... My Classroom is Finally Ready!

I can't believe our pre-planning week is over already! I seriously could use another day or two -- a meeting free day or two would be even better. In terms of planning, I feel really good! There are a few things I would still like to do in my classroom, but I will work on that over the next few weeks. I couldn't keep it to myself anymore though and wanted to share my classroom with everyone! I have a couple of new things I'm extremely excited about! 

I teach both Biology and Chemistry, so my classroom has lots of lab drawers and cabinets. I have three rows of desks in the center and I have stools at four of the lab benches. My classes are around 30 students or larger, so most of my open space is occupied with desks for them. 

As students walk into the door, this is the corner they see. On the brick wall are two [currently] blank posters I use to write reminders to the students like "Test tomorrow!" or "Lab Day -- Dress for Safety!" It's one of the last things they see as they leave, so hopefully it will be a good reminder wall for them. The tiny bulletin board above them will eventually say "Don't Forget..." but alas, I didn't have time for that this week. On the side of the fume hood I have my bell ringer folders that I like to call "Rate Your Week!" My students are going to turn in all their bell ringers for the week on one half sheet of paper on Fridays. They will sort them into whichever folder they feel best describes their level of understanding for the week. I have big plans for these bell ringers, not just boring review questions, so stay tuned for those details! 

On the other side of the fume hood is my Goggle cabinet, student supply center, and bulletin board. On the right side of the bulletin board are my binder lists (I will get letters above these at some point too, I promise...). Whenever a student gets a handout, it gets assigned a number and put into their binder. I keep track of the most recent papers they received. I'll talk about this more in my homework post that is coming soon! The left side of my bulletin board looks barren right now, but will have grade postings once those are available. 

My student supply center has the bin to turn in their homework, scratch paper, extra pens/pencils, and miscellaneous supplies like tissues and hand sanitizer. The bright yellow slips are the Late Homework forms students have to fill out before turning in late work. They fill it out, staple it to the late work, and when they get the work back, the parent must sign the slip. This is my first year trying this system, so I will let you know how it turns out! My "I Didn't Do My Homework..." binder will also be back here. Each student has a page in the binder. When they don't have their homework, they find their page and fill out an entry with the assignment name and why they don't have it. I'm going to talk more about my homework system in a later post too! 

I have to show off my gigantic stock room (not shared, this is just mine!). I have some extra student desks in there. Sometimes my team teacher will use it as a small group space, other times I pull the desks out if we need them, but they are out of the way in there. 

Most exciting part of the stock room -- new Acid cabinet! My old one has a door that is rusted shut, so this was much needed and appreciated! 

The front of my room has my teacher storage, student desktop, my desk, and demo station. The blue crate holds my copies for the week sorted into hanging file folders. I have them sorted by day and subject to help keep me organized. I also have a copycat binder to the ones my students keep for easy reference.

Front and center is my "Wall of Awesome!" Whenever a student gets an 80% or higher on a test, they write their name on a post-it and tape it to the wall. I love that its front and center in the room, sort of like a constant reminder to the students. 

My large metal cabinet has my reference books, extra copy paper, binders, and other things I don't need frequently. My bookcase holds my frequently used items. The blue baskets are for student supplies. I will pull these out and put them on the back student table when they need them that day. The top magazine boxes are an easy way to stay organized when I have piles and piles of papers. I also love the little frame with the quote! 

My desk is my happy place. The top corner has a cute flower pot, my Teacher of the Year award, and one of my favorite quotes! Yoda is so wise and knowledgeable. I try my best to keep this area clean, but this is about as clean as it will be all year! 

As I said, there are still some small things I would like to do, but I already love how my classroom looks! It is so much more interesting than it was last year, and I think the new supply table in back will help the students (and myself) be a little more organized. 

School starts on Monday! I think I'm planned and ready to go! Let's get this school year started!