City Girl Builds a Campfire

I've mentioned that this year camping will be my classroom theme.  I thought it would be fun for my students, and fun for me too.  One thing that comes to mind when you think about camping is telling stories around the campfire.  Sooo, I wanted to have a campfire for my students to read their stories around.  Here it is, what do you think?

Since I'm a teacher, and on a tight budget, I managed to throw this together for a whopping $2.  I bought a pizza pan at the Dollar Tree, as well as a package of red and orange tissue paper.  I lined the tray with rocks, then hot glued them down.  I also hot glued some sticks into a little teepee shape.  Then I bunched and twisted up tissue paper and glued that to the tray as well.  In my typical "day late, dollar short" fashion, I realized that I should have spray painted that pizza tray.  I'm thinking it could still happen though.  All in all, I think that my little fourth grade friends will get a kick out of sharing their writing around the campfire.

In the Midst of a Mess

In all the years I've been putting together my classroom at the beginning of the year I've stuck to the same process, and I'm going to share it with you here.  For free!  Ready?

Step 1:  Make a huge mess
Step 2:  Take 3 days to clean it all up

Not much of a process, huh?  Well, let me show you how things are progressing.

 My "window wall" needs to have things on it that don't get changed very often because it's a super hard wall to staple into, necessitating a staple gun.  Also, the fire alarm and fire extinguisher are on this wall, limiting what can be placed here.  So, I put things here that won't change over the course of the year, like my calendar and birthday chart, classroom job pocket chart, bucket filling post, bathroom sign out, and thinking maps.  I also use the whiteboard for displaying our ever changing daily schedule and daily objectives.

 I have my tables arranged, and hopefully won't have more than 30 students because that is what I've planned for.  This means I'll have something like 36.  Notice I said "tables".  Not a student desk in sight.  I made the plunge this week and had tables brought it and individual student desks removed.  I'm hoping that students will be able to work better together in groups and will have fewer distractions.  What's in it for me?  No messy desks!  Fewer distractions!  Hopefully it'll be a win-win situation.

 I've moved my classroom library up to the very front of the room because I want independent reading to take an even greater place in my classroom.  There's no better way to show how important it is than to give it prime, front of the room real estate.

This is the back wall of my classroom (opposite the SmartBoard and whiteboards in the front).  Most bulletin boards are here and my writing supplies and station are located here, as well as my Arizona interest board.
I know you can't see a lot of detail in these pictures, but I wanted to show the overall picture.  I'll show pictures with better details once I have at least one thing exactly how I want it. 
Just one week to go until Meet the Teacher Night, and there's lots to do before then.  Meetings, meetings, and meeting galore.  Oh joy!

And So a New Year Begins

I know, completely crazy, a New Year beginning in July!  Yup, here in Arizona our school year starts crazy early.  Our kids return to school on August 6th.  As a Mentor Teacher my report date is July 27th.  This means that I'm spending my last days of summer freedom preparing my room for the coming school year.  And I'm in good company, as most teachers I know follow the same ritual.

Last year I switched grade levels and therefore classrooms.  Everything was so rushed that I simply couldn't handle setting everything up exactly as I wanted.  This year I'm staying put, so I have more time for set up and don't need to worry about putting away and organizing.  Go me!  I was also lucky enough to have the district paint my room this summer.  I'd inherited a really gross, pukey green color and hated it every day.

Yesterday when I walked in this is what welcomed me:

As you can see, I had my work cut out for me.  Those bookshelves are all full of books.  And super heavy.  The file cabinet too.  And guess what?  Where they are in the pictures?  That's not where I wanted them.  Ever.  Yesterday I moved all that furniture around.  It took forever, and every bit of strength I had.  I also rewired and connected all of my electronics . . . . laptop, document camera, printer, SmartBoard, and projector, and made sure it was all working properly.  Today I worked on bulletin board backings and borders and some organizing and lots of planning where to put things.   As any teacher can tell you, the amount of thought that goes into each decision is amazing. 

This year I've decided to have a camping theme in my classroom.  I'm really excited as it is starting to unfold.  I think my students are really going to enjoy this.  I've also done a lot of reading and have lots of new things to try this year, some of which are quite radical for me.  I'll be back at it tomorrow, and I'll be sure to take pictures to share of my progress.

How Did I Ever End Up With a Teacher Blog?

Of all of my years teaching last year was my most difficult, challenging, and miserable.  I know, shocking for a teacher to admit these things.  I accepted a new position as a Mentor Teacher since our school and district were implementing TAP.  Then, I was thrown into a new grade level, fourth grade.  The only grade I'd never taught.  A place I desperately didn't want to be.  I mean, I had been firmly rooted in third grade and was perfectly content to stay there.  Over the course of the year some things got better, some things got worse.  Professionally, I grew a ton.  Creatively, I was treading water.  Drowning, really.  I had no time to do things in the manner in which I longed.  I was simply in survival mode.  I longed to be inspired again.  I began browsing teacher blogs and Pinterest and discovered the creativity I'd been craving.  I bookmarked many, many things and promised myself, "one day".  Well, that one day arrived and I've been busily stealing everyone else's creative ideas and making plans for this upcoming school year.  I'm still a Mentor Teacher.  I'm still in fourth grade.  I'm hoping that a good dose of inspiration and creativity will give me the energy I need to make this the best year ever for both me and my students.  I plan to use this bloggy space to share the ins and outs of the majority of my waking hours.   Wish me luck!