Like all teachers at this time of the year, I’ve been busy getting the classroom ready. I’ve moved back into a room I had a few years ago with blue walls, so the blue fabric bulletin boards from the last few years had to be retired and the lime green came back out. I think I may have gone a little overboard, and I’m eagerly anticipating getting some student work up on the walls!
The classroom library had a small overhaul to even out the genre baskets. Over the years, I’ve gotten new books and some have gone mysteriously missing, so I had overflowing baskets and some that were empty. Showcasing more of the series books that I had was also a goal, so I made more space for them between baskets. Lastly, I wanted to add back in a section of picture books and more non-fiction books for social studies, so I added the magazine files on top of the shelf. I need to make myself a promise to not buy any more book bins from Target, and to only get rid of old books in order to make space for newer books in better condition.
The next project was to add an extra bulletin board for WOW work. Since I am co-teaching this year and we have two classrooms worth of space, we had to come up with some extra creative uses for the bulletin boards. I plan to showcase examples of WOW work here with a little note explaining why each piece was chosen, whether it be for neatness, exceptional improvement, perseverance, showing all of their work, or… well, anything that WOWs me! I love these little Scrappin’ Doodles forest babies. They also made an appearance on my birthday board with some cute little mushrooms. There were only so many puns I could come up with for the animals though (‘beary’ good work, something to hoot about, no stinkin’ thinkin’ here, couldn’t stump you, etc.) I hope at least one kid gets my humor!
And lastly, my classroom door. There are those little Scrappin’ Doodles making an appearance! They make me happy… and so do chocolate and marshmallows. What could be better?