I know my room is done when......

I know my room is done when....I walk into it and smile. That happened yesterday so I know that my room is ready for my students. I want them to smile when they enter the room. Now don't get me wrong after I smiled I noticed three things that still need to be done (labeling my math bins, organizing the writing center stuff, and organizing my math tasks/games), but probably no one else would notice those things but me. 
Here are some final pictures of my room (please note that I was able to scrounge together three tables so I no longer have all desks, YAY).

Not sure if you can see the sign on my door, but it says, "There's no place like Mrs.Gower's room." My Secret Santa made it for me last year.  Love it!

The view from my door.

View from my door.

View from my door. There is a large door behind the curtain, but it's just too hot to have the shades open right now. 

The area at the front of my room will be for whole group meetings. 

Whiteboard with learning targets on the left and our classroom timeline (got the idea for a timeline from this blog http://carolinakteacher.blogspot.com/2013/06/ten-pin-linky-party-classroom-decor.html )

Math board, chalkboard word wall, and daily 5 board

Take a break corner. This feels like it still needs some work to me. There is a bean bag, and a bucket of fidget type toys. 

Focus wall and Cafe board. 

These are dark :( but it is my library area.

Another picture (still dark) of my library area. 

My small group area and my table (I don't actually have a desk so I use the table with the green fabric for my laptop and other items that I need. 

This area is for our schedule, calendar, math morning work, and the empty space on the right will be where our rules go. The table will be used to sign in each morning. The blue bucket is my bathroom bucket (another great idea I got from a blog several years ago). 

In between working on my room, at home I have been studying our district curriculum and planning the first day of school. The first few days are all about getting to know each other and establishing rules and routines. I found this great blog post about setting the stage when the students return to school. I am going to try out the finish the picture activity.I will let you know how it goes. Here is the link to the blogpost: http://whoswhoandnew.blogspot.com/2014/07/setting-tone-in-first-10-minutes-of.html

I have also been scouring TPT for great resources for second grade. I have found lots of great free items and lots of great items that I have paid for and have on my wishlist. As usual TPT didn't let me down. Here are some of my favorite TPT sellers store's that I have found great resources: 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Lemons

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Surfin-Through-Second

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teaching-With-A-Mountain-View

Seriously there are like a million and probably a lot more great resources on TPT both free and paid. 

There is always my store too, but I need to make some second grade resources to add. That is my TPT goal for this school year to make some great resources for my classroom and for others to use in their classrooms.  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Erica-Gower

I almost forgot to talk about this. SO this summer I decided to put together an Amazon Wishlist for my classroom and share it on my FB page for people who wanted to help my classroom. There are always things that we need or would make the classroom go smoother, but there just isn't money in the budget for everything. So I decided it can't hurt to put together a wishlist. I have done Donorschoose in the past and was going to put one together if the wishlist didn't work out. So far my mother-in-law has bought me a small rug for my library area, my school team got me a purple beanbag for hosting a cookout, and yesterday was like Christmas when this stuff (see picture below) showed up from my sister. I'm not going to lie I am super excited about all of these things. My theory on asking people is that sometimes if a lot of people help a little then you end up with a lot. I am so thankful to everyone who supports me as a teacher whether it's buying me pencil boxes or other school supplies like my mother and sister-in-law have in the past, purchasing something from my wishlist, or just just giving me positive feedback. I am truly very fortunate. Here is the link to my wishlist: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3HUMBSO67XGSY/ref=cm_wl_list_o_3?

Well next Monday is the day! I get to meet 17 new students. I am pretty excited to get to know them and to start this great second grade journey with them. 
~Erica