My New to Me Room

Not much to blog about this week other than the overwhelming feeling I have (like many others) about what I am doing and how I am getting it done. Our state has switched over to Common Core this year, which is great, but I was a trainer for our new Social Studies Essential Standards that roll out this year as well so I missed all of our language arts training sessions. And to top it off, I am now teaching Science instead of Social Studies - can we say STRESSED? And another addition...I am also a new (as in recently certified, never done this before) AIG Specialist in 7th grade and am struggling to understand and complete the paperwork for new students placing into the program and meeting with those parents, plus dealing with my own students. ENOUGH of my whining though!

I was lucky enough to move into one of the newer, more spacious rooms on our campus this year (yeah, add that to all the stress of learning Common Core and Science over the summer). I teach at a middle school that was an old high school....it does have character with many room having creaky wooden floors, steam radiators for heat, windows that do not open (or close entirely), and very small rooms. Last year I had 28 - 6th graders in my room. We had no room for a small group table, well we didn't even have room to sit on the floor. Any time we needed to do a spread out, work on the floor, movement type activity - we headed to the hallway!

So, to say the least, I am very lucky to have this new to me room even with its bowling alley shape. It has a sink, storage, and plenty of room for all 30 of my student desks. The biggest bonus - no real bulletin boards! Yay me! It is a work in progress, since students arrived this past Monday...adjustments will be made to make it more conducive to active learning. I will be getting a SMARTboard at some point when it arrives - I just hope it doesn't hang out in the room for a couple of months before they get around to hooking it up for our class.

Without further ado - here are some pictures of my room! I tried to make it not quite so prissy, but neat and organized and somewhat color coordinated. So far, it makes me happy!


Back of room, the only bulletin board type area. Objectives, assignments, etc on that board. Also room to work with small groups.

Our dystopian literature circles study - all of our interdisciplinary units are planned around these novels.

Scientific Method for science (yes, I teach 2 AIG language arts classes and 2 standard science classes).

Nonfiction Text Features reminders - perfect for both language arts and science! These were found through a pinterest score. They were created by Beth Newingham and can be found at her Scholastic Blog. Click on her name to go to her site where you can download them for FREE!

The front of the room. The board is off center and it drives me crazy (I did not set up this room, I inherited this way). BUT - there will be a new SMARTboard hanging out on the wall in the near future. It will be centered on that wall, starting under the flag, so it will work better for all students to be able to see. Can you tell that I am a huge The Big Bang Theory fan? One of my students last year gave me that poster for my birthday.

The side wall with the storage and door. Also...my most fabulous computer stand/teaching desk. The classroom rules are posted here as well (using an Ikea bar) to create a little artwork on the wall.

Our class/team rules. At first, this was a great idea I had, but then as I painted and attempted to attach all these frames together I thought this was one of the dumbest ideas I had ever tried. It looks ok, I know it isn't all straight and such...but I am calling that creativity and character so that my OCD self can deal with it. If you try this, trust me on this idea - take out the glass and use old school overheard transparencies! I took out all of the glass before attempting to hang it to make it lighter - so glad I did as it crashed to the ground on the first hanging attempt.

The wall opposite the door. It will become my word wall. Of all the things in my classroom, my word nerd wall poster creation is my absolute favorite! I put the graphic I purchased with the words and uploaded that to Staples and they had it printed for me before I even arrived at the store.
I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek into my classroom. It will soon not look this neat and clean as these were taken the first day of school before students entered the room. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to share any ideas you may have to make the room better.

Randy