Thank you very much for all the sweet comments after my last post. I literally thought there was no-one out there reading my blog anymore so it made me really happy to know that there are a few followers hanging on! You have definitely inspired me to keep blogging. I do really love writing, I think I just prefer blogging over the summer when I am in planning/organizing mode. I love sharing ideas for the upcoming year and photos of my classroom as it comes together.
Once again, I get to embark upon the fun adventure of moving to a new classroom at the end of the year. Well, let's be honest, when room assignment changes involve many people, the moving process continues all summer because each person cannot move into the new room until the previous person vacates it and that takes fooooorrrrevvvvverrrrr. Ideally, I would be able to get my stuff into the new room and partially set up sooner rather than later. I have already started packing up my stuff and giving away lots of resources/materials/items that I don't foresee using.
Why would I just start giving stuff away you ask?
It's because my new classroom is the size of a closet.
Okay, that was a gross exaggeration.
But, my new room is a lot smaller than my current room and it has a lot less storage.
I think...
I haven't actually been able to get into my new room yet.
I know that sounds strange but it has to do with the awkwardness of job reassignments.
Enough said.
I am itching to get in there and take a good look around, take photos, and start planning out my room.
But I think that needs to wait until summer break.
Since I will be teaching small groups of students in grades K-5, I know that I will need various wall space areas dedicated to each grade level. I don't plan on having the same thematic units for all of my groups, so I have to find a way to dedicate space for each individual grade level.
I have no idea how I am going to swing that.
Given that the room is very small, I considered not bringing along my very large rectangular carpet, but I decided to bring it and here's why...
1) I love it
2) It was expensive
3) Little kids need designated spots for their buns. My oval carpet does not have said spots and mayhem ensues each and every time we transition to that carpet in the form of flailing arms and legs, hands that are not kept to selves, and friends talking to each other when I am teaching.
::sidebar:: I just recently assigned spots on that carpet and have kids sitting in four rows in number order (each child is my class has a particular number) and since assigning spots, life on that carpet has been far more pleasant. But, I can't take that carpet with me because it belongs to Kindergarten.
4) I always need a carpet space for gathering. Who wants to read a book to kids sitting at tables? Not I said Sneaker Teacher.
So, my thought is that I can mainly use the carpet for instruction with my younger groups (K-1), maybe K-2) and I can use tables for my upper grades.
Don't you love my fabulous floor plan? I think the round tables I currently have will work better than rectangle tables, but I need to make sure I can accommodate all of my older students at the tables. I won't know the size of my groups until fall. I don't *think* I will have more than 12 students in my upper grade level groups, but really who knows...
The bummer of this room is that the wall to the left is actually a divider because the other half of the classroom is the Kindergarten work room and the Tag Teacher's office. Then the wall on the bottom is a wall of windows.
So, I basically have not a lot of wall space in which to designate spots for all my groups.
::sigh::
I'll figure it out and it will be fabulous.
One of the cool things about being a "specialist" is that the classroom does not belong to just one class. Therefore, I don't need to prepare a lot of the things I would usually prepare at the beginning of the year. And, specialists don't get students until like week 3... #bonus
I am really excited to get into the room and start moving furniture around. I really hope everything fits and I can make it work.
Are you moving for next year or staying put?
