This week I have been busy getting my classroom ready for the upcoming school year. Honestly, I'm so excited to see the students, I just had to get started. However, I may be moving rooms. So much of my preparations have been getting ready to set up whichever space I am in. With the help of my younger child, I decided on a nautical theme for the year. A few trips to Michaels, Dollar Tree and Target and I was set with a variety of organizational and theme supplies to get started. I spent a few days putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls just in case I am staying put in the room. (I'll happily paint a second room if I have an opportunity to move to a bigger space :))
One of the back to school activities will be goal setting. Each student will create a sailboat that represents their big goal for the fall. I hope for students to be creative in their artistic representation of their goal. I will encourage students to incorporate strengths and interests into the body and sail of their boats.
A quick trip to the BVSD warehouse resulted in two nice bulletin boards. This one will proudly display standards based learning goals. I purchased a great set of illustrated Common Core Standards in kid friendly "we can" language. I printed these on card stock. They will easily slide into the sheet protectors hanging under each grade's heading. This should make it very easy to update learning goals daily as needed.
 .jpg) This board will display our CAFE reading strategies. I still need to create clothespins with students names on them. Students will clip their pins to the strategy they are working on.
My next task was to reorganize my book shelves for easier access by students. I really love the bins from Really Good Stuff but they are just too expensive. So... I found dollar bins at Target and the Dollar Tree. They will work just fine. I printed labels at Avery.com and attached them to the bins. I used a great new app, http://classroom.booksource.com/ to create a web-based database of all of my books and then uploaded a spreadsheet with student names. My students can now easily check books out of the classroom library and I can print reports of what books they have read. They no longer need to spend time writing down their books in a log. I anticipate students really enjoying using the iPad app to check out their books.
 
There is no closet or cabinet in my small room and I have way too many books and supplies for my small space. Behind this cute curtain that Ace made for me, is my bookcase filled with teaching materials. I always hated how distracting it was for students with all my 'stuff' so visable. Now it's hidden behind the curtain. The curtain slides on a picture frame wire mounted to the top of the book case. It's easy for me to get the materials and then cover it back up.
Plastic bins hold student art supplies and the computer projector. By stacking the bins, I think I've gotten the projector high enough to project over the student heads. Last year, students were constantly having to slide their chairs out of the way of the projector.
The Dollar Tree collapsible bins hold math manipulatives and classroom supplies. Most of the bins are hidden under the table, which I've covered with repurposed old duvet cover. It nicely hides the pile of bins under the table. These last few will head under the table shortly. Also repurposed is a garage organizer that my older son, Matt, used to hold all of his lego pieces. Since he is off in college and the organizer was collecting dust in his room, I quickly made it my own. It holds tons of small desk supplies like staples, paper clips, brads, tape etc. I still have to finish labeling the drawers.
My mother made this really cute pocket chart for Matt years ago. It fits perfectly with my nautical theme. I haven't decided yet how best to use it but I'm sure it will be handy. Thanks Mom!
Thanks Ace for your great ideas and help getting it put together. Thanks Matt for the 'donations' of supplies. Mom, thanks for your creativity! I really don't want to hang the bulletin boards on the freshly painted walls if I'm going to be switching rooms. I'll be thanking my husband for hanging the bulletin boards as soon as I know which room I'll be in.
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