time to get back on the ol' teaching bandwagon

I probably won't sleep very well tonight. I never do the night before school starts. Usually it's because there are a million things running around in my head - reminders of what I forgot to do or still need to finish. At this point I still need to fix my schedule so I can give the office a copy and figure out exactly what we'll be doing this week. (And here I sit blogging.)

Oh tomorrow's easy - there's the introductions, classroom rules and procedures, collecting supplies like paper towels and disinfecting wipes that I don't know where to put, organizing binders, and all that other stuff that goes on the first day. We'll barely get the lunch count done and attendance taken before we head off to chapel. We're all still trying to figure out the new computer system - it's web based, so we can access the online gradebook and other features at home, but I'm sure tomorrow morning I'll forget everything I learned on the little 45 minute tutorial we watched last week!

I promised pictures of my classroom, so let me take you on a little tour.

Outside the door in the hall are the scottie dogs complete with little wiggly eyes. (*Note to self - do not ever again try to attach wiggly eyes with super glue onto laminated cardstock. The super glue will coat the top of the wiggly eyes with a white coating that cannot be removed even with the stuff known as "goo-be-gone." Use a hot glue gun the first time and you will not end up having to redo your wall display.)

Phil thought it was kind of funny that I chose to use scottie dogs since I think little dogs like them are what I call "yippee dogs" and they basically drive me nuts. I'm so much a big dog person - like labs, for instance. But, I saw an idea similar to this on the good ol' internet, and I knew I had to steal it because it's a winner! To get the pattern for the dogs, you guessed it - I did a google search on scottie dogs because Craft Warehouse sadly did not have a scottie dog die cut.

The reading corner (not too much space to read in this year) where I have books on shelves and in baskets. The calendar area and construction paper storage. On the purple board I will be posting reading strategies, but I'm waiting for the kids to come before they go up.

The blue lunch choice chart, word wall on the cupboard doors, and cubbies with learning center games in baskets on top. In a few days the bumble bee bear will come down and student work will go up.

More of the cubbies and word wall. And Mrs. Bergland's storage area.

My desk, which is relatively clean for a change. That won't last very long. White cupboard for student workbook storage (too much ABeka = too many worksheets), bins for turning in work.

Reading table & computers (which have not been hooked up yet). Nasty ugly mini blind that needs to be replaced. Not my favorite spot in the room.

Behavior board - trust me, you don't want to "flip a star."

So, that's it. Tomorrow it'll be full of excited little kids. I saw one of the boys today. His mom is my aide - yes, since I have the biggest class in the whole school, I end up getting an aide two days afterall! Yeah for me :) Anyway, he was so excited and was checking everything out, just like the rest of the little darlings will be doing tomorrow.