800

Ok guys. This is monumental. This is my 800th post on Sneaker Teacher. 

Cue the party horns and confetti. 

Woo Hoo!

I wish I had a big announcement or a giveaway. 

But, I don't.

I feel like I need to say something really important.

 But, I really just want to share the photos of what I accomplished in my room today....

It's far from done, but I only had 3 hours to work before I had to go to the dentist, so I did as much as I could with my classroommate. It doesn't look like much, but putting up all that paper takes time...

I was disappointed to realize that the borders I bought were in my car, which Mr. Sneaker took today because it has our only carseat and he drops Baby Sneaker off at daycare. So although we put up fresh paper for our display boards, they are lacking fun borders to make them look complete. 

oops.

 This will be the space where I gather with the kiddos every morning to review our letter of the week, words of the week, and to do some quick math practice. I moved my math wall to a new location this year so I could have separate walls for phonics and for journeys.

Fortunately this wall stayed in really good shape last year, so I actually didn't have to do anything to it. I am not sure if those things will all stay up against that wall, but we want to have a space for our "throne" that allows us to access/reference either of the display walls. I have not yet put up anything on this wall which will be dedicated to our reading program. The program comes with large Focus Wall posters for each lesson (so a poster that gets switched out each week) and we want to add something cute to decorate it that goes with the theme of journeys (maybe a hot air balloon?)

This will be our phonics wall which will be home to our alphabet, our letter cards that we add as we complete each sound lesson, and our word wall. I plan to staple the words below the picture cards as we introduce them. We decided to leave some open space at the top for photos or student work that we can hang throughout the year. And, you might notice that my alphabet is really low. I've never had it that low before, but I think that it's easier for the kids to see and reference since they are small and sitting down on the carpet. Plus, then I can add the letter cards on top and the words below. If I want them utilizing the word wall, then I figure it should be more on eye level. I feel like I am breaking some rule by having it that low, but that's what we decided we want to try this year. 

All of these areas will look better once they are actually completed and I will post more pictures then. The biggest change is that my classroommate and I want to save more space for student work instead of having all the spaces covered and decorated right off the bat. I want the visuals to be meaningful, which means things will be added as we go. We also want to preserve space to put up more photos of students. 

I'm really trying to hold back and not put everything out in its place now because I want to avoid having students and siblings touching everything when they come to drop supplies off the week before school. I love getting everything all set, but I just need to think about all those untrained kids grabbing at everything and I remember that I can do all that in good time. 

I really wish I could have stayed all day. I love setting up my room and getting everything organized. I need time to attack my desk, file cabinet, and shelves. 

I need to seriously organize my books. I should check out Pinterest for some ideas on organizing books. ooh that sounds fun!

When I picked Baby Sneaker up from daycare she was sleeping on a little cot with all the big kids instead of in a crib like she did last year. When did my baby get so big?

She was wiped out after spending time with her friends today.

I'm going back in tomorrow to chat with the new teacher on our team. I don't know if I will be able to get much done because Baby Sneaker is coming with me (yes, now I have a grabby child of my own who just might wreak havoc in my classroom), but hopefully I can at least staple the borders up!

Do you decorate everything before school starts or add as the year progresses?

Do you cover every square inch of space or use your real estate selectively?