Let’s take a walk through my small second-grade classroom! The past two years, I’ve had a bee theme in my second grade classroom. It goes so well with my bright royal blue wall (not my choice!) and simple black and white accents. In this post, I’m sharing all the details on my small bee themed classroom, from styling and storage to everything in between!
Please note this post contains affiliate links. If you follow my links, please know that I make a very small commission from your purchase. There is no cost to you, but this extra coinage allows me to continue creating free resources and writing awesome content for you!
My Small Classroom
I am knee deep in trying to coordinate my new third grade classroom for this upcoming school year, and as I was going through old posts from when I taught third grade, I realized I never gave you guys the tour of the place I called home for the past three years!
So, today, I thought we could take a quick tour. And for real, it will be quick as that classroom was small! Although it is referred to as a concreteable, it is basically a portable classroom that has a bathroom. It was about a third the size of a regular classroom.
Which meant I had lots of opportunities to get creative and streamline!
It’s funny, now that I’m moving into a regular classroom, I’m almost overwhelmed! Like, what am I going to do with all the space?!
Bee Themed Classroom Quick Buying Guide
No time to read the whole post? Shop some of my favorite items by clicking the links below! Or shop everything here on my LiketoKnow page!
Bee Themed Classroom
So, let’s first talk about the decor of this little space!
When I first moved into this room, it was full of remnants of the teacher I took over for. And honestly, she had sort of left it looking sad.
Since I took over in October, there wasn’t a ton of time to completely redo the space. The one thing I felt it lacked the most was color, so I updated the alphabet and added some colorful signs. Those sort of matched the black-and-white motif already in there, and they went with the bright royal blue wall that assaults your eyeballs when you first walk in.
It wasn’t until the following school year that I really started getting serious about decorating the classroom. By this point, I realized that if I was committed to teaching second grade, I would be in that classroom.
I knew I wanted to keep the black-and-white motif but pull back on some of the color. Honestly, it felt too overwhelming on top of the bright blue wall and small space, cramped with desks and tables.
So, I chose a more refined palette of black, white, blue, and yellow. I always wanted a bee-themed classroom, and I thought bees would go great with that pared-down color scheme.
And of course, I took to delving into School Girl Style classroom decor! I found a bee inspired set with daisies and went with that!
Learning Anchor Chart Bulletin Boards
Now that you know how we landed on Bees, let’s start the tour!
When you first walk in, you are greeted with two generous bulletin boards on the wall.
I took advantage of the ease of access and divided the first board up into three sections: Reading, Math, and Science/Social Studies. These would be the perfect places to display our anchor charts as we worked through different standards.
I used this Better Than Paper bulletin board as a base, added some layered black and white border, and then facied up the corners with some simple paper fans.
Grab those first week of school anchor charts here!
Word Wall Bulletin Board
On the next bulletin board, I put up a word wall. GASP! I know- not a sound wall?
Honestly, the year prior, I had started putting up a sound wall, but my students weren’t really using it, and I didn’t have enough space for all the pieces.
I used small daisies from School Girl Style to make the letters and added word cards as the year went on. Honestly, it became one of the most used boards. The kids actually used the word wall to help them spell those heart words and friends’ names!
Bees and Daisies Student Work Display Board
The walls of my concreteable were just sheetrock, so I could staple right into the wall. Other than the two bulletin boards, there weren’t any other boards in the room. So what could this Applicious Teacher do?
Make her own!
I stapled Better Than Paper bulletin board paper onto the wall. Then added a cute black-and-white border. Then, I stapled up some grass (made from large, green butcher paper), paper daisies, and a few bees!
To easily add student work, I hot-glued some clothespins to the board. Spacing took some time, but I used a 9 x 12 piece of construction paper and a meter stick as a guide. I started in the middle, then moved out from there to help make sure everything looked centered.
It turned out pretty cute!
Adding the clips made it super simple to hang papers throughout the school year!
Simple Black and White Alphabet for Classroom
Above my whiteboard, I switched out the bright alphabet for a very pared-down version. I couldn’t really find anything that I liked, so I made my own!
You can grab this one here on TpT! This pack also includes all the labels I used throughout my classroom!
Black and White Gingham Carpet
So, I loved the idea of bringing some gingham into this space to make it feel comfy and cozy. The perfect spot?
Our classroom carpet!
Even though my classroom is tiny, I still needed a space for the class to sit for morning meeting and read alouds.
I love housing that space at the front of the room. So, I found an indoor/outdoor carpet (read easily washed!) that had the fun gingham pattern! Best part, it wasn’t ridiculously expensive like some of those classroom rugs!
I also added sit dots for my students. It made coming to the carpet so much easier!
Bee Themed Welcome Board
By my desk, I made another bulletin board. This one was a welcome bulletin board. Bee themed again, of course!
For the letters, I used my Cricut Machine and made them right in the editing suite. For the hive, I free-handed the hive shape on construction paper and added the little heart for detail. I purchased these bees to hang around with the students’ names on them.
You Bee-long Here Bulletin Board
For years, I’ve done a communal bulletin board based on an activity for the first day of school. In the past, I used puzzle pieces. To make the idea work for a bee-themed classroom, I swapped the puzzle pieces for a honeycomb and had students decorate the piece with things that represent themselves.
Then I had each student share more about what they had added as I stapled the honeycomb to the board.
Once again, the lettering I quickly made using my Cricut and their editing suite.
How to Bee a Good Friend
In second grade, making and keeping friends is big business! To fill the space above my sink, I put up some white “better than paper” paper and created this sweet friendship bulletin board.
During the first week of school, we talked about how to be a good friend, so I was able to refer to the board throughout the lessons.
Bonus points: The board can stay up all year!
Good news! This board you can grab right here to bring to your classroom!
Punctuation Posters
Something I felt was missing the previous year was reference posters for punctuation. So many of my students would forget what certain things were called, or when to use them.
So, I made these super simple punctuation posters to hang above my calendar area.
We would reference them alot at the beginning of the year when we would review sentence types and ending punctuation. (Especially when we would do this unit!)
Then, they would be there to reference the rest of the school year.
Small Classroom Storage Solution: Garage Shelves
So, like I said, this classroom is TINY!
The biggest issue? Storage! There is no closet, and space is at a premium.
To help, I purchased this garage storage shelf. They fit perfectly next to my sink and held all my teaching bins!
Read more about my teaching bins, here!
Mailboxes and Additional Storage
Since storage was such an issue, I also purchased some Kalax cubbies from Ikea. I used these babies as back counter space. The cubbies worked great for housing our UFLI materials, math books, and math center tubs.
I also housed my class mailbox system back there, which made it easier to pack up at the end of the day.
White Classroom Tables
Since my classroom was so small, I did give up on my traditional tables. (You know the nice, heavy duty wood topped ones with the rubber siding?)
I found this simple table at Ikea and used that with some stools as a group work table.
I also used this mini table from Target.
Both fit perfectly into my tiny space!
Simple Student Work Display
Across my blinds, I added some string and attached it to a few hooks. Along the string, I added some more clothespins.
This made a super simple, but fun, student work display!
Bee Themed Classroom
So there you have it! A round-the-room tour of my tiny bee-themed classroom! I’m going to miss that little room, but not the lack of space! Honestly, the biggest bonus of moving up to third grade is the HUGE classroom AND closet I’m gaining along the way!
2nd Grade Grab Files
Want to grab all the odds and end files I created over the last 10+ years teaching 2nd grade? Check out this massive Grab file!
This file is packed with resources for every month of the school year. It includes activities for reading, math, science, social studies and more!
All neatly organized in a Google Drive just for you! Perfect for a new to 2nd grade teacher or a pro looking for some new, fun, easy to use resources! Click the link below to grab the file for yourself!
