I really enjoyed decorating my classroom this summer. The maintenance staff worked over the summer sanding and repainting my stage, and then they repainted my walls, too. It felt like a whole new room, and I've loved being in the updated space! When I started teaching in this space in February of 2011, the walls were completely bare. I've purchased several items over the last 3 years to bring color and interest to the room. I don't have any "before" pictures of the space, though. In fact, other than productions on my stage, I don't think I've ever posted pictures of my classroom on this blog before, so here's a little photo walk-through of the space I occupy daily during the school year:
When students first walk in the door, there's a little hallway to enter my room. I created a new bulletin on the left side of the hallway about stars (that's my class theme), and the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th grade students helped me decorate it the second week of school. They picked words that described stars or how people are like stars, and they're written in the yellow & orange stars around its perimeter. Then they colored their own unique star and put their names on it. I love all the colors and patterns on the little stars! (I wish the photo was more clear to show them) It's now our own Star Wall Walk of Fame!
On the right side of the entrance hallway is my office. It just occurred to me that I didn't take a photo of that space. I worked on it a lot the last two years, reorganizing the instruments and materials in the small space so that it all fit and the space was efficient. Our school adopted the "Leader in Me" theme this year, and we are teaching the students about Covey's 7 Highly Effective Habits. For each habit, the principal asked me to make up a song and teach it to the students. Our first song was called "Be Proactive", and the tune was to the "Sponge Bob Square Pants Theme Song". I put some of the words in the song on my office door, and put a full-length mirror next to it. As soon as they enter into my room hallway, they see the mirror. Then I added a Sponge Bob image to the mirror, and cut out the eyes so each of the kids could see themselves through the "Proactive SpongeBob". A lot of the younger students like this new addition to my classroom hallway!
This is a view of the right wall in my classroom. You can see the entrance hallway & Star Wall walk of fame in the right side of the photo (to the right of that is the beginning of the stage--all you can see are the stage curtains). Above the doorway is a clock, and I added a music note decoration to it this year. I like the musical note clock! I rearranged the posters on the wall, and added several new instrument posters, making a more colorful wall filling up some of the white space. I painted the bookshelf blue this summer to match the trim on the walls. It used to be a pink/tan color and was so ugly! The colored music textbooks on the shelves are for different grade levels. The equipment next to the bookshelves are: TV/Video cart, computer/projector cart, and CD player/speaker cart.
This is a closer look at the photo displays I made for that wall, using pictures of the student productions from last year and the previous year. I spent several hours making the colorful collage display, and I really love the splash of color and all the pictures of the kids! They like seeing themselves on the wall, too!
On the left wall, I rearranged some more music posters. The door on this wall faces the street, and I unlock it on days when we have student musical productions. My main piano, the darker upright one, was tuned this fall, and it sounds beautiful! The piano is over 100 years old, and I love it's classic sound! There are two sets of chairs: one bigger set for the 5th grade, and a smaller set for the elementary students.
My favorite addition to my classroom this year was a musical rug. I've wanted a rug ever since I started 3 years ago. The floor is hard, and for times when we sit down to hear a story, I've desired a rug. So, I put it on my request list this year. It was the single most expensive thing I purchased: over $300. But it was SO worth it! We use it all the time now: for roll & tell sharing time, and individual dance time, and story time. I love all the color it brings to my classroom!!
When the students come to class, they sit in chairs in a U-shape around the rug, facing me. My chair & stand are in front of the removable white-board wall. It's my main instruction area.
I've also added a few 7 habits posters to the lower portion of the wall sections since I took this next photo. At the right of the photo, you can see a gap in the removable wall. That's the opening for the bathroom/drinking fountain in the adjacent room. The removable wall gets pushed into a wall cavity when there's musical productions, doubling the size of my classroom for audience members to sit.
As I was preparing my classroom for the start of school at the end of August, Josh was also preparing in a completely different way for the beginning of a new school year. Josh's school board term was finished at the end of June. Then he began training and taking tests to become a school bus driver. Yes, a SCHOOL BUS DRIVER!!! He studied, took multiple written and driving tests, attended a driving course, got a new CDL endorsement on his drivers license for passengers, and had to have several hours of supervised driving before he could begin. He was SO nervous the first week of school driving school bus for the first time, but he's gotten in the swing of it now. He drives a regular route morning and afternoon, and also takes trips driving for athletic events. The big reason for him to take on this extra job is the benefits. For the first time since moving to Salmon, he finally has health insurance. It's worked out pretty good with his golf course job, too. He goes to work in the morning at the golf course, then drives bus, then goes back to the golf course, then drives the bus in the afternoon. I see him a lot less now, but the benefits far outweigh that fact! Plus I think he's a mighty handsome bus driver, too!
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