Why my classroom decor isn't really to impress other teachers

You've seen them, the beautiful Instagram-worthy classrooms. I don't have one. But I'm ok with it. EVERYTHING in my classroom is something useful and not just pretty. Here are pictures of my classroom and why I use them.

Here are my classroom rules. The pictures help the kids understand my expectations. 

When their done, I can say, "Choose something from the I'm Done wall."

Hand signals are a classroom management GAMECHANGER!

My math word wall changes as we study different topics. Click HERE to see it!

My word wall doubles as my handwriting alphabet. The words are color-coded by quarter. I use my number line on the wall when modeling often. Click HERE to see it!

These are used to call the kids by table and also a little competition between tables for quietest, fastest to put things away/get things out, all have names on their papers, etc. I do maps (Illinois table, USA table, World table), shapes (trapezoid table), clocks, and at the beginning I did animals for our Camp-Read-A-Lot theme.

This is my focus wall This was when we were studying mammals. Some of these pictures came from an animal calendar that I cut apart and others came from google images. 

This my sound wall. I add cards when we learn the new sound. Kids refer to it all the time. Click HERE to see them.

These are my centers. This is a toy container that I used Sterilite baskets on. I have had these for at least 8 years and they are still going strong!

These are my center rotations. I use the numbers so I can use the year after year (each student has a number). Red is for morning centers and black is for afternoon These are the cheap Target Dollar Spot Pocket Charts but the kids don't touch them so it is ok. 

These are some pictures of my classroom from a couple of different angles. Function over beauty for sure!