Remodeling

School will start next Tuesday. I always love the beginning of school. It is exciting to come back together with a whole new year waiting to be discovered between us all. It is my habit to work really hard to get my classroom all set up -- warm and welcoming and clean and shiny for the new students who will find it on that first day morning. This year, however, things are a little different. The classroom has been getting a remodel over the summer. There is new paint and new carpeting. There are new lights and new ceiling fans. The old closets have been torn out to make room for new cabinets and shelves. A lot of people have worked and donated their time and treasure to make it happen. It is going to be wonderful... But it isn't quite done yet. Soon, but not yet. So, all the classroom supplies and materials are stacked in the hallway... The new fans are in and working... The new lights are freshly installed. The space for the cabinets is all ready. The plan, at this point is to meet on Saturday morning with an absolutely wonderful group of volunteer parents and students from my last year's class, and work to get things in and unpacked. I am so grateful for their willingness to pitch in and help. I am not surprised -- they are the very best! One way or another, things will be ready for Tuesday, and we will share the adventure of another year. I cannot wait!

Getting Ready for a New Year

I have been working to begin preparing the classroom for the start of the school year. Room 204 is beginning to take shape: the bulletin boards are up, and the desks are all arranged. I have new student "mailboxes" that look great. I've got some "name statistics" pages -- one for each student -- that I'll get hung up in the next couple of days. Probably tomorrow, I'll begin working to set out the textbooks for my classes. There's a lot to do, but I am excited about starting a new year. I am looking forward to getting to really know this new group of 6th grade students. I've talked with so many of these students in the halls and on the playground, but now we get to really learn about one another, and begin a year of growth and learning. I am anxious to get going.

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!