My Classroom!

Happy Monday! Daylight savings happened, sour milk went into my first cup of coffee, and I have a blister on my toe from some cute shoes that I thought I could wear all day. But aside from all that, life is GOOD!

My classroom is finally starting to feel like home again. I suppose not many people say that their workspace ever feels like home, but I think elementary teachers often view their classroom as a second home. You spend so much time there and eventually it starts to reflect your style and personality. Plus, the students deserve a workspace that is welcoming, easy to navigate, visually appealing and full of tools. One of my favorite things to do is tour other classrooms. There is so much to take in - furniture, layout, seating plans, storage solutions, reading corners, bulletin board ideas, anchor charts etc. I almost always walk away from a classroom visit with an, "AHH! I want to do that!" moment.

I WISH I could say that my classroom is exactly the way I envision it, but it is not. It's a process, especially now that I'm working at replacing everything I made/bought/accumulated pre flood. But considering all of that, I'm quite happy with it so far. I'll continue to post about future room design projects as they happen. *Disclaimer* My desk is never as clean as it appears in these photos and it may never be again... but a girl can dream!

So this is the view when you enter. A nice size room (though a little narrow)

My "bubble" of a workspace in the corner. My new SMART board is the coolest. Anyone else have one like this? It looks like a regular whiteboard, but it's not, it's SMART. Also, the speakers are in the ceiling now, which I love.

My attempt at a panorama of the front of the room.

Classroom library etc. 

Work table in the back corner for guided reading and other fun :)

Like I said, it's a work in progress. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Welcome!

Welcome to my take on teaching in the primary grades! I certainly don't claim to know it all when it comes to elementary, but I hope to share some ideas, resources and experiences as I figure it all out. Starting this blog happens to come at an already very busy time in my teaching career, but I figure, what’s one more thing at this point? 

Some background info:
On June 20th, 2013 a natural disaster in the form of a flood struck the small town where I teach.  I can still remember evacuating the school that day thinking that it was just a precaution. Unfortunately though, almost the entire community was under water for a period of time including my elementary school which sat in 6 feet of water for many weeks.  Everything was lost. The school was essentially destroyed but our spirit wasn’t and despite losing ‘things’ many around us had lost their homes and so it was all about having perspective. Views of the school and town:

When the school year started September 2013, we were without a school to call our own and resorted to teaching in a community hall (you know, where wedding receptions happen – NOT teaching). Long story short, it was not ideal and by the end of November we were moving on to temporary home number 2!

Temp home number 2 was a combination of 26 portable classrooms arranged in the backyard of our friendly high school counterparts. They welcomed us with open arms even though it meant taking away their football/soccer fields and sharing their gymnasium with us. This new home felt like a HUGE upgrade in comparison to temp number 1, despite not having a library, gym, and staff room (or staff washrooms, if you can imagine). 

**PRESENT**:

About two weeks ago I finished packing up that portable classroom because our true home was FINALLY READY for us to move back. It had been 614 days displaced (but who’s counting, right?). They’ve carefully remediated and rebuilt our building that was completely stripped down over the past 20ish months and IT’S READY!! We opened the doors to our families on February 24th and it was perfect. The smiles on their faces as they toured around and re-familiarized themselves with the school and their new classrooms truly warmed my heart. 

The above picture shows my classroom prior to unpacking. Happy that is over!!
*New classroom pictures coming soon!*