I used a tropical / beach theme in my classroom last year. I created the image on the left using Adobe Photoshop and had them printed as 4x6 glossy photos. I then mounted them onto a blank greeting card and personalized each with a hand-written note to my incoming students. I mailed them to their home a few weeks before school started. The picture shows (clockwise):

• UPDATE - I HAVE JUST TAKEN ALL OF MY BEACH THEME ITEMS AND FILLED A GIGANTIC BOX WITH EVERYTHING!!! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING THE CLASSROOM BEACH THEME IN A BOX PLEASE VISIT MY ONLINE YARD SALE AT www.littlestlearners.com

Our Writing Board The title read, "Climbing to the Top of the Six Trait Tree." I added the name of each trait to the coconuts. This includes a chart to organize Writer's Workshop, story starters, conference requests, 6 trait details and more.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this addition to my classroom this year. Although my shelves are very organized, they still looked cluttered to me. I hung a wire above them and created this focal point to hang from it. It reads, "We Really Dig 3rd Grade" and served as a timeline of our year together. Each of the white pages is labeled with a month of the school year. At the end of the month we hung photos, a list of highlights and events, and color copies of the book covers of our read alouds. The bottom is brown paper cut to look like sand with real plastic shovels hot glued onto it.

This is our group area. The coolers and camp chair were from my camping theme the year before, but I added a few beach towels, threw a straw hat and lei on the bear and referred to the area as "The Island."

I used this board to manage my literacy workstations. It read, "Literacy Centers are a Ball." Each black pocket chart was used to list the "may do activities" for each center and the centers were written on beach balls.

This is my math area. I made the treasure map and used it to display our current math strategies. The pocket chart was used for our math vocabulary. The board reads, "Ahoy Math!" and displayed student work.

I just loved this 3-D tiki man and had to find a use for him. We used the quotable quotes speech bubble to record great quote options as we found them. We selected words like, exclaimed, shouted, cried, etc. Charlotte's Web is THE BEST book for finding other words to replace 'said.'

This is my classroom library of leveled picture books. The board reads "Reader's Reef." Each child has an individual library pocket for book recommendations from peers. There is a sign hanging overhead that says, "Hooked on Books." It is surrounded by inflatible fish that hang from the ceiling on fishing line. Each is attached to a card that lists a genre and defines it.

This is our word wall. I divided a white board and can either write words in dry erase marker or attach with magnets. The hibiscus flowers each have a letter on them and the title reads, "Catchin' Words" and is on a surfboard.

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