Our Classroom is Ready

I took a few pictures in the classroom as I worked to get it ready for class on the 28th... Just in case any of you are interested in how things are looking...

As you can see, the desks are all set and the science, math, social studies, and health books are all out -- ready to go. Those bins in the middle of the tables have the "things" that we will use in class on a regular basis; like atlases, and rulers, and scissors, and dice, etc.



I seem to always BLUR at least one picture in a set, so I apologize for this one, but you can sort of see the shelf we'll use for the plants I hope we'll gather to study in science during the first unit, and later on, for some of the animals that we bring in to study together.
Basically, that big shelving unit will hopefully be the place where we keep the things we are working on in science class. The silly looking, green frog is the container for all of our playground equipment.

This shelf has all the games that are available for times when we have "indoor" recess, or other non-academic time periods. If you and your classmates need something quiet and fun to do here in the classroom, this shelf is where those kind of activities are kept. There are a variety of different things here, and if we all work together to keep them in good shape and tidy, they'll be available for the whole class whenever we need them. If there is something at your house that your family maybe doesn't use anymore that you would like to bring to the classroom, it could be added to our shelf.

We'll be studying lots of different things this year -- data and probability will be our starting topics in math class, and plants will be where we begin our science studies. This is just one of the bulletin boards in the classroom. Probably, when we finish with plants and move on to animals, we'll keep this basic board up and just add some "critters" to the scene. Do you have any good ideas for that?

Speaking of critters, this is our indoor classroom "pond." It has it's own "fountain," some water plants, like elodea and water hyacinth, and even about a dozen friendly gold fish. I have even seen a snail crawling around in the pond. Right now, everybody that is living in the pond seems to be doing quite well. I've never tried to set up a pond in the classroom before, so this will be an interesting experience for us all.

Finally, these are student "mail boxes." This is where I put things that are for you -- like handouts from school, and returned and graded work. Sometimes, we also use the mailboxes to store "work in progress (projects that we are working on but not quite finished with)." Everyone has a mailbox whether they are in my homeroom or Mrs. Elfer's room.

There are all sorts of things that are hidden away in drawers and closets, of course, and lots to learn and know about the PEOPLE that will work together in this room. That will be what we begin to find out about tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to meet all of you!