Seeing our "Classroom" for the 1st time....

The girls saw their classroom (still a major work in progress, with materials still coming - or - to be figured out!) this morning for the first time. Our dinning room will be our main "hub" though I'm sure learning will happen everywhere. Our dinning room is nice though, because it can be closed off for quiet, etc. and has the storage room I need.


The buffet serves as my storage area. I also got some posters up that I know can help us - though I'm sure there are other ones I may need to swap out with in the future (any tips for a 1st grader?). I also got a erasable calendar that Lovely can write the days, dates, and plans in for practice.  Lovely enjoyed looking at them, and I saw or heard her go in there throughout the day to look - little Val too. I liked that. I need to get some colorful crates or whatnot to store books, or reading etc, so it is a welcome space for that as well.

Target had some great $1 spot deals. I got some manipulatives in square, cylinder, and triangles this weekend, as well as some really inexpensive storage containers (I used some pencil boxes for small item storage as well). I also got a teaching clock in the $ bin too. As materials are purchased or arrive, they go in the drawers.  

This room is a major work in progress, but it seems the girls liked it well enough - especially Lovely. She takes us on a tour through pictures (and Val joins us in the end to check out materials in her way):

In the above pics, I noticed Lovely making patterns with the color blocks. It may be hard to see, but they are there. I never said anything - just let her explore the stuff we had so far.  Val decided to copy her :) .

So, there you have it! The start of our learning room. Any tips, ideas? I need them!!!!