Whimsical Cottage: My Junk Classroom

Hallway bulletin board! Didn't cost a dime. Letters and trim were cut from food boxes. Background: an old phone book.

Outside my classroom: names and letters made from paint chips.


Another view of the hallway outside the room.

The tree is made of yard sticks and rulers.

The polka dot dresser is our classroom store. Students are paid on the 1st and 15th.

The grater is for our cheese grater cheer...you're GRATE, you're GRATE, you're GRATE, you're GRATE, you're GRATE.

The theme for my third grade classroom is RE, by the way.

Re-think, re-purpose, re-commit, re-invent...you get the idea. It's easier to just say the classroom is all about JUNK.

If I do say so myself...it was quite genius, actually, this junk revelation I had. Why not create the classroom in the style I live?


My teacher desk follows me wherever I go. It once belonged to an educator (and mentor) so it empowers me.

Old canisters hold our glue sticks and other school supplies. The orange caddy (everyone had one in the 70's) will be a mailbox for the writing center.

It is.

Robbed this saying from someone on Pinterest this week. Your best is enough. It's for me as much as for the students. Our best ought to be good enough, huh?

It's about rethinking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. A vintage kitchen apron becomes a valance on our classroom window. A small section of an old fence provides a bit more privacy.

My dad's old toolbox, the green thing, holds some teacher manuals where I can grab them quickly.

Chippiness surrounds me in this room and that's just how I like it. This is where the kids will come to work with me (if need be).

A pickle jar and candle stick are now a cool apothecary-style candy jar. Actually this is a motivational tool. Bribery works (and inspires).

There was no closet before Vaughn re-imagined the room. Seeing my worried face fretting over where everything would go, he built two walls and created a corner closet. I love it! It's important to keep a few secrets from the students, like special squishy balls for passing at Morning Meeting or art supplies/snacks they've not seen. An old black, perfectly chippy door we've had became a closet door. License plate letters and old gasoline numbers junk it up just right. And the mounted drip pan (ordinary) will be a perfect place to work on words of the week (extraordinary). That first word, responsibility, is a doozie, huh? No problem: I have a song to go along with the spelling of that one.

Do you love the vintage Campbell's kids on the closet wall? Mom got those while out junkin' somewhere a long while back.