The Room Before

The following pictures are from my new room on the very first day I walked in it. I have not touched anything in this room in these pictures.

These first two are looking in the room from the door.

This picture is the storage space under the loft.

 These two pictures are taken standing under the loft looking out into the classroom.

These two pictures are the room from above, taken in the loft.

These two pictures are taken in the loft.

This picture is looking at the loft from across the room. You can also see the girls bathroom door in this picture.

Looking across the room at the classroom door and the door to the boys bathroom.

These are taken from the opposite corner from the loft.

Other bits of information about my classroom:

1. I have a SMART board!

2. I found 9 computers, 3 were Apple 2Es, 1 is the teacher computer, and 1 computer does not work. Once I have moved them out I will have a total of 5, 4 student computers and 1 teacher computer.

3. The loft has previously been used for storage, so there was lots to go through and find new homes for in order to create a reading and listening loft.

4. I will have an assistant, so there is an extra teacher desk in the room.

5. There are a ton of books. I have a huge library, but there is not organization to it (at least not one that worked for me).

Here are my plans:

1. Move the teacher desk and TV down on the wall where the SMART board is.

2. Move all computers on one table and remove the extra table.

3. Create two shelves with math materials. Create 1 shelf with reading materials. Create two shelves with books.

4. Divide the group "rug" area from the seating area using a material shelf.

5. Create a better small group area near the bathrooms.

6. Create a reading/listening area in the loft.

7. Organize books based on themes and topics we study in Kindergarten.

8. Bulletin Boards that will contain the following: A word wall; A hundreds club board; a rules board; a letter of the week board; a center chart; and an area for student work.

These are my plans for room setup only. I will post about management things later, but my biggest focus right now is getting the room organized and welcoming.

Teaching is an adventure!