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Thursday, August 8, 2013

I'm Back.... with a Classroom Tour!

So I know it's been over a year since I last posted... oops! But I'm going to try this again! And I'm going to be {hopefully} giving the blog a much-needed makeover! I'm not happy with its current appearance AT ALL! But I know nothing about how to do that, so it might take some time!

I'm almost finished getting my classroom ready for the start of the year, so I figured I'd start with some pics! I'm super fortunate in that they did our floors the day after school got out (no exaggeration!) so I've had access to my room pretty much all summer. It's on the second floor, and they only run the a/c for the first floor in the summer, so there's a lot of actual sweat put into my room this summer! But it was worth braving the heat to have all the time I needed and be able to do everything I wanted to do. And now I have a few last minute things to do, and otherwise have all of next week to troubleshoot my new technology and help the other teachers work on theirs.

Before I unveil my pics, know that I teach eighth grade English, and have been told by more than a few people that my classroom is "too cute" and looks "elementary" and don't I know that upper level teachers don't decorate like that? But I pay them no mind! I figure I have to live in my room for eight+ hours a day, so it should make me happy to be in there. And it does!

So, without further ado.... my classroom!

 View from the door towards the opposite back corner. (The clock is broken and awaiting repairs, hence its location!) I have class sizes ranging from 12 to 35 this year, so I have to squeeze in a LOT of desks!
 View of the front of the room. My new Promethean board!!!! And we moved my ELMO to the front (it was in the back corner). I can't wait to use it all! The Promethean is mounted over my whiteboard, which isn't ideal, but I still have a little bit of board to each side, and Ill be using the Promethean most of the time anyway. I also have two bulletin boards, one on each side. The right side houses my calendar and info for the students (flyers, lunch menu, reminders), and the left side is "The Fridge" where I post funny memes, pictures the kids draw for me, ecards, and other random things.
 View of my desk area and student computer table from the door. I have three student computers for AR tests, make-up lab work, or whatever.
 View across the front of the room from the door. The black shelf by the door houses tissues and hand sanitizer, which the kids through like crazy! I also covered foam board with super cute chevron wrapping paper to cover the backs of the shelves, and I made a little sign that says "Library Books" for the basket on the bottom shelf. That way I can reduce trips to the library, and the kids can turn their books in there and one of the aides can return them for us!

 My desk area. I have a small computer table beside my desk so that my dual monitors don't take up my whole desktop!
 Student area - the green drawers house markers, colored pencils, and glue sticks; the tan file holders on the wall hold make-up work papers; and the kids turn their work into their "class drawer" (really bad close-up picture of the drawers below).

 This is a new addition for this year, and I'm so excited about it! After losing so much of my white board to my new Promethean, I begged my {most awesome} principal to let me get a second whiteboard. I taped it off with painter's tape and I'm going to post our agenda each day. It will stay up for a week so that it doubles as make-up work notification! Below the board is my classroom library. I scored a ton of great new books this summer from library sales and Second & Charles. I can't wait to share them with my kids!
 Front corner. It has my stool and podium in it, but I hardly ever teach from them. Last year my classroom library was housed in that corner, but it won't fit anymore!
A shot of my teacher area from across the room. Really I just wanted to show off all of that lovely cabinet space! The cabinets are labeled with contents so the kids can easily find supplies, dictionaries, copy paper, etc. and the decals on the cabinets are from Dollar Tree!

I move my desks around a good bit, but I keep them in rows for the first few weeks until I learn names and personalities. I'm not sure how it's going to work this year with SO MANY desks! I'll try some other arrangements, but I'm not hopeful that I'll have as many options as I've had in the past. 35 is a lot!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my classroom! If you have any questions about it, leave a comment or shoot me an email! And hopefully I'll be back again before next summer!

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back to the blogging world. I love your assignment board!! Iv'e been thinking about doing something like that myself.

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    1. Thanks elainaann! I had something similar at my first school, and have missed it ever since! Once the year gets going I'll let you know how it's working, but I have high hopes! :)

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