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.