Summer Classroom Setup

 I live and work where students still don't come back to the classroom until after Labor Day. We are among the last holdouts in the country. I am well aware that many other teachers are already weeks into their school year while I am still working to set up my room. Of course, those who are already in the thick of it will be done sometime in May while I will toil in my room until the middle of June.

I have appointments (and my birthday) next week, so I have been spending the mornings of the past two weeks in my room doing a little bit at a time. I hope to be done with set up before in-service the final week of August.

I spent a large chunk of my summer at civics professional development. My classroom reflects those experiences. Last year I made a set of Presidents to hang up, but never found the correct location to hang them. This year I remembered that the beams across the classroom are metal and I can use magnets to hang things on them. Last week I cut up business card magnets (one of my favorite classroom helpers) and stuck them on the back of the Presidents, and spent about 20 minutes today climbing up and down a ladder to affix them to the beams. The photos don't do the result justice. This addition to my classroom décor was very satisfying and made me incredibly happy as I sat and ate my lunch, admiring them today.

One of my professional development experiences this summer began with a fancy dinner in a hotel ballroom. On the table were questions like: "Can you name three supreme court justices?" "Can you name an American Idol?" There were probably five of each - current United States officials vs. current United States pop culture. As a result of that professional development experience, I also made a display of our current Supreme Court Justices and the Congresspeople of Washington State.

The "Who represents you?" display photographed the best and I am happy with all three... but the Presidents are still my favorite.

I still have a long way to go to get my classroom ready. I got three new sets of textbooks delivered within the past week - one free from the We the People Summer Institute, one to replace the U.S. History books from the early 2000s that were great, but falling apart, and one to replace the Washington State History books from the 1970s. Boxes and old textbooks are taking up a lot of real estate on my classroom floor right now - waiting for next week when middle school students are invited to come help in classrooms to earn service hours. They will be taking many runs to the dumpsters...

This photo was even after at least two other faculty members had pilfered boxes and packing peanuts from my rubbish pile.

I am really looking forward to the start of this year, but I also have a lot of work to do between now and then. However, I'm still taking the next five days off.