Preslar's Place: Yee-Haw! School's About to Start!

Well, here is my room for this year! I love using a western theme, and the addition of my Word Corral has really made the room complete!

My sweet hubby spend a few hours this past Saturday putting this up for me. It's going to be a great resource for my kids this year!

Write 'Em Cowboy is a board we use to display student writing. It's also located near two of our netbook computers and a great place to organize log in information and headphones!

The covered wagon is the focal point of the room. It houses our small group activities and inside recess toys and games. It's another vision I had that my hubby built for me!

Our listening center is located in this red bookcase. Books with CD's are also available for the students to use during our Listen to Reading time. They love the cowboy seats, too! I love the storage :) The saddle bag is something I plan to use this year to help me get students interested and excited about our lessons. It's a great inferencing activity. I got this idea from Abby at The Inspired Apple. She uses a mystery box, but for my room, it's a saddle bag! Cute, huh?

Chow Time! Our students get to choose a lunch tray or lunch from home. Each is assigned a number and move it to the correct spot according to what they're having each day. Those left in the middle are my absent students (or the ones who forgot to move their number)! It's a quick and easy way to get a lunch count done each day. I used my Western Number Cards with magnets for this display.

My Behavior Clip Chart is something I created last summer to use for my students. I like the option to move back up if student behavior improves throughout the day. Instead of clothespins, I began using magnets numbered for each student. Students move their magnets down the chart (or back up) according to their day. I record their daily behavior in their notebooks with a gold star for Yee-Haw behavior, Horsin' Around for 3 warnings, Cluck, Cluck, Ack for Parent Contact, and Boo-Hoo Moo! for a trip to the office or severe misbehavior. Hold on to Your Gold means they get a chance to redeem their behavior and get the gold star at the end of the day.

Our AR (Accelerated Reader) Round-Up board highlights students' AR progress in our classroom. This year, the addition of my AR Mini Clip-Chart will allow students to clip their names to the chart for the quizzes they pass (we don't count points). Right now my chart records up to 100 points, but I'm sure I'll be adding more cards! My kids LOVE to read!

I use a scheduling chart to display our daily schedule. Its a good visual for the students (and me) -- ha!

Here's another display I have to reference numbers and ten frames. It's colorful, and I like displaying them on the polka dot ribbon.

I'm super excited to have this little helper! I got my SMART Document Camera installed today! We are going to do so much with it this year!

Here are my book bags. Each student has one to store their classroom books. It's a great way to keep them organized for Read to Self and Read to Someone Daily 5 rotations. I include an alphabet chart, whisper phone, bookmark, and sound chart. As the year progresses, parents donate money to our Buckaroo Book Club, and each student receives a book from Scholastic each month. Those books are also stored here for them to read. My Western Number Cards came in handy here, too!

Here is my new calendar display with my Western Calendar Pack. My student helper of the day is in charge of updating the calendar each day and guiding the class in reading the date and singing the Months of the Year song, Days of the Week song, and asking questions about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Those are printed on cards for the students to choose each day.

My cubbies are labeled with my Western Labeling Cards. Since my cubbies are in a set of 20, some of my students share, but it always works out fine. Students store their glue, scissors, ear buds for computers, rulers, and extra supplies here. Everything has a name on it so it all gets put away in the correct bucket.

I also have extra scissors and pencils in my red and blue buckets for students to use.

Here are my Ranch Hand Helper Name Cards ready to hang each day. Everyone has a card, and I hang them to show who my helpers are each day.

And last, here's a shot of my CAFE board and calendar together. This area is also my small group area with all our resources located underneath the board. I hang my take-home book bags here as well for students to check out and take home once school starts. They are full of activities for families to complete together along with several books to read together. I also include a journal for writing and reflecting.