Setting Up the Room

Tomorrow I plan on going in to school and start setting up my classroom, well at least I'm going to try. This year I plan to use the desks, tables, and such are community space rather than students having assigned seats. Now here's the kicker, I plan to do this for Reading only. I will also have two Social Studies/Writing classes each day and since we do an A/B schedule for Science and Social Studies that means four classes. Those classes will have assigned places, at least initially. If each class demonstrates that they can handle choosing their own seats then I will give them a chance to.

So how do I set up a room with group spaces, partnership places, and leave-me-alone-while-I-work spaces for Reading and yet have it set up for my other classes.  I want to make nooks of space for comfy spot reading, that's reading with a pillow, and more relaxed spaces for book clubs to meet. So not only do I need to create desk and table spaces, I need to make comfy spaces. That is the challenge I will try to address tomorrow.

The other problem with community spaces is where does everyone keep their stuff? The cubby spaces are nice, but just not big enough for all their supplies. Plus 5th graders tend to have a slob or two or twenty per classroom and I don't want to see stuff hanging out of cubbies everyday. Last year, every day ended with me telling them we weren't leaving until the stuff by the cubbies was picked up. That is not an exaggeration, I really did, and they actually had a desk to keep all their stuff in.

Today, I ventured out to the stores on the last day of tax-free weekend (I will miss them since this is NC's last one) and look for some storage solution to this challenge. Boy, are storage things expensive. I started at Big Lots, figuring I would find them at the best prices. Um, no! I was surprised at how pricey they were. Next I hit Target and then Walmart. I found that the prices were pretty much the same at all three places, with Target being the most expensive.

I found these rolling carts with ten drawers each, that are a good size for folders and notebooks. I would need three of them to accommodate all the students and at around $25 a piece that is a lot of money for a poor teacher. At this point I plan to ask my parents to donate either $5 or $10 gift cards to Walmart and hopefully I will get enough to pay for one and maybe some toward another one. I would then take care of covering the rest. I'm hoping that works because they really would be the ideal solution.

I am looking forward to seeing the room come together and start our Year of Responsibility.