Are you a NEW Teacher? Help is HERE!

Is this you? I chose these photos because they reminded me of myself at the beginning of my career (and every once in a while now 😂). I started teaching in 1999 and though it has been a difficult journey, I still LOVE teaching and have never considered quitting. But if you are feeling like quitting, I can understand how that can happen.

College is great but coming out with a degree and a teaching certificate does not mean you are ready for all the classroom is going to throw at you! BUT...It's ok! You will get there! Things will get better!

When I graduated, I remember thinking, "I will find the perfect curriculum and use it forever!" Yeah...the perfect curriculum doesn't exist. Good teachers are constantly learning and growing and evolving as education evolves and they encounter different students and different situations.

As you begin your teaching journey in your first classroom, you are going to have lots of questions and be unsure about many things. Every summer on social media I see so many budding educators asking for help with what they need and how they should set up their first classroom. That answer is not the same for everyone. However, here are some things that have helped me. Hopefully, they will help you too.

Your first classroom is not going to look like one on Instagram. For one thing, the actual physical space might not be that great! There are water spots on the ceiling and stains on the carpet. The cabinet drawers don't pull out right and the shelves used to have doors but they all broke off. Instead of beautiful bulletin boards, you have ancient chalkboards that cover the walls. But this is what you've got to work with!

This is my REAL classroom before and after. Is it Instagram-worthy? Probably not, but it has been a great space to learn for so many first graders over the past 7 years! And I am a veteran teacher. When you are first starting out, you're not going to have all the things and that is ok! Hint: you really shouldn't have ALL the things.

I used to go to the Target Dollar Spot and buy a bunch of stuff and then get it back to my crowded classroom and find it was a waste! Just say no! Unless you have a specific idea of how it is going to help your students, don't buy it!

I used to have a ton of seasonal bulletin boards and borders. Changing those is so time-consuming.

Instead, put up the kids' work and anchor charts/posters that you are using during your lessons. And then when you aren't using them, take them down for less clutter.

What is important? Things that are going to help students are important.

Unifix Cubes

Great for counters, game markers, and building.

Base 10 Blocks

A must for teaching place value.

Legos

Ask for donations. They are really expensive but many people have a huge box they need to get rid of! They will keep your students busy for a LONG time. I use them at dismissal time when there is a lot of waiting.

2-sided counters

I use these for math almost daily.

Geoboards and colored rubber bands

I have several seasonal picture sets that the kids can make during centers. Great for teaching about geometry.

Pattern blocks

I have several seasonal picture sets of these too.

These dry-erase pouches are awesome! You can put a piece of paper in them and use it over! Laminated pages are hard to erase but they can easily be slipped in and out of these and they clean up great!

These dry-erase clipboards and relatively new, and I just got some to use this year. I use clipboards and dry-erase boards a lot but they each take up space. Combining them seems genius to me!

You need some kind of letter manipulative. I used to think I needed several kinds but I realized I was always grabbing the magnet letters. I don't generally use them on anything magnet though!

I use ALL sizes of popsicle sticks. I've made lots of centers with them. We use them to make puppets. We used to to tell whose plant was whose.

They are great for equity sticks.

Pocket Charts are great. I have several different sizes but one medium-size one can do the job.

I use these loose-leaf rings all the time for flashcards, centers, making books, and more. I have all the sizes!

Storage is important and can get expensive. Some classrooms have great storage and some don't. As a TYPE A teacher, I like everything to have its place. I don't like to waste precious class time searching for things. I have a ton of drawers.

Big ones, medium-sized, and small.

The cart drawers are nice too.

I also keep a lot of baskets of all sizes around, especially for centers. And I love these caddies for sharing supplies like pencils, erasers, glue bottles, etc.

These from Sterilite are my all-time favorite baskets. They are just the right size to hold a piece of paper and are practically indestructible.

You can often find these toy storage organizers at garage sales and thrift shops.

Something else you'll want a good supply of is 3M hooks and stickers. You'll want to hang things up and then hang them up somewhere else.

I also use hook and loop dots a lot. Great for centers, name tags, hanging things up, and more. Just don't store them both in the same container!

Now I'm a bit of a children's bookaholic but having a classroom library is essential. I remember borrowing books from the local libraries when I first started teaching which was fine. Scholastic Book Club is a great way to get books inexpensively or FREE if your students' families buy things!

You can also find great books at garage sales and thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvation Army. I always find tons of things I can use for a fraction of the price new!