Can't Stay Away

No matter how excited I am about summer vacation, I can never stay away from my classroom for long.  My hallway was the first hallway cleaned which means that I'm already able to get back in my room.  We have to move everything out for our custodians to wax our floors, but they do move everything back in our rooms as soon as the floors dry. It's always a little overwhelming to walk into the room  and see everything in a big pile in the center of the room.

I spent almost an entire day arranging my furniture.  I've had the same setup for the past few years and felt the need for a change, so it took me a while to decide what I wanted.  My room is a challenge, because it is tiny, very, very tiny.  There are lots of things I want that are just not feasible.  When I started arranging my room, I first thought about the areas that I don't have a choice about.

One of those areas is my computer table, because that is the only place that I can hook the computers up to the school network.  The other area is for my Smartboard.  I just got my rug in January, and I absolutely LOVE it!  It's so nice having a place for my students to gather together for our mini lessons and closings.  After setting up my computers and Smarboard area I arranged by desk and small group area.

 The mailbox system on the front of my desk is my absolute favorite piece of furniture.  My husband built it for me last year, and I don't know how I ever taught without it!  I would love to have a kidney table for small groups, but I can't remember the last time my school bought new furniture.  I'm going to buy a small white board to screw in the wall behind my small group table, because I use this area for math groups all of the time. 

Last but not least, I crammed all of my desks in the room.  I like groups of 4 because I do think, pair, share very frequently, as well as partner and group work.  I know it still looks messy, because all of my smaller goodies are still packed up, and I have all of my bookshelves and bulletin boards covered.  I've only organized the big stuff at this point, but I'm excited to start on the fun, little things.