Day 6- Only one more in-building work day!

I went in to school today for about 5 hours. I didn't feel like I got much done in that time, but looking back, I did accomplish a few things. My room is more of a disaster than it was when I started today, but that can be cleaned rather quickly on Tuesday.

The first thing I did today was put organization options in my huge closet. Now it is a more functional space.

Then, I finished the bulletin board that I ran out of paper on the other day. I couldn't find more paper, so I had to get creative. The perfectionist side of me is not very happy with it, but I can deal with it, at least for now. (The blurt chart and extra copies folders are very strategically placed.)

 

My biggest accomplishment of the day was finishing my filing cabinet, which means that my desktop file is empty and ready to start the school year. I use this desktop file to hold all my copies for the week, divided by subject, and any master copies that I use frequently. 

My filing cabinet is also not the prettiest thing, but it needed to get done.

I committed to using this funky shelf for student supplies, so I switched all of the supplies that I want students to have easy access to from my black Ikea shelf to this one. Taking out some of the compartment dividers helped to customize it for my stuff. 

 The most exciting part of my work today was hanging my space pictures around the room. I laminated them last year and today I backed them with black construction paper, then stapled them up. Using black construction paper gave me something to staple through without harming the pictures and makes them "pop" on that white wall. I still have a few more to add, but I'm not sure where I want to put them yet. (Thanks Greg for donating these to my classroom!)

 This is all of them in the corner. There's one more on the left side that I couldn't fit into the picture. As you can see in this picture, I still have one bulletin board to cover (around the fire extinguisher). I just can't stand the look of those carpeted walls, so I'm turning all of them into bulletin boards.

Tomorrow and Monday, the building is closed. I could go work in my portable, but I don't really like the idea of being out there alone. Instead, I'm hoping to start curriculum planning for the year (or at least the first week). It is hard for me to start planning curriculum without having my physical space set up. The late start on setting up my classroom is making it harder to plan for the year, but I have to start at some point. While I was going through files today, I was reminded of how last year, I thought about rearranging some math units instead of following the pacing guide exactly. I brought my math curriculum home and am planning to map it out this weekend. 

I went to a week each of readers' workshop training and writers' workshop training over the summer. It was facilitated by Columbia Teachers' College coaches and was extremely valuable. My team teacher was also there, so we got to think through how we were going to implement each workshop in our classrooms and how we can align our instruction. 

I'll add more about my plan for the start of the year at the end of the weekend.