Classroom Organization - Stage 1

It has been a very hot summer so far! We've had at least 2 official heat waves, and have been treated to oppressive humidity levels as well. Even with all of this I've been into the classroom a few times this summer to make sense of the mess that is my room after the floors were waxed. I'm going for a very different look this year. I've completely rearranged the furniture and purged quite a few things. It still has a long way to go but I figured I'd post at least one picture to help keep me on task. I figure if I put it out in Cyber Land what a mess my room is, I'll be more motivated to finish sooner. 

I know the picture is a bit uneven. I couldn't keep the camera steady as I took the picture. Just ignore that.

As you can see, its a complete mess! However, I'm pleased to say that after I took this picture I made a lot of progress in the cleaning and organizing. If only I had some storage to put things out of reach of the little ones. That's the only thing I wish was different about my classroom (well, that and the mess!).
Stay tuned for more photos of this year's transformation.

Ok so it’s been way to long since I last posted here. Summer is in full swing and I’m torn between enjoying my time off and agonizing over the crazy amount of work I need to do in order to be ready for September. I started organizing my classroom already (I’m so grateful to the maintenance workers to completed my floors first)! I’m going for a completely different layout this year. I’ve learned from my mistakes last year and am going for better traffic flow this year. Now that I have the basic setup done (pictures to come), I’m in the midst of the daunting task of organizing everything. My classroom has absolutely NO storage. I don’t have a closet or anyplace to put things out of reach and out of sight. I’m really trying to be efficient about how I put things away.

I’m also looking for a nice looking theme for my classroom. Last year was polka dots. I loved them, but I’m considering chevron for next year.

I’ve also done a lot of work on my math and reading instruction. I’m going to switch to the Math Work Stations model (Debbie Diller’s book) for Math Workshop. I’ve been making a lot of materials for the start of the year. I’m hopeful that this will help the kids stay more on task during their afternoon math lessons. We’ll see!