getting ready for school

I've spent the last day and a half in my classroom, getting ready for the new school year. My first official day to report is Monday, but I like to go in the week before to give myself some extra time... unfortunately, a lot was going on in our building this summer and my classroom wasn't clean until Friday. This is what it looked like when I first got in.

Our custodians do a great job cleaning... they wipe down walls, cabinets, furniture, and steam clean the carpets.

This is where my desk goes. I carve out a corner by putting my desk at an angle. It's pretty cozy. :)

This is all my classroom furniture jammed onto the small rectangle of tile. The custodians do this to clean the carpets, and they didn't have a chance to put it back before I was all over them to get into my room.

This is what the room looked like at the end of Friday. I used my superhuman strength (and a dolly) to move all the furniture off the tile. Some of those pieces are really heavy.

Here you can see the unholy mess I've made. This is typical of me when I'm getting ready. I drop ten million things in ten million places.

And a view of my desk.

I put this little desk together Saturday... got it on sale at Wal Mart for $25. I need to set up a secondary work station for myself next to my Promethean Board. I didn't like the setup I had last year... too easy for the kids to trip on wires and stuff.

I threw this sheet over my guided reading table to use as a table cloth... I'll hem it when I get my sewing machine back. I wanted to hide the stuff I'm storing under the table. Plus I think it makes the area look more homey and cheerful.

I'll be back in my room on Sunday to do some more unpacking and arranging. Thanks for sticking with me through this long, rambling post about stuff you probably don't give a hoot about. :) I like seeing other teachers' rooms, though, so I thought I'd post mine.