As Ready As We're Going To Be

We are now as ready as we're going to be for the first day of classes.

We get to have a student teacher during the spring semester.

She'll visit our room for a week to observe.  

I'm glad she'll get in on the first day of school.


This will be her first impression of our room.

 

Of course the tables will be clear .... for about twenty minutes before the

the children arrive.  Then again next summer when we close up our room.

  

Most people ask why our classroom is in the library.

It's an honest mistake.

They just don't recognize tubs of math

manipulatives when they see them.

  

This is our science section.  We spent two days cleaning it out.

We have cool things in it ..... varmint skulls, rodent skeletons, bird nests,

crawdad exoskeletons, spider egg sacs, rocks, magnifying glasses, microscopes

and all sorts of other really cool stuff to pique their curiosity.

The map is going to track postcards that 

we receive from around the country.  

If anyone is willing to send us a postcard, please let me know! 

We want to try to get one from all 50 states and at least five countries.

This is our main meeting area.

That is a brand new white board.

Our district rocks.

Of course, it would rock even more 

if that were a smart board, but we're not complaining!

This is right next to the meeting area.  The boxes on the shelf

are book boxes.  Each box contains 15-18 "just-right" books for a child. 

It also has a response journal.  The kids work on these books and write 

down their thoughts and reactions.  Once they feel that they can 

read a title fluently, they can trade it in and choose another. 

The section in the left side of the picture is our social studies and puzzle 

area.  You wouldn't believe how our kids love jigsaw puzzles!

 Grandma Pam has something to do with that.

 

Our room is L-shaped and so we have a map in this section

for those times when we split the class and do Social Studies separately.

Directly in front of the map is an aquarium with Adisa in it.

Meet Adisa, our African fat-tailed gecko.

  

 Isn't he just the most handsome devil?

 

He's an excellent teaching tool when we talk

about camouflage and animal defenses.

Can you tell which end is the head and which is the tail?

  

This is our new aquarium.

Directly behind the aquarium is our desk area.

With any luck it too will be clear by Tuesday at 8:05 a.m.

Don't hold your breath.

  

This is our Language Arts section.

The bright cards on the wall are a program called Mountain Language.

To the left is our biography section and to the right is our reference section.

We like books.

We really like books.

Lots and lots of books.

6,685 to be exact.

Of course, that doesn't include the eight boxes 

that are stacked in the bird room at home.

Or the crate in the back of my CR-V.  

Or the one next to my computer. 

Or the one .... 

  

This is our east wall.  We have books on every wall.

These are our poetry books.

Under that are supplies. 

And our glue.

Lots and lots of glue.

We don't like glue nearly as well as we like books, but when you order

14 glues without reading the fine print, you tend to receive 14 cases of glue.

Kids don't even eat glue like they used to.

We are pretty darn proud of our room.

Stop in and see us if you're in the neighborhood.