Katie's Classroom Make-over

Katie Huff is a second grade classroom teacher in Keller, Texas. 
This is her story.....

During the snow and ice that overtook Texas in early February, three pipes in my classroom burst. Water spewed from the wall and underneath the sink leaving approximately one and half inches of standing water in my classroom and storage closet. At first, I was told it would be a quick fix with a couple days of drying time. However, as more people came to investigate, it became obvious that my students and I would have to relocate to a new classroom for a while. Various workers came to remove the carpet and repair the wall. The wall repair went fairly smoothly. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the carpet.

I have quite a collection of “stuff” in my classroom. When they came to remove the carpet, they of course had to remove ALL of my stuff. When they put it back, it just kind of got thrown in the middle of the classroom. Then they had to scrape the carpet glue off the cement. This left a yellow, powdery residue on EVERYTHING in the classroom. It was on every surface, in books, on walls, in pocket charts… EVERYWHERE.

After learning that it could be this summer before they get the flooring replaced, my principal and I decided that my class and I should move back into the room on the cement floor. After living in an empty classroom for four weeks, it felt really good to be home in our regular classroom! It took some major work and cleaning, but we survived :)

As a result of this, I had the awesome opportunity to replace some of my things with “Dots on Turquoise” products. It really helps brighten my window-less classroom!


CTP to the rescue!
The marketing folks at CTP had been wanting pictures of  the new Dots on Turquoise products being used in a actual classroom.  When they heard of Katie's plight they sent a big box of materials for her to use to re-decorate her room. 

In the box she found name-tags and name plates.

There were 6" and 10" cut-outs and two styles of computer paper.

There were three different posters.

There were borders

and bulletin board sets.

This  bulletin board set looks like one

that would be used at the beginning of the year.

Katie turned it into an interactive learning center.

The parts of speech are written on DOT computer paper.

Words to be sorted are written on the guitars from the bulletin board set.

Here is another bulletin board idea from Katie's classroom.

The CAFÉ board is part of the Daily 5 by the “two sisters”. 

This is their website http://www.thedailycafe.com/.

This reading bulletin board uses one of the DOT borders,
the 10" paisley cut-outs,  and the DOT computer paper.

C    Comprehension

"I understand what I read."

A    Accuracy

"I can read the words."

F    Fluency

"I can read accurately, with expression, and

understand what I read."

    E    Expand Vocabulary

"I know, find, and use interesting words."



Students and Ms. Huff offer suggestions to make better readers.
Other reading strategies are written on the DOT computer paper
and posted at the bottom of the bulletin board.

Thanks, Katie for letting us be a part of your make-over. 
We love the pictures and your ideas. 


Katie's room in the midst of the mess!

Katie's room this morning!

Have you done anything in your classroom with  any
 CTP product that you would like to share?
 
Send me your pictures at tommie.netzer@creativeteaching.com.

The next post will feature many other ideas of ways to use the new
Dots on Turquoise products.

I love DOT!