Source: http://classroom.4teachers.org/
My dream classroom. Well, except for the walls and the little decor that goes will a fun yet, learning based first grade classroom. Starting off in the bottom right hand corner is a circle rug. This area would be for get together times such as to do the daily weather, to look over sight words, to do the calendar and other activities that need to be done a a class. The shelves on either side of the rug are for books and any other tangible objects we will have in the learning corner. The easel will be helpful when teaching sight words, reading words, math problems, crafting, doing a question of the day, and other similar things. I have put a round table in the upper right hand corner as a place to work on centers and to be able to use that as a coloring/ crafting area during class or indoor recess. 
In the upper left hand corner, I have another set of shelves. These shelves, like the first, will harbor books, tangible items and will also be where the centers will be. Different centers that will be available in my classroom including math, reading, writing, spelling, music, art, and others. These centers will change weekly. Center groups will be marked with an animal sign. That way, when it comes to center time, each student will know which group they are in and which center they will be apart of each day. In the middle left hand side of the room, there is a kidney table. These are great when reading in a group. The teacher or aide can sit in the little inside curve of the table, with the children around the outside edge reading or doing other activities. This can also be used for centers. The teachers desk is in the bottom right hand corner. This way I can see what's going on in my classroom. The shelving behind my desk is for my items such as my teaching books, IEP forms, and other things specifically for teachers. The pencil sharpener will be on my shelf and will only be available with permission. There will also be a trash can by my desk and at other designated sections in the classroom.
In the middle of the classroom are the desks. The desks are group tables. I believe the group tables are good for collaboration and are accessible to handicapped students. The tables also allow for me to touch base with each student. Each side of the table, there will be little manila folders that homework can be placed in.FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) law. The desks will also have a name tag with a number line.
The front of the room is the Interactive Whiteboard. The projector that goes with the IWB will be a standard projector hanging from the ceiling. The IWB will be helpful with teaching lessons. Games such as the sight words game that is linked above, will be good on the IWB. Other activities that can be done on an IWB synonyms and antonyms games, math games, and videos can be played on the boards. On the walls of the classroom will be posters that are the typical motivator and helpful posters. The classroom rules will also be posted by the IWB and the hallway rules will be posted by the door.
The walls of the classroom will be a neutral color. Studies show that classrooms that are a more neutral color increases productivity without being a distraction and it allows for color to be added with posters. I plan on having a section of the classroom being an art section. This will allow for creativity from the students at their own pace and it allows for more color. Besides, getting a coloring page from a first grader, makes you smile!
The way that my classroom is set up, it provides opportunities for students to work by themselves and to collaborate with each other when needed. The way the desks are, they will be in groups of four. Collaboration will be key in working on social situations with all types of students. Group work such as centers will also work on collaboration and social skills. There are many advantages that are stated in an article titled "The Advantages of Small Cluster Seating in a Classroom." These include: promotes student interaction, encourages participation, provides easy access to resources, and many more positives to group seating. 
As stated above, the classroom will be organized for the acceptability of both the teacher and the students. when students first come in the classroom for the day, they will hang their coats and backpacks up on the hooks/cubby in the classroom. They will take their homework folder out of their backpack and put them in their folder on the edge of the desk. The organization to the rest of the room is simple. The centers will be 
With current classrooms, there aren't many desktop computers anymore. Schools have laptop carts and carts for iPads and other types of technology that can be borrowed from the schools library/tech center. Since I am in a first grade classroom, I won't need for my students to have a computer every single day. I will sign out the carts as needed and I will be able to use them as needed in my classroom. Most of the things I do will be with the interactive white board at the front of the classroom. I will be doing activities and games such as the synonyms and antonyms games that were stated above. The technology in my classroom will promote learning, how to use technology, and will help differentiate my classroom.
Each student learns differently. There are visual learners, hands on learners, and auditory learners. Each student learns at a different pace. This is the basis for differentiation. The main goal of differentiation is to maximize student growth and to promote individual student success. Basically, the set up of my classroom will promote differentiation by having the tools available that are Studies show that when you put music with what you are learning, it will help you to remember it better.necessary for all types of learners. This also leads into exceptionalities. The classroom will be 110% accessible to handicapped students as stated in above paragraphs. I also plan on using music in my classroom as much as possible. Music affects everything we do. Different types of music help to calm things down. Music can be used to just play in the room during recess or during group time. Music can also be used as a period to clean up, line up, pack up, and/or to learn to make you a better rounded students.
As a professional, I will use more than just my personal learning network. As a professional, I will be gaining connections in my professional learning community. This can be achieved by using social networking sites like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to collaborate and get ideas from other educator and I am able to attend professional development courses and consult other professionals. My personal learning network will increase because I will be taking what I know and giving it to the students, but in return they students will Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter are also good for growing my personal learning network. I already use Pinterest to gain ideas on activities I can use. I pin the activity to a board called "education ideas". Anyone with or without a pinterest account can see what I've pinned to this board. Other people can see what I pin and they can then use that in their own classroom.teach me something everyday. I will be growing as a teacher from the different people around me including other professionals and students. Social network sites like
Keeping the community and parents/guardians involved is very important to school. As a class, my students and I will decide on some activity that we can organize as a sort of community service. We will be able to take this beyond the classroom and get the school and community involved. When I was in school, we also took trips to the police station, the library, the bank, and even Pizza Hut, and other places in the community. That way,students can learn about the different places in the community. I want to be able to take my students to such places to teach them about different jobs that are available and how those people help the
community every day. They are good experiences for children. Arbor Day and Earth Day are both good days to show how the community can be helped. Not only does this have to be just a local community thing, but our classroom can be connected to other classrooms around the world via pen pals. I would love to get a pen pal program set up in my classroom so diversity can really be taught. I will keep the parents connected to my classroom by writing a weekly newsletter that is filled with reminders of important dates. At the beginning of the week I will send home the spelling list and other things that the parents would want to know about their child and the classroom.
While I'm only a college freshman, I have experience in a classroom already. Having to do this project and this class will be something that I will always remember and it will always be important. Getting to know how to use different types of technologies such as Twitter, blogs, podcasts, and Macs and PCs are very important for my future classroom. I really hope to grow my professional learning community and my personal learning network in the upcoming years. I look forward to my future classes and I really hope that someday my classroom dream can become a reality. Thank you for reading this!
Great job!
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