classroom stuff

I dropped Baby Sneaker at daycare this morning (today was her second day) and headed down to my school to spend some time getting things in order. Since I am sharing my room this year, I have all this guilt about doing anything without the permission/presence of my new "roommate," yet I always go in before we officially go back to get the furniture arranged and take care of some organizing things. Especially since I will only have half of the prep time this year during in service, I want to get the show on the road. Although I haven't been able to get in touch with the teacher who will be sharing my space, I decided to go ahead and do a few things. We can always make changes next week to anything she objects to/hates/can't live with. 

As always, I arranged the furniture differently this year because let's face it, there is always a better way to do things. I am hopeful that my new roomie likes what I've done because I like it and would love to keep it the way it is. I wouldn't have done anything without her, but I have a focus group in my classroom on Friday so I need places for people to sit and I didn't want to invite participants to a room where all the furniture is stacked up and everything is in piles. So I did the basic room arrangement and like I said, we can always change it. 

Here is a sneak peak of what it looks like so far...

 I moved my desk from being perpendicular to the window to being perpendicular to the wall because the electrical outlet is along the wall, so the desk should be too...I like how the rocking chair is now up against the desk and I have direct access to my phone now. Also, there will no longer be wires across the floor that kids trip on every time we have a fire drill. 

Safety first!

 I moved my rainbow train from below my whiteboard to the top of the math wall. I plan to label the cars with die cut color words and then add more to that wall including our number parade and 120 chart. I also put a bookshelf there to house all of our math manipulatives.  

 I realized today that my whiteboard is centered in the room, but off center in terms of the space where the student tables are. I would have an easier time arranging them if the white board was positioned 1.5 feet to the left. But, I don't think it's easy to move, so I just tried my best to put the tables in locations where kids can see the board. 

All the colored storage bins will be where the kiddos keep their morning work folders and their iPads. Each bin will have the child's name and photo on it and they will get a special "parking spot" for their personal bin. All of these shelves have shelf space on both sides so I am thinking we can each take a side. That way we can have designated spaces for our stuff and our students will know what items they can use. I am hoping to put some cute curtains over the two shelves to the right so that when I am not there, I can have my personal materials covered up. I think we will share some things, but I also think some things are items I purchased myself that I want to use just with my students. 

I had to pick Baby Sneaker up at noon, so I didn't get everything on my list done. I think I will go back tomorrow and keep plugging away.