Welcome to the Great Classroom Makeover of 2013! {PROJECT CLASSROOM SERIES}

Pheww. Huge sigh. Slight empty feeling. After a whole year of the hardest work I've ever done (and my fab colleagues and brilliant kiddies too!) the inspectors came this week and have now left. We've done our best and what will be will be but it's such a relief to know that I've played my part for the school and I can now enjoy the final few days (5 left!) with my kiddos and focus on making next year even better. Plus, I'm moving up to 5th grade with them so I can really enjoy it without the usual end of year bittersweet moments.

The cherry on the cake is that all my crafty, creaty, designy moments are now justified and I'm actually properly allowed to think about next year and how I want my learning space to look. Inspired by Amber's great series of classroom summer project posts, I've decided to imitate her great system and be brutally honest about all the various areas of my classroom. Hopefully, it should help me sort the wheat from the chaff and make my next room really purposeful for all of its residents!

My classroom has mutated over my past 3 years of teaching and this year has definitely been the most practical and suited to how I teach. Also, thanks to the ever-fabulous Clutter-Free Classroom blog, I completely revitalised my organisation processes and can now actually function. I haven't lost a single piece of legal paperwork, bank statement or tooth in any of my 'strategically-placed' piles all year! (That definitely didn't happen in previous years, all in one week, during the critical observation period. No sirree!)

Anyhoo, I'm a much happier bunny this year but there is always room for improvement. So I took to my camera (read iPad) and snapped away. Having now looked at them in the very cold light of day, there is unfortunately far more room for improvement than I had anticipated. (I think my rose-coloured glasses embedded themselves over the stress of the past few months and I lost my sense of anything!)

So here I go. Today is going to be a short tour of my classroom through the wonderful medium of pictures and then, over the next few days/weeks, I'll take each area, one at a time, and give it the 'Two Stars and a Wish' treatment. (For those of you that don't use this, it's a marking strategy. I put my kiddies through it every day so may as well practise what I preach - although I think I'll probably have more than just 1 wish for improvement!)


Teacher area first - this looked so much better in my head. The middle photo is shocking!

My back wall with my working walls for Maths and Literacy, hand signals and Communication Station.

Newly revitalised Book Nook, which still looks dated and shabby :(

Front Wall and Interactive Whiteboard

And last but not least, the kiddies' cloakroom area with our Brownie Points trays and calendar.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! Please feel free to offer some pre-emptive critique of things that really stand out as quite shocking. I'm already super excited about analysing and revitalising the whole affair on my move to my new room! Can you tell that I'm in end of year mode? Look out for drooping borders, battered pompoms and missing labels! Think of it as a treasure hunt :)