Fast forwards two months. It has been a very busy summer for me! I was lucky enough to have access to my classroom right at the beginning of June. I spent several days going through all of the stuff that the previous teacher had left for me (which was much more than typical!), and doing some deep cleaning. I am somewhat OCD about organization so it was very challenging for me to go through someone else's things essentially, and make them my own. I now have so many classroom posters, documents, district binders, books, disks, manipulatives and such. How do I organize these things to make them useful to me? How do I know what to keep, and what I really don't have a use for? Did the previous teacher leave some of this stuff behind because it was old and out-dated? I decided to just go through everything in the room, pile it based on subject, and then just leave it until i really started to set up my room. I know that most first-year teachers go through this to some degree. My advice is to just try and make the obvious judgements. If you have curriculum books in your classroom that are from the 90's, go ahead and put them in a closet for now. Most of the children's literature is still relatable. Don't throw out or donate any books that can go in your classroom library. Make sure that you don't get rid of anything that has a district stamp or logo on it, even if it is dusty and water-stained. I know that many classrooms have limited storage, but do your best to keep stuff if you have any doubt about getting rid of it. You will never really know what you need until you make it through your first full year.
I start my district training on Thursday, so I only have a few more days to pull a majority of things together in my room. I have my furniture where I want it, and my bulletin boards are up. I made sure that the student desks were in tables to encourage collaboration and group work. I have a small table near my desk for small groups and I put a bookshelf next to it so that I have easy access to manipulatives and resources. I also have an area for the whole group to meet on the floor, and a classroom library setup. Every classroom is different from the next, but I feel that if you have those basic areas established, you can make everything else work.
While I still have some last minute decorating/setup to do, it is time to get to some of the nitty gritty. I have to really decide what procedures I want to use, I need to start collecting and organizing student resources, and I need to study the curriculum and plan for how I want to really run things academically.
Here is a portion of my room as it stands now :)
One more thing! While it may seem obvious to you why I am calling myself a 5th grade rookie, there is more meaning behind it than you might think. My husband has a passion for baseball, and I have learned that many famous baseball players are valuable role models for our country's youth. I decided to have a semi baseball theme in my classroom this year. I purchased a book titled Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By by Sharon Robinson. This book provides a basic outline of 9 core values that will make any person great. The values include courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment and excellence. Since I am teaching 5th grade, I wanted to really push leadership with my students, and Jackie Robinson is a fantastic example of a historic role model. I am going to read segments from this book during the first week or two of school and plan activities that are built around the values. Throughout the year, I will use the same values to encourage students to be leaders in the building and in the classroom. I really hope that I can make some good connections with my students through this process. I am going to keep a small bulletin board up all year that has a picture of Jackie and all 9 values listed on baseball bats. That board will be the center of my classroom management techniques for the entire year.
