Sunday, July 19, 2015

Getting it BACK TOGETHER for Back to School

This summer!! 
It started out great with scheduled time to work in my classroom.  I got all the furniture put in the places I wanted them to go.  Even started putting new things up that I purchased on TPT! And then the word circulated that we could have our rooms painted! We've had the same wall color for quite some time (at least 23 years!), so I was eager to have my room made over! Move all the furniture away from the walls, take EVERYTHING off the walls, bring the HUGE keepers of ?? from the top of the cabinets down, and wait.  And wait.  And wait.
I still went up to school on those scheduled times.  I've copied and laminated new things for the walls.  I've sorted through stacks and stacks of library books and teacher books.  I should be more prepared for the start of my 23rd year than any other year. 
Just when I thought it was never going to happen, (and 2 days before I left for a week long family vacation) the painters arrived at school! My room is PAINTED! It's so clean and fresh and begging for awesomeness to be added to it's beautiful walls!
I got a text from my teaching bestie to let me know the painters were finished and that she and her husband had moved all the heavy furniture back in place!! That was priceless!!!!






Nope, that wasn't fun.

Aahhhhhhh! Furniture in place. Now for the fun part....... putting all the "stuff" away and making my classroom look amazing!







I organized my math stuff this summer so that it will be easier to use this year.  I made new labels for all of the boxes to help with keeping this an organized area.  I'll share when my room is complete!






We painted these large black rectangles in our classrooms a few years ago with a light brown frame.  I painted over the frame with black and added these super cute vinyl dots for fun! So in love with how it turned out!  This will be the parking spot for focus charts.




I also purchased new library baskets from Really Good Stuff and added new labels of course!
The blue is fiction and the green is nonfiction.  I used Avery labels to coordinate the book labels to the baskets for easy placement by students. (High hopes here!) Also, ordered a new rug from Ikea!








Made these cute superhero silhouettes! This was so easy and it is just the cutest touch! Thanks to  Pinterest and the links that brought me to The-Six-One-Two   for the idea that had me needing silhouettes everywhere! I made another one that is a different superhero but I haven't decided where it is going yet.  I have a feeling that I will make more too!


Painted some file cabinets and added chevron Contact paper to a few tables. Oh, and this table may  have been altered to allow electrical cords  to snake down the center through
a beautiful new access route.

I've never posted our schedule using this much space, but I love it! AND it will save me from having to leave this out for a sub! I made the "Our Day" heading with my Silhouette out of vinyl.  I also decided to move my classroom clock to a different location.  It will be by our schedule instead of above the board.


The new alphabet that I snagged from Mrs. Schroeder at Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd is back in place.

Oohh, and this beauty to help with number words from Amy Lemons !
 I've always had my number line above the board, but I just wasn't happy with it being too high for my students (and my short self!).  I decided to try it lower this year.


So this is the progress so far!  Hoping to have this space completely finished VERY soon!

I'll do a room tour before school starts in two weeks! (fingers crossed!)

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