Let Them Eat Paste: Back to School...

Is it just me or does anyone else hear Billy Madison (as played by Adam Sandler) singing this whenever it's said?

Just me?

Ok.

I approached the dawning of this school year more calmly than I ever have.

I didn't set foot into the school until last Monday.

That's unheard of for me.

I am usually the teacher that will go in every few weeks to clean and organize or spend hours online looking for new projects and ideas.

Well, not this summer.

It can best be summed up like this:

I needed time to be "Jordan" and not "Mrs. B" for a while.

My teacher batteries were running on empty.

**I wouldn't let my phone battery get that low, if you know what I mean!

So, I geared myself up and headed back to school.

I had a meeting Monday morning, student home-visits all day Tuesday, and meetings all day Wednesday (our first contract day).

Thursday was a work day followed by our back to school Meet, Greet and Eat night where the students and parents can come into the school, drop supplies off and meet their new teachers.

I spent the day purging cupboards and organizing anything I could get my newly-polished nails on.

It was very cathartic.

However, that meant that I was scrambling to clean the visible parts of my room an hour before parents were set to arrive!

Whoopsie.

I like to begin the year with my walls being a clean slate.

I get overwhelmed by visual clutter and know that my nuggets usually appreciate a visually non-stimulating environment as well.

Also, since we start fresh each year with anchor charts and such it lets the children slowly adjust to where learning resources (anchor charts, posters, signs, etc) are located in the room.

One thing that I changed this year is that I didn't label ANYTHING before the children arrived.

I usually label their lockers, books, and supplies.

However, we had some major glitches in our student data system which left class lists very up-in-the-air.

So, I decided to take labeling off my plate.

During the Meet, Greet and Eat I carried a dry-erase marker with me and let the nuggets pick their locker placements.

They loved the ownership and I loved that it took some work out of it for me.

Here are some hastily snapped photos of what my room looks like so far:

Carpet area (view from door)

Mrs. Miller's corner (our Title One Instructor)

View from the back door of the room

Where my class' writing binders are stored.

Science book storage
Classroom library
Writing binder storage for the other two classes
(I was so bummed to find out that they didn't fit in the desks and take up a TON of room!)