Resource Room Tour
Setting up a resource room can be a bit of a challenge... we're often given oddly shaped rooms, we usually have many different sets of students throughout the day, and there aren't a ton of examples online. My room is by no means perfect, but it works well for my students, so I thought I'd give you a little tour!
To give you an idea of what I'm working with, I'm in a long, narrow room (12 x 30) that's about a third of the size of a regular classroom. I'm by no means complaining-- this size works great for my group! I don't have a homeroom, so I decided to do away with most of my desks. They were bulky and just taking up precious space. I designed my classroom by zones, so I'll show it to you that way too!
I linked to as many of the items in my room as possible for your convenience. All links to Amazon and Target products are affiliate links.
Whole Group Zone
I gather my students together for whole-group instruction on this fun rug from Amazon. I use a clothes rack from IKEA for my large pocket chart, and keep some visuals and our weekly poem there. I use an inexpensive easel (also from IKEA) for my chart paper stand. To the right is my Clippin' for Character Chart from Sarah Plumitallo. It is NOT a behavior clip chart! Check out her great post for more information. My word wall (not many words yet) is on the wall behind. There's no particular reason it's there, that board is just in an awkward place! It was a really sad looking whiteboard, so I covered it with black contact paper. I made the word wall banner to coordinate with the other rainbow aspects in the room.
Small Group Zone
This is definitely an area that needs a little sprucing, but I'm obsessed with having a kidney table! It's been impossible to get my hands on one for my last three years of teaching, so I was SO excited when one of my colleagues helped me out and gave me one of hers! This is where I meet with my small groups and offer phonics instruction (using my Phonics by Design curriculum) and guided reading. You can find the alphabet & phonics posters in my TpT store.
Word Work Zone
I can't quite get the yellow tone out of this photo, but I promise it's bright and sunny in real life! When students aren't working with me, they're usually in the word work zone. Students keep a word work choice board in their binders (the rainbow binders on the shelf), and they can see all their choices for the day there. The tall white shelf holds sight word work, and students can grab their sight word rings from hooks on the lower shelf. The lower shelf holds differentiated centers and work tasks. The number labels on the bins indicate what group does what tasks. Students can complete their word work at the circle table shown, or on the blue rug in the whole group zone, since no one is there at that time. You can read more about how I run centers and word work in my classroom here.
Independent Work Zone
Once a week, each group has independent work time while the other groups meet with me and complete word work. These students grab their color-coded binder from the shelf, and open it up to the independent work section. They complete practice pages related to their phonics objective that week (pages from my Phonics by Design curriculum, and also available as No Prep). They have their own supply caddy there, so ideally they should be able to work completely independently during this time. They turn in their pages in a blue bin on the window sill. We also have our swag tags display here! I printed my Swag Tags banner on teal paper, and then just hung command hooks for each of my students. I award all swag tags earned on Fridays, and they have the option to wear their tags that day. Students can earn sight word, homework club, and character tags.
Library Zone
My library zone is on the far side of our narrow room, near my desk. Students' book boxes are here, as well as a few seating options. The kids love curling up in the laundry baskets, and there's also a big blow-up ladybug not pictured. We are required to label our books by level at my school, so the bulk of the books are in bins A-Q. I also have a few bins of nonfiction books by topic (that I couldn't level) on the bottom right. You can find the small white bins here, and the large green bins are from IKEA.
Cool Down Corner
This is another area that could use some sprucing! But I think having a cool down corner is so crucial, so I wanted to go ahead and include it. You can read more about my cool down corner here. This year, it's just tucked between a file cabinet and the wall, and includes a small rug and back rest. There's a bin full of quiet sensory tools available as well.
Teacher Zone
I know many teachers have moved away from having a teacher desk, but I LOVE having a personal area. I didn't have one last year (I was sharing this same classroom with another teacher and caseload), and I just felt less anchored without it. I'm never over here during instructional time, but it's great to have a place to sit and organize before and after school, and during my prep. This area also needs some love! I hate that flower contact paper in the background, but I just haven't gotten around to covering it up.
Command Center
I keep this little desk near the door with things students might need while in any of the zones. It holds our tissue, hand sanitizer, and sharp/dull pencil organizer. I covered the desk with a plastic table skirt to make the area look a little more polished (ha!). Even though there are so many things I still want to fix, and there are plenty of things in these photos that make me cringe, I truly love this space. I hope this post is helpful for the other resource teachers out there! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!