Day 2 of working in my classroom is finished. I have exactly 10 days total to get my classroom ready for students. Needless to say, I was hoping for a little more time to work in my room before school started. But I'll do what I can with what I've got. That's the flexibility of being a teacher, right?
My room is a nightmare and other teachers agree. Not only is there a huge diaper keeping the roof off the floor that comes down to my head, but my room became the catch-all room at the end of last school year. I spent all day today pulling stuff of shelves and out of containers. Some of it was older than me; some of it hadn't been used in 10+ years. I was so thankful that some of the other teachers came in to help me weed through it. I had no idea what most of it was or what to do with it. I was more than happy to throw away most of the clutter that was overtaking my room. I wish I had taken pictures to show you all the stuff we threw away or got rid of. But to give you an idea, we filled up a shopping cart to overflowing twice. There was so much of it that we had to get it out of the room. I couldn't even work in there b/c there was so much stuff everywhere.
Thanks to all of their help (for several hours today), I left today feeling a little better. There is still more than I care to think about left to do, but at least most of the junk is out. I still have a giant diaper ceiling that makes my room feel more like a bounce house but hopefully that will be gone Thursday. I still have lots of painting to do that can't be done until the diaper is gone. I still have lots of organizing to do, procedures to develop, a roster to fill, and numerous other things. One day at a time. One day a time.
On another note, tax free weekend is this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! I've already stalked some of the store ads and made lists of what to get at each store. I've always loved school supply shopping, but now that I get to do it for my classroom, I'm even more excited! And the fact that they money will get reimbursed helps a little :)
One last school note: I was told today that there has never been a Kindergarten class at my school to start with less than 21 students. Repeat: 21 kindergartners and 1 teacher! It took me a few minutes to come to grips with this. I cannot imagine having 21 5-year olds in my room, but it looks like it may be that way. I was expecting 18 or so, but 21? Holy moly! This is panicking me a little but I'll let you know once I have a roster.
