Grub Work

And so it has begun.... today was the third day I spent in my classroom. I'm so thankful that the school kitchen had these HUGE carts that I could use. I unloaded a van load of stuff in about 20 minutes... hooray!

I began by stacking it against the cabinets so that I could arrange the desks before all of my stuff inevitably explodes around the room. (I told myself it wouldn't, but let's be realistic...) So then I arranged the furniture...

This is the first year that I'm not starting the year in rows... I'll let you know if I like it this way or not! I've also decided I'm going to let the kids pick their seats for the first day...they can claim their spot at Open House the day before. After all, I'm just making random guesses by placing them somewhere, so I'd rather let them choose and then fix it later if it turns out to be an error in their judgment.

I started arranging the shelves for my class library. I clearly do NOT have enough bookshelves in this classroom...and I even brought two of my own! I will have to remedy this somehow very soon....

 By the end of day one, I had at least the bulletin board behind my desk almost finished (notice the border jetting out the top and bottom of my board...I couldn't find my scissors!)

 And, as promised, by the start of day 2, I had stuff everywhere....

Day 3...I solicited some help from my very sweet and willing friend, Sharon. Thanks to her, all the bulletin boards now have at least paper and a border!

(Yes, I teach in a Christian school, so this bulletin board is A-Ok! :)

My desk is STARTING to resemble a space I'd like to hang out in. I'm hanging scanned copies of my college diploma, and my teaching license. The frame on the bottom is a sweet certificate my 5th graders from a couple of years ago made for me. 

And, finally, another finished product thanks to Sharon's hard work... my cabinets are all labeled! I stole this idea from my friend Julie, who teaches 5th grade at a local public school. I walked into her classroom one day and noticed her genius! Now when a kid asks for, say, construction paper, I say, "It's in cabinet O." Brilliant! I used die cut letters I had gotten in a big pack at Target once upon a time, and then put clear contact paper of them to attach. Love!

SUPER SIMPLE organizational tip

Have you ever had someone share a very simple tip with you that turned your teaching on end? I have. I was student teaching in Warsaw, Indiana when a teacher took 20 seconds to explain a priceless tip to me! I don't know, maybe you all know this already, and I was just ignorant, but in case you don't know... I can't in good conscience NOT share it with you.

Take a yellow highlighter (yes, any old yellow highlighter will do)

On each of your "Originals"--the papers in your file that you use to make copies-- make a notation. I write "O" for "Original", but you could write anything, really! 

It's a bit hard to see, but can you tell that I have a faint yellow "O" at the bottom of this paper? 

When I make copies, the yellow doesn't show up, so it becomes a clear copy for my little friends. 

This way, I'm never confused about which is the original. It helps to prevent me from having three "originals" that make their way into my file.

Do you have any SUPER SIMPLE tips that have changed your teaching life?