Classroom Pictures August 2008

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My classroom . . . A progress report

In my last school post I wrote about 6 different areas that needed to be cleaned/organized.

After working in my room on Tuesday morning for a couple of hours and Wednesday for about four hours, here is a report of how I am doing:

1. Under the sink - done! (I wish I could make check marks on the computer : ) I can't actually take credit for this area though. The custodians dusted and stacked everything back so neatly I didn't have to do anything. I do need to wash, iron, and hang the curtain I use to cover the area.
2. Listening center - didn't touch this
3. Math manipulatives shelves - done!
4. Reading manipulatives shelf - it is organized but I have a small rolling cart of reading things I wanted to put on it but they just aren't going to fit. I hardly ever use them so they may wind up in a box in the closet that is easily accessible if I want them.
5. Classroom library - this is where I spent most of my time today. As I mentioned we teach using the balanced literacy model. A cornerstone of this model is a classroom library organized by genre/author/subject, etc. I spent A LOT of time going through all of my various book baskets making sure only the proper books were in them. All of the baskets I have out are now correct. I still have three large bins of books to put out however. I can't do this because I am OUT OF SHELF space. I am waiting on our new principal (she was just appointed yesterday!) to get a chance to approve some shuffling around of furniture so I can have more shelf space.

Once I have more space I can get out more books and file them in baskets I already have started or create new baskets. I also need to label the books with some sort of sticker so the kids can put them back in the correct place. I used library sticks (well, paint stir sticks) last year but the kids really didn't do a good job with that. I want to apply colored stickers to all of my books so kids can match the sticker on the book to the sticker on the basket it goes in. I also need to put library pockets/cards in my books and label them with AR data. I have to type each title into the computer in order to do that. Luckily, this year we converted to the online program that AR has, so I can bring the books home a few at a time and check them online when I have time. As I bring them home to do this, I plan on checking for pockets/cards, labeling them with the correct sticker, and typing up an inventory list. Whew . . . I'm tired just thinking of it!

6. Writing Center/Student supplies area - done!

I also cleaned out my huge built in closet/shelving unit today. (Well, all except one section which I refuse to think about!)

When I go to school on Friday I plan on putting up my two bulletin boards and various posters/wall decorations. My team and I will meet on Monday to plan, and we will begin inservice on the 19th. The kids' first day is the 25th. Boy, summer went by in a flash this year!

Preparing my classroom Step 3

Deep cleaning - for my classroom - is organizing. (At home I consider it deep cleaning when I clean all of those things that I never clean: baseboards, dusting walls, etc.) Oh, how I hate this step. I hate this step because it seems like everything gets worse before it gets better. I think that this is true with any organizational job because you have to dig everything out, organize it, sort through it, and then put it all back from wherever it came from.

At the end of the year I just stuff everything back into the cabinets any way it will fit. During the summer while I get my room ready for the next school year, I go through everything and reorganize it for the new year.

I have already reorganized my teacher shelf. This is the shelf where I keep all of my TE's, resource books, etc. By doing this I was able to throw away enough old, outdated stuff to clean off one bookshelf completely. This allowed me to have another book shelf for my library.

I still need to go through my filing cabinet. I am slowly trying to move all of my files into binders instead of file folders. However, this will take up more shelf space.

Other places I still need to clean/organize:
1. Under the sink - This is a catch all for plastic tubs that I don't have a use for at the current time.
2. Listening Center - This is a small job.
3. Math Manipulatives shelves - This won't take long because, for the most part, all of the manipulatives have their own containers. I just need to clean out extra stuff that finds its way to these shelves during the year.
4. Reading Manipulative shelf - Hopefully this won't take too long. I am trying to consolidate some of the items so they don't take up so much room.
5. Classroom library - I'm not even going to write about this one right now! (More about it later.)
6. Writing Center/Student supplies area - This won't take too long. I do want to repaint the shelf that I use for this. I need to see if my mom has time to help me with this task. She is the handy person in our family.

Next to last step . . . decorating the room.

To be continued . . .

Preparing my classroom Step 2

After I decide where to move my furniture I have to actually move it. This can be tricky because your room is already full of furniture so there isn't a lot of room to move things around. We are really lucky in that our custodians will help us move things around. The two teachers I work with also are also very generous with their time - we try to help each other out with this type of thing. (Well, really, we help each other with everything, that's why we make such a great team but more about that later.)

Once I get my furniture in place I continue working through all of the boxes/piles of stuff that isn't where it is supposed to be. We don't have to box everything thing up at the end of the year. I wind up piling some things in boxes just to get them out of the way for the summer. (During the summer the custodians come in and deep clean. They dust all the shelves, shampoo the carpet, clean the mini blinds, clean the desks inside and out, scrub the chairs, and do a hundred other things that people don't think about that needs to be cleaned I'm sure. We are blessed to have great custodians!)

Once everything is in the right area of the room, I begin my deep cleaning.

To be continued . . .

Random Teaching Thoughts/Preparing the classroom Step 1

Well, I thought I had found a neat signature for my posts (see last post) but I don't know how to have my blog "remember" to end each post with it.

I think it is time to get to the teacher part of my blog. I have spent most of the summer posting about the mom part of my life.

I am a third grade teacher and will start my tenth year of teaching at the end of August. I can't believe that I have been teaching for nine years already! The time has really flown by.

There have been lots of changes over the last nine years. TAAS was replaced by TAKS, the TEKS for math have been updated, the language arts TEKS will be updated next year, I moved from fourth grade to third grade, etc. etc. etc. Over the last 9 years I have worked with 12 new teachers. (Just in my grade level) I've also worked with long term substitutes several times. It has been interesting to work with new, different people but I am so glad that this year, for the first time in several years, I will have the pleasure to work with the same two collegaues that I did last year.

I have worked in my room for four days this summer. I don't work the whole day. I go in at some point in the morning, stay until the kids drive me crazy because they are tired of being together in my room, come home, eat lunch, and then go back to school for a couple more hours. In the afternoons the kids stay with Jimmy because he gets off by 2:00 usually.

Of course, lots of time is spent the first couple of days catching up with everyone that you haven't seen over the summer.

When it comes to putting my room together I start by sitting and staring. I learned this technique from a friend who teaches second grade. She swears by it, and you know what? It works! The first day I was at school I didn't move anything. I focused on cleaning out boxes of old papers, etc. While I did this I debated where to put my furniture. We teach reading using the Balanced Literacy model developed by many educators. We use this book by Fountas and Pinnell. This means I need to have a community area (where the whole class can sit), a writing center (this contains dictionaries, theauruses, paper, etc.), a word study area, a teacher table where I hold small groups, and a library organized by author/genre/subject. I also have five computers and a printer (plus a teacher computer). I am self contained so that means I teach all subjects (math, reading/language arts, science, and social studies) so I have to have all of the materials that I need for those subjects. Thank goodness we have a science lab so all of the lab materials are kept in that room. I have a shelf that is full of math manipulatives organized into plastic tubs with lids.

So, back to my story. The first day I putter around and stare. I then form a plan about where I want everything to go. This year I did something totally different. I moved my computers away from the wall (they were in a straight line) into a square of desks. This gives me more wall space for my library. I had three huge plastic tubs full of books that didn't get put on my shelves last year because I simply didn't have room for them. I hate the fact that I had books that my kids couldn't access. This new design will allow me to free all of those books from their plastic prisons!

To be continued . . .