This past week, I had the extreme privilege of visiting my childhood elementary school to check out the newest and best in classroom decorations! Despite their busy schedules - meetings and last minute preparations before school started the next day - the gracious teachers at Hartville Elementary welcomed me into their colorful and engaging world; a world in which they will spend countless hours the next 180 days, imp!acting the lives of the children in our community. I thank you all for dedicating your lives to helping our children grow, both as students and individuals. Here's to a brilliant school year, ladies and gents! {And thanks a million for allowing me the opportunity to visit your classrooms! I had a blast!}

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Here's the wrap-up of Miss. Dailey's third grade classroom! We've covered a lot of the major boards, but thought we'd give you a peek at how the classroom flows {and cover some odds and ends stuff!}.

Smooth Sailing

The infamous boat... doubling as a classroom decoration and reading nook, Miss Dailey's "sailors" love flipping through one of the many colorful ocean life books Lisa has throughout the classroom during reading/free time as they imagine the peaceful lull of the ocean's waves lapping at the side of their "ship". The "under the sea" bulletin board paper really makes this display pop!

SEAL Success

To go along with their AR program, Lisa created this adorable bulletin board to remind her students {each represented by their class number on one of the beach balls} that they're each an integral part of the team. While the point of the Accelerated Reading program is not to stress and overextend, it is about growing as a reader and contributing to a thriving, successful, and balanced learning environment. Everyone needs to put their best foot forward to make the program work!

Palette of Thoughts

Miss. Dailey reminds her third graders to employ the concepts on the "palette of thoughts" as they work through new material, problems they encounter, and continue to order the world around them as they learn each day. We thought the artist palette was a neat and unique way to display the ideas!

Classroom Tour

NOTE: Notice the sea creatures hanging above each grouping of tables? Each grouping of students has a "team name" or mascot - this makes it easier to stay organized for day-to-day centers {i.e. "Snow crabs start at the math center."} and for teacher-student interaction. Each morning, Miss. Dailey meets with each group/team to get forms, homework, lunch money, questions, etc. while the rest of the students work quietly at their desks, and it's much easier to call, "Sea turtles!", than list off student names!

Hope you've enjoyed the tour of Miss. Dailey's third grade classroom! It's super colorful and inviting - we're certain her students are going to have a fabulous school year!