Day 5

Ooops! I forgot to take pictures today. However, the changes I made today were not really visible. I started setting up my filing cabinet, laminated my name tags, and die cut a whole bunch of stuff to add to bulletin boards. I also started covering another bulletin board and ran out of paper six inches from the edge of the bottom half. I can't find any more paper in that color in the building either. Not sure how I'm going to fix that one.

I also had to redo some stuff that was already done such as hanging my rocket on the ceiling. More district people were working on wiring in the ceiling, which slowed my progress since I was working around them, and I had to rehang my rocket.

I'm going in tomorrow for 5 or so hours. I'm hoping to finish that bulletin board, work on (and hopefully finish) my jobs board, find a way to hang my calendar on a wood cabinet, and finish setting up my files.

Great News!

I forgot to say yesterday that we got really exciting news in our staff meeting. The preliminary MSP scores have been released and.... (drum roll) 100% of fifth graders passed the science section!! I get emotional even when talking about it. If you knew how chaotic my year felt last year, you would completely understand why this makes me emotional. I'm so proud of my kiddos for putting all their effort into that test, using all they knew, and achieving those results!

You can check out our school report card on OSPI's website here.

First Official Day- Day Four

Yesterday was a furlough day, so no new post for that. I spent my day baking freezable breakfasts, doing laundry, and relaxing a little during the calm before the storm.

Today was our first official in-service day. We had meetings in the morning and were free to work in our classrooms in the afternoon. I walked into my classroom to find 1) the floor beautifully waxed by our amazing custodian, 2) all my furniture piled in the corner (I expected this), 3) ceiling tiles removed (again!), and 4) district electricians pulling wires out of the ceiling. I could deal with the first 3, but the electricians were in the way. I'm ready to have my room to myself for a whole day! Hopefully that day will come soon!
Despite getting a later than expected start, I got a lot done today and I'm feeling much more optimistic about being ready for the first day of school (or at least close to ready).

The custodian helped me move all my furniture back, once the electricians left. That was a quick and painless process. While moving desks, I was reminded of one of the gifts I gave parent volunteers at the end of last year. This fell out of a student desk! I can't believe I didn't find it sooner, and it's been in there since June! Gross!




Then, I set up my classroom meeting/carpet area. Hopefully it won't get totally dirty again or won't have to be moved again. (One of the very large jobs on my to-do list is setting up my class library.)



My desks are back to where they belong. I'm going to have my kids in partners for the first week, all facing forward. I decided this year that I didn't want to start with them in groups because I don't want their first impression to be "We get to talk to each other in this class!" Instead, I want to pre-teach how academic discussions sound and work and build the expectation before putting them in groups.

I don't know if I've taken a picture of my textbook storage. I have table leaders get textbooks for their whole table (meaning only 5 or 6 kids are up and about). It keeps their desks tidier, the textbooks in better condition, and gives responsibility to the group and table leader. 

I made this last year to keep extra copies in. I think I saw the idea somewhere on pinterest (sorry, not sure where). It really helps to decrease clutter on my desk. It also helps kids take more responsibility for when they were absent. 

This was my project table today. I'll have to finish these projects tomorrow. I found myself with so much to do today, that I couldn't stay focused on one thing. Instead, I skipped around from one thing to another to another. On this table, you can see that I made name tags, but still have to laminate them, got the supplies to organize my filing cabinet, started working on my teacher binder, and started making new student packets. 

This is the beginning of a new student packet. I'm trying to put everything a new student would need (no matter when they come in the year) in a ziplock bag. Then, even if given little notice, I can be ready for new students by just pulling out the bag. The beginning of the year is the best time to make these because there's so much that gets passed out to kids and I find that I am more aware of what each student needs. 

I made a desktop file for my desk. So simple, but something I didn't have last year. I think it will make a huge difference on the condition of my desk. To copy, To file, To read later. 

This is my almost clean desk! I know it still looks messy, but you should've seen it before... well, actually I was too embarrassed to take a picture. My desk was the only piece of furniture that didn't move, so everything that I wanted out of the way got piled onto it. Also notice in this picture that I got a new network cable that is long enough! Yay! Now I have a working teacher computer and can keep up with email, start planning and making electronic files, etc- all the important things!

Tomorrow is an optional day but I will be there all day trying to get my classroom finished (wishful thinking). I will hopefully make more progress tomorrow than I did today and maybe even start thinking about lesson plans for the first few days of school. 

Day Three

Today was a busy day. I had a lot to get done since I left the room a disaster yesterday and it has to be clean for tomorrow. One of our amazing janitors is going to wax my floor. He didn't get a chance when he did all the other rooms because of the moving schedule. Now it is causing us both much more work, since we have to clear the floor after all the furniture has been set up and I have unpacked. Anyway, he's willing to do it and he's doing it on my schedule! And he said he wouldn't be able to move the furniture back before I come in on Thursday since the wax will be drying overnight, but he'll help me to move furniture to wherever I want it to go. He is a very kind man! Wax will make a big difference on this floor, I think!

I had an awesome helper for most of the day today which also really helped. She finished leveling ALL of my books! Incredible! I've never had all my books leveled, even when I had fewer books.
She also helped me with a few two person jobs.

Overall, the room looks a lot better! I created more work for myself at the end of the day when I needed to put more stuff away but didn't know where to put it yet. I started shoving things in shelves, closets, and boxes, just to get it out of the way. When I go back on Thursday, I'll have to take everything back out and actually organize it.


One of the two person jobs was hanging my rocket on the ceiling above the carpet area. It used to be high up on the wall in my classroom that had super tall ceilings. I don't have the wall space for it in this room, but I like it better on the ceiling anyway!

I put some math manipulatives and supplies away in this shelf. I thought this would be my math shelf for kids to access, but I'm rethinking that. I think the one I posted about yesterday that's kind of odd might be better for math stuff. 

I found another box of teacher resource books, which sparked a reorganization of my bookshelf. Probably doesn't look much different to you, but took my a chunk of time and is now more usable to me. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

This is by the door and will be the way the kids leave the room to go to the bathroom, the office, etc. I made these sheets a few days ago. I think they'll be much better than using notebook paper like I did last year. 

This is what my classroom looked like when I left today. Notice the mostly clear desktops and floor! 

My helper also helped me put up the paper for this bulletin board. I learned that everyone else I've had make bulletin boards for me are much better at it than I am. Those ripples will drive me nuts all year! I think I will try to recruit helpers every year! (Ahem... Mom & Dad, you were great at it!)

Also, the cabinet that I was not very happy to receive yesterday (partially pictured on left, below) was renamed "The Chokey" today. Calling it that made my day! (I obviously won't call it that around parents or students.)

My huge learning of the day today was that I should've bought a staple gun sooner! If you are a teacher and you don't have one, get one! They make putting up bulletin boards, posters, rockets on the ceiling, etc. so much easier! They are especially helpful if you have carpeted (or soft) walls, like I do, since using a regular stapler wrinkles and tears the paper when you put pressure on it. The staples also seem to grab much better (even the small size).

I forgot to mention my good news from yesterday. My coworker and I wanted to paint our "new" bookshelves since they have seen much better days. We thought about having a parent painting party. When we approached our principal about painting, he also came up with the idea of a painting party and is going to get our PTA going on it! I'm going to add The Chokey to the list to be painted. I can't handle the mauve and mint paint job that is currently on it. 

Tomorrow is a furlough day, so I won't be working. Instead, I will be cooking and baking freezable to-go breakfasts for school days. 

Day Two

Today was a long and exhausting day with lots of furniture moving and swapping.
I thought I had been given all of my furniture before the weekend. I guess not, because it kept coming and coming today. I walked in to find my door blocked by 2 bookcases and throughout the day more bookcases and cabinets were added. At one point, they couldn't fit any more furniture in my room so they were just pushing it in from the door. Who thinks classrooms need that much furniture? There wasn't any room for kids much less me in the classroom! I have no idea how it got ordered, since I certainly didn't request that much.

I was so overwhelmed I didn't even think to take pictures, although they would be entertaining. There was no way to walk in my classroom! Luckily, the workers had some time to kill at our school and were willing to help move things around and they took out the stuff I didn't need.
The blessing behind all of this is that I got to get rid of my rickety, wobbly bookshelves and replaced them with sturdier ones. However, in the time it took me to take all my books out of my old bookshelves, the workers got busy again so I got to haul all my old bookshelves out and across the playground to storage. I also hauled all the primary sized chairs that were left in my room down the hall to a new 1st grade class and one of my filing cabinets down the hall to another teacher who didn't have one.

Again, I thought they were done with furniture deliveries, when they showed up again with a huge cabinet. We had some trouble trying to find a place to put it which was when one of the movers mentioned that I don't have any more room for furniture. I was shocked to hear there was more. He said there were two more bigger cabinets that were supposed to be put in my room. At this point, I drew the line and told him not to put any more furniture in my room!

By 2:00 (5 hours after arriving at school), I finally got some of my own work done. Here's pictures of some of the stuff that I did throughout the day.


I swapped out my bookshelves for these sturdier, longer, lower bookshelves. I also continued leveling and sorting books.

I made this rocket which is the beginning of my job chart. (Inspiration from Bulletin Board Ideas) By the way, my amazing Dad put the paper and border on this bulletin board! I'm still impressed.

I moved and set up my group table to find out that I don't really have space for it, so I'll have to think about that. The table is, hopefully, temporary since I asked for a grant to buy a kidney shaped one.

Also notice the mini-fridge in the background. It's a recent Target purchase and I think it's the perfect size! It doesn't take up too much space and will fit my lunch and a little bottle of coffee creamer if I decide to bring my coffee pot back to school.

This lovely (sarcasm) piece of furniture was delivered today. It is very well built and I think it has potential, but I have no idea what to use it for yet. I'm thinking paper storage on either side of the top, but don't know what to do with the middle or bottom. Any ideas?

This is the huge mauve cabinet that was delivered today. I don't like where I put it, but am having trouble finding another spot for it. I need to figure that out quickly though before the carpenters come out to bolt everything to the walls. 

I forgot to take an overall picture of the room, but it doesn't look much different than yesterday. The large tables that were in the back of the room were removed (finally) and my bookshelves changed. The rest of the classroom still looks like a tornado hit it. 

Day One of Setup

Wow! Today was a busy day. I am exhausted! I had a team of helpers to unpack and set up my classroom today. I am sooo thankful for them! We got a lot done!

My classroom looks like a complete and total disaster but, believe it or not, we made a lot of progress!

I was too tired to keep going, but had a really hard time leaving my classroom in this condition. Notice the big changes: the desks are arranged for week 1 (they will change), there are complete bulletin boards (thanks Dad, Stephanie, Wendy and Mom), all the boxes are unpacked, the bookshelves are in their places. 

Note the Home Depot aprons on the chairs. I got that idea from Confessions of a Nerdy Teacher. More about that later. Thank you to Megan for tying them all on! 

There is only one storage closet in my room. This is it. I would like to do more organizing, but that's not where my head was at today. 

My library books are all unpacked and all of them that have levels are labeled and sorted by level. There's a few piles left to level, but they're close to done. Yay! Thank you Mike!

The text books are in their shelves. Thanks Dad!

The supply shelf is coming together. 

I will be back at it tomorrow, unfortunately without the team of helpers. Most of the staff will be in the building tomorrow as it's the first day the building will be open for normal hours. I'll be interested to see what it's really like to be in a portable when there are others in the building. 

Fresh Start

I went in to my school today to learn how to use the alarm and see how the move was going. This is what my classroom looked like.

The move was not complete yet. Some of this furniture was moved out and more of my furniture and supplies were added. Regardless, this gives you an idea of what I'm starting with tomorrow.
What condition was your classroom in when you started setting it up?

Last Year-First Year

To start, I thought I would add some pictures from my classroom last year. Unfortunately, I only have pictures from before school started and, therefore, they don't reflect the many changes that took place throughout the year.


Last year, my classroom was space themed. I am going to stick with that theme this year and try to incorporate it more. If you have ideas for space themed bulletin boards, management, etc, please let me know! I loved these high ceilings, but didn't like the large amount of dirty white space so I tried to fill it.

I got the idea for this poster when I was touring another school in the district. Unfortunately, I don't know whose classroom it was. I made it and posted it on my classroom door. 

 This is my class jobs board. Everyone had a job at all times. I have new ideas for this year's job board and will post pictures when it's complete.

 This was my desk area. This may have been the cleanest it ever was. One of my goals this year is to keep my desk tidy.

 The front of my room. I added collaboratively made posters above the whiteboards during the first week of school that demonstrated what our three class rules (Be safe, Be respectful, Be responsible) would look like, sound like, and feel like in the school community.
I am also looking forward to utilizing a smartboard more this year. However, my new one won't be installed until after the start of school.

 The back corner of my classroom. I moved a table to under the light blue board to serve as a "Office of Productive Thinking" for kids who needed a different space to work in. Unfortunately, once we started science, it became a science supply storage/distribution area.

 Another picture of the back of my room. My meeting area was to the right. This bookshelf had textbooks for math.

My classroom from the door. The windows look out to the playground. They provided a lot of wonderful light, but took away wall space. My classroom library is under the windows. 

 Looking back to the door. The dark blue board changed throughout the year. I was going to use it to display student work but couldn't find a way to fit 30 students' work on it. For part of the year it displayed group projects which worked well.

 This was my attendance/lunch count board. Students in one step on their way in the door moved their card from the blue pocket to their lunch choice. Any name left in the pocket is a student who is absent or tardy. A student counted how many hot lunches were ordered and reported it to me so I could send it in with the attendance.

 This was my meeting space. Later in the year I got an easel for charting and added anchor charts to the bulletin board instead of having commercial posters. I also went through a couple rugs this year. One was old and small and a parent ended up donating a rug they weren't using at home. It was great and almost big enough for all the students to sit on!
I also started with book boxes (from ikea) for all of the students. I didn't know how to guide students to use them efficiently, so at some point midyear, we put many of them away.

 The green board turned into my social studies board, but was hard to access with the computers in the way. The word wall was alphabetical and just had words listed under each category. Therefore, it didn't actually support students with spelling or with vocabulary. If I wanted to support spelling I would organize it by spelling pattern. If I wanted to support vocabulary, I should have added definitions or pictures.

 I made a pennant banner to welcome students. Each pennant had a students' name on it. I wouldn't do this again because my class roster changed so much from the time I made it through the first week of school. I ended up having to take names off, add more names; it was too hard to keep up with and not worth the time.

New Blog

I am just now getting around to creating my own blog. I enjoy following many other blogs and find many of my teaching inspirations there. I wanted to share my own ideas, classroom, and projects, as well as link to other inspiring blogs.

I am starting to gear up to go back to school. (The first day for students is September 5th.) I am moving out of the building to a portable and have been waiting all summer for the train to start rolling. (There is quite the shuffle occurring throughout the building and the new portables are the engine of the moving train. I am the caboose.) I have been doing what I can throughout the summer: attending professional development classes, buying supplies, finding inspiration and ideas on pinterest, working on projects from home, and making documents that I'll use for management, etc. At this point though I just want to get into my classroom, unpack, and set up. I will be spending some time in my room this weekend and as much time as I can next week between meetings, furlough days, etc.

Anyway, I can't wait to post some pictures of my new classroom and the projects that I've been working on!