One Week Left

I officially only have one week left before the first day of school. This summer has gone by so fast. I felt like I was on top of everything but now that I'm really in my room and working on stuff I feel so behind. Today I was able to get caught up and feel more prepared for Meet the Teacher Night which is Wednesday. It was hard to work in my room since all last week I had orientations and trainings all day. Starting tomorrow I again have trainings and meetings all day.
When I got my room assignment and was able to check it out I was not too excited. It was full of stuff, a lot of it being junk or too outdated. I spent days cleaning it out, sanitizing things and organizing the items I kept. It was great to get materials and supplies left behind but it was a lot of extra work. So here's some pictures of my room after the cleaning stage

The pictures above are from the first few days I worked in my room. I was still taking stock of what was left that I could use but also bringing in stuff that I had. The tables had been stacked on top of each other and I asked the custodian to help me move them. 

Now I'm at the stage where I've got all my furniture setup and my supplies put away. I've been able to start decorating and making it my own classroom. I still have a lot that I want that I want to put up but most of it is going to be projects I do during the first week of school. I also didn't want to have an overwhelming amount of stuff out that the students didn't know the procedures for using. 
Looking back over the summer I think I could have worked on more stuff at home so I would feel more prepared now. But it's all a learning process and now I know what to do before hand and what could probably wait. I would spend more time working on getting a welcome letter and data folder setup and wait on getting displays planned. I had found my masters for the first week but I waited until today to make copies and separate into folders and by days. But I am happy with what I've done and I like how my room is turning out. I like the activities I have planned for the first week and think I will learn a lot about my students and their families. But I still wish I had just a couple extra days!

It Takes a Village...

Over the past week I have gotten more settled in Phoenix and also started to get some bigger projects done.  There is no way I could have done these projects without advice and help. 

The first project in this picture was pretty easy and only took a few minutes. I bought empty paint cans at Ace for maybe a dollar and then covered them with duct tape. It was much cheaper than buying pre-decorated containers at a store. This is a project I did on my own but if I was going to make a lot of them I would probably have asked for help to cut back on time. I like them because they're not the normal container that other teachers will have and if they get ruined I won't be upset at money wasted.
The milk crate seat project was the Pinterest project I was most excited to try. It started in May when I asked my boyfriend to try and make it and he found out after going to a number of stores that these colorful crates come out with school/dorm supplies at Target. Two weeks ago I bought a crate and the plywood at Home Depot. The man was very helpful and made sure the wood fit right into the crate and left room for the fabric. Then this week my great aunt who was a home ec  teacher for 27 years and my mom helped me to make the seat parts. The first one took about 15-20 mins but by the last one it only took a few minutes. I love how colorful they are and that they will be something different for my students and also give me extra storage space. They cost more than I would have thought but it was mostly because I didn't already have a heavy duty stapler. 

Adding a ribbon handle made it easier to get the seat on and off. I also used the same color on all three to tie them altogether and it was the only ribbon I had.

The next project I finished were these cork board crayons. My boyfriend got a sheet of thin cork board and then cut out crayon shaped pieces. The edges of the cork start to fall off so he put a border of electrical tape so they would hold their shape. I had left over fabric from my seats so I used that to start covering the cork. My great aunt made a pattern and helped me cut out the fabric and then we just folded the edges over used tacky glue. Crayons are my theme so these will be a cute decoration but they also will be great to put in areas where it would be hard to hang things. I was thinking about putting them near my turn-in tray and putting no name papers on them. I have 3 of each size so I also was going to use them to hang pictures on of school events. 

I could have done these projects on my own, I'm more than capable of doing them. But they might not have turned out as well and it would have taken much more time. As a new teacher I think we want to prove we can do this and don't need any help to setup and run our classes. Even going to Home Depot I wanted to be able to act like I knew all about lumber but I had to admit I needed help to figure out what would work best. I think teachers both new and old need to always be willing to ask for help and let someone else teach you how to do something. I can't say that I will always be this willing to ask, but I hope that I am able to be more open to getting advice from other people. 

Back on Track (Almost)

Well I am back in Phoenix and trying to get back on track with my planning and preparation. I'm able to go in my classroom but I can't move my furniture for a couple more days. They moved my projector but the actual smart board still needs to be put up. This is what I've been doing for my class

*I went through the art supplies left behind and got rid of the materials that were taking up space, too old or falling apart/almost out. I then sanitized all the scissors, markers and containers that I was able to save. 
*I attempted a Pinterest project where you use duct tape to add a decorative edge around plastic bins. It didn't work for me, the tape kept peeling off so I just ditched that project.
*Today I filled out all my official new hire papers. A little overwhelming but also nice to feel like an adult. 
*I wrote a list of my procedures and information I want to type up for parents that I can hand out during Meet the Teacher Night. 
*I bought a milk crate and plywood to make a seat, haven't finished it but I'm feeling pretty good about it working out. 
*A Pinterest project I did really enjoy was taking paint chips and using them to write sight words on like the picture shows. I didn't stick to one color like the picture shows and I also hand wrote my sight words. But I love them and it was worth all the trips to take paint chips. 

I would like to start working on making decorations for my theme (crayons). I have templates made for labels and crayons for a bulletin board so I need to actually start using them. I'm hoping that if I can get some of these done now then when I can move my furniture the setup will go much faster and be easier. 

A couple days ago I saw that Target was starting to put out their school supplies. It was tempting to buy a ton of stuff I saw but I was able to walk away and wait until more of it goes on sale. I also didn't want to buy anything without having my list and coupons. But I am getting that excited new school supply feeling!