/5 desks in the center. I never know what kind of kids I'll have, so I never know how to plan the desks. This is a great starter, though!

This is probably the best investment I've ever made for my classroom. I spent about a hundred dollars to buy super sturdy, brightly colored boxes to fit on my built-in bookcase. Then I labeled each one of them with something I teach during the year. I put them in order by how I plan to teach them, then pull down the books as needed. You can see my red and orange boxes are empty right now, since they had my "Back to School" and "Citizenship/Diversity" books in them. When the boxes get too full, I move them to a rubbermaid box I have elsewhere in the room (I have a tub of just Christmas books!) and keep the extras we find throughout the year in the designated section. Each math category has a section (money, time, probability, etc.), 100th Day of School and other holidays have their own boxes, and each of my unit study topics (American Indians, magnets, etc.) have their own as well. It's a GREAT way to keep track of the books I need for certain lessons.

Here is my calendar board, at the front of the room. The poster for what they fill out in their planners is a big spot, then I also have all the morning math pieces. The reporting/tattling posters I made were inspired from pinterest last summer!

Here's my cheesy back to school board I made for Business Day! Each students' name is written on a gumball.

Here is a wreath I made for our Computer Lab manager whose room is across the hall from mine. I'll write her name using a chalkboard pen I picked up at Hobby Lobby last week. 

And here is a wreath I made for one of my favorite people, our SPED teacher. Her room is right next to mine, too! 

 I can sum this post up by saying I had a GREAT first week of school. I hope to add a couple more pictures and link soon to a few more classroom activities we've done (like the cutest ever Lily and cowboy boot!)

I'll leave you guys with this picture of a weird beetle we found hanging outside of the door on our way to recess one day. We couldn't decide which side was his head and which was his tail!

Enjoy your weekend!