Why my perfect set-up wasn't perfect...

So many teachers dedicated their summer time to preparing for the new year to come.  We have the perfect plan and diligently work on making it happen.  But what happens when that perfect plan isn't perfect when the students arrive?  One thing teachers have to fall back on is flexibility.

I am in a new classroom, at a new school and in a new district.  I set up the room with a lot of thought but I couldn't see how the students would use it.  18 bodies definitely change my plan!

This is a panoramic view of my new room.  I loved how the tables were in a straight row.  It was very visually pleasing and tidy...but it didn't work.  I have quite a few students that want to stand with their chair pushed out, or kind of lean on it.  It made it very hard to get around the room.  So we had to fix it.  It's not as visually pleasing but it does function MUCH better. 

Here is the change.  It was one of those changes that had a domino effect.  Other things had to find a new home.  The double sided shelf that holds the students book bins moved over by the mailboxes.  The double sided front loading book shelf had to move over by the library.  Small student chairs and crates were moved.

It wasn't how I wanted it but that's not what's important.  The students are the central reason to make any decisions in the classroom.  Yes, I like it to be pretty.  Yes, I like it to be visually pleasing. But more than anything I want the students to feel comfortable and happy in the space.  So flexibility and letting go of my wishes had to happen.  In the age of Pinterest and blogs, I know so many of us feel the pressure to have the cutest classroom  but make sure it works for your students.

Classroom Reveal 2015-2016

This year I am starting a new adventure!  I'm teaching in a different district and obviously a new school.  The school is an International Baccalaureate and I'm teaching the gifted/advanced first grade (both firsts for me).  

 

I love a good challenge and I feel like I'm using a lot of brain power to learn many, many new things.  Guess what?  I'm loving it.  My class and families are the perfect fit for me.  Well and the fact that I am back in the grade I was made for.  

So when I set up my room I thought it was PERFECT but then the kids came and I had to make adjustments.  The kids kept bumping their chairs into each other and it was a tight squeeze.  Visually it was my perfect but the best laid plans of mice and men go awry.

So tonight I will show you the before (my pictures won't upload to the cloud so I'll have to wait on the after).  C'est la vie! 

BEFORE:

Here is my small group/teacher work area.  I have put my desk in my very large closet, which is the first closet I've ever had.

I used Cara Carroll's back to school ideas and had parents fill out an envelope so I could send a sweet note about their child.

Birthdays and our family wall

I love the family wall so much!  The students and I use it all the time.

This is the back wall and I decided I needed to use it for subject areas.  Anchor charts are displayed on reading and writing.  While math has strategies and our rotations.

Our book bins are held by this double sided shelf.  We went book shopping on day 2!

I saw this idea on pinterest but I'm not sure where.  I put our wishes on cupcakes and the parents grabbed almost all of them!

Here is a close-up of our math rotations.  

I had a table set up for meet the teacher that now holds the mailboxes.

Frame Worthy Work will always have a place in my classroom.  The frames are from Lakeshore Learning and I love them SO much...you just slip work inside.  This is also our supply area, hermit crab tank and math supplies.

The desk were already with Learning In Wonderland's flip book, bubbles, and login cards.

As I mentioned before, we are an IB school.  We display and teach the learner profiles (open-minded, reflective, caring, courageous, thinker, knowledgeable, inquirer, communicator, balanced. and principled).  They are displayed to the sides of the board and below are name tag holders with the traits that students wear for the day when we note them using one of the LPs.

These are the Learner Profile student recognition in name tag holders.  When I notice a student exhibiting one, we all stop and acknowledge and then the child wears one for the rest of the day.

Here is a close up of one of the profiles.

This is the front of my room with my new ActivPanel.  Two weeks in and I don't know how I taught without it.

Most of these read alouds are tied to the profiles.  We use books to introduce them each day. (i.e. Oliver Button is a Sissy helped us learn open-minded),

Word Wall...it was going to be used for HFW but instead I'm going to use it for our vocabulary.

Bucket Fillers Chart 

Close-up of the board

IKEA picture frames for my unit essential questions

Hand signals

ActivPanel with Pink Cat Studios Owl Attendance

Left side of room

Right side of room

The bags are to schedule students for book shopping each day of the week so the classroom library doesn't get jammed.

Book display and Growth Mindset Posters

I put baskets with labels out for parents/students to sort supplies.

Door essentials

Jobs

The IB materials and colorful classroom decor can be found in my TPT shop: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Go-To-Teacher 

Tomorrow I will share my 2 weeks later pictures with all the changes.  Have a great night!

Big changes ahead (and Monday Made It)

My life is changing in a big way.  I decided to move schools and grade levels...AND I'm buying my first house.  As I was deciding, I let blogging get too far away but I am feeling inspired and renewed so I'm back at it.

Change can be scary. I'm leaving my friends and the students I have loved for the past four years.  But I'm ready for a new adventure!  And the best part is that I will be teaching second grade next door to my close friend. 

Today was the first day I spent in my new room.  This room is much smaller than my old room and I was nervous but it was all for nothing because everything fits!  (I still have a ton of work to do but I would say today was a great start.)

I got a moving van to haul all my stuff to the new school. I thought a 10 foot truck would be perfect but they only had a 17 foot truck.  Thank goodness that happened because we only JUST got it all in.

This is the inside of the truck :-/

So my first task, after dumping it all in the new room and walking away from it for a week and a half, was to organize my books.  I lost a lot of shelf space.

THEN

Here are my old shelves from the old room:

On top were my leveled books and below were fiction books.

Here were all my non-fiction texts.

NOW

My leveled books stayed the same.  I had to reduce and reorganize my fiction and non-fiction libraries in a MAJOR way.  The fiction texts are in the colored baskets.

More fiction texts.  The black baskets are now filled with my non-fiction texts.

 The empty baskets are the students' book bins.

Then I moved on to the large bulletin boards on either side of the board.  They are a major improvement to my one dinky bulletin board before.

Here are views of the full classroom as it is now.

 I had to bring over my favorite area from my old room!  I love displaying the students' writing in these frames from Lakeshore.

Here is our meeting area (it still needs a rug).

For my Monday Made-It I created a dry erase word wall.  You need peel and stick transparent covering and letters.  My letters are from Wal-Mart in the back to school section.

I decided to center the covering.  I started at the top and stuck three inches on.  Then I slowly uncovered more of the covering and rolled it down the door so it stuck without bubbles.

Then I stuck the letters on with duct tape.

Finally, I was able to write words on the covering with a dry erase marker.  I look forward to the ease of writing it on rather than printing, laminating and taping each word on.

I'm in love with it!

With all these changes, I am feeling excited about the future and all there is to come!