Mystery Spot

When I arrived at school today, I noticed more cars in the parking lot than there have been. I wondered about this, but decided they must belong to the crew installing the new computers and maybe some teachers. I had yet to tour the building, so my 4 children and I went exploring. My husband called as I was walking down one hall, and we were having quite the conversation about bookcases and the day's schedule. When I passed one of the classrooms, I looked up and found an entire room full of grownups (including my principal) staring at me and probably wondering who was this loud woman roaming the halls. (I think my principal probably knew it was me, which makes it all the more embarrassing!) Anyway, I am really overwhelmed by trying to arrange my classroom. For now, I've tried creating large group and centers. I measured everything and am mapping it out at home. I unrolled my second rug to find a large brown spot near the middle. I'm afraid to know what it might be, but naturally my children walked and rolled through it in their playtime today despite my somewhat hysterical warnings about its probable origin. I guess it's old enough to not be dangerous, but I'm putting rug cleaner on the shopping list.

Space & Time

I finally finished sorting and storing classroom materials. I unrolled my big group meeting space rug, and my children commented that it's finally starting to look like a real classroom. I have a lot of cabinet space left over, but most of it is in the row of cabinets near the ceiling. I had to stand on a chair and use a broom handle to get things out of it. I'm not sure what I can put up there... Also, I discovered that I don't have any movable bookcases in my room. There is one row fixed to the wall, but that's it. I did get 4 new computers today! This is great news, because the others were older than some of my children. I worked until they kicked me out today, and I'm exhausted.

28 Days & Counting: Mrs. Lisa Gets Ready for Kindergarten

Well, if you have been teaching for awhile, you might think I'm crazy to start working in my classroom with so much summer left. But I've been home with my own children for 10 years now, and am worried about how long it might take me to get up to speed. So, I packed up my four beautiful children and headed to my new classroom on the first day they would let me into the building. I'm glad I'm starting early. The room is full of all kinds of leftovers and needs a lot of straightening. Today, I sorted materials and scrubbed the closet. My students deserve a nice place to learn. Here are some "before" photos of my first day.

Here's what two of my children were doing while I was working.