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Monday, July 18, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!

The GOOD:

My classroom is finally clean and ready for me to start setting up! I moved some more boxes in today and should only have one more trip back to school with my school stuff! I unpacked a lot of boxes and organized things in my cabinets. I am really excited to get started but now here comes the bad and the ugly part....

The BAD:

I'm still not sure where everything should go! I've made a plan several times, I've changed the layout around, I've measured, I've taken pictures but there is no sudden stroke of genius coming to me. There are a lot of things in my room that are fixed to the wall or cannot be moved. So it makes setting up a little be more challenging. While I was sitting in my room I kept wishing Jodi from Clutter-Free Classroom just sweep in like my fairy godmother and help me out! It didn't happen sooo I ended up still having

The UGLY:

This is my classroom right now! Disaster -I know!

I started organizing some of this cabinet today and some of the sink area. Sorry for the desks in the way. I'm hoping I can get rid of all of them and get tables but if I can't I'm at least getting rid of four of them. The class came with 20 desks and in Florida because of the class size reduction law we usually only have 16 students. (The maximum is 18.) 
This is the front wall of the classroom. I am loving that I have a rug for a meeting area this year. I am envisioning mini lessons, morning messages, calendar, and learning going on here so it has to be perfect. I'm not sold on this spot but I feel like it needs to be where the whiteboard/projector is. To my knowledge I do not have a teaching easel so I'm not sure where to hang pocket charts. Notice my desk....it has to stay there because the technology person hooked up all the phone, computer, printer stuff there. I do not like the location but I'm going to have to make it work. I think I'll use that bulletin board for my Student of the Week since it will be hard for kids to reach over my desk but will still be easy to see. 
This is the back wall of my room. Notice the large cabinet...not sure where to move this or really what to put in it. I was thinking perhaps math materials but I'm not sure if that would be easily accessible to kids. Then I have a file cabinet which is leaving my room asap. I have two bookshelves, two trapezoid tables,  a "u" shaped which I'm thrilled about! All the stuff on this back wall can be moved. The door leads to the bathroom. 

Everything you see on this wall is permanent. The cubbies and tables the computers are on are all built into the classroom. Now I love the cubbies but I'm not loving all the curriculum that is all over the place. I need to organize all the curriculum so the students can utilize the cubbies for their books, lunch, and underneath they hand their backpacks. 

The classroom is pretty straightforward design--4 walls-maybe I'm over thinking this! I need to spend some more time and get creative in there. I know my classroom design will come together but right now I feel overwhelmed. I will be moving/organizing/agonizing over my classroom for the next three days at least. Any advice?

2 comments:

  1. Wowie - you are SOOOOO lucky with your class size! I am so jealous!! We just lost our class size reduction of 20:1 and now we can have up to 32. I think I need to move to Florida!!!
    Your room will be great! I love my built in cubbies . . . I have a basic 4 walled classroom, as well. I'm trying to think of advice for you but all I can come up with is that my student desks are in the middle of the room facing the whiteboard and my overhead is "anchored" by my middle table group towards the front so it can shine onto the overhead and everyone can see it.

    I actually have my meeting area (or carpet space) in a corner and that way I can utilize two walls for all kinds of stuff. I use a whiteboard easel over there. My guided reading table is in the opposite corner and my library is in the third corner which I kind of made cozy by kind of closing it off with bookshelves. My 4th corner is actually where the door and sink are and can't really be used for space.

    I wish I had pics but they took away our keys!!!! :( I can't get back in until August 1.

    Good luck - I know it will look amazing!
    Kristin
    A Teeny Tiny Teacher

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  2. Thank you for your advice! I know it will come together thank you for your encouragement!

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