Reality

It's August 31st.  Students come back to school in 8 days.  In my district, we are required to begin seeing students the first day of school.  As of right now, I do not have a classroom, I have NO students, I have no mentor, and I have no copies made because there is no paper.  I do, however, have a list of 40 half days that I will be out of my classroom.  40.  That number doesn't include annual reviews or workshops. 

So to sum this short post up: I have no clue whats going on as far as my job is concerned but I know that my students will be taught by a substitute more than by their teacher. 

My Simplified Library

Last year, I spent a ton of money on books.  I bought a lot of chapter books for my students, however, I'm the only person who used my books.  The students took them out of the library so they could take them home.  I used my copies to follow along with them.  I would also bring them home on weekends to read so I could help the students do book reports. 

This year, I'm going to keep all my chapter books at home.  That will leave me room on my shelves for my easy reader book sets, professional books, running record system, paper, and games.  I'm not sure if I decided to keep the chapter books at home because it makes the most sense while I'm split between 2 buildings or because it gives me an excuse to buy the Ikea bookshelf I've been eyeing. 

Mailbox magazines and books with reproducibles will be kept at school where I have access to the copy machine.  I'm hoping that this new system will allow me to stay more organized.  If I was only in one building, I'd bring all my books to school but being in 2 buildings, this seems to be the best option. 

Storage Solutions

I share a room in both buildings I work in.  This was great as a first year teacher because I had access to all of the experienced teachers materials and they were right there if I had any questions.  It made my first year much easier!  However, now I'm sitting in a dining room full of books, posters, and teaching supplies.  Why?  Because all of those wonderful resources I had access to have filled the closets of my classrooms.  We aren't allowed to leave books on shelves in our classrooms because the custodians wax the floors.  They need to be able to quickly move furniture.  So everything came home with me!

To save confusion, label all of the books you purchased with your own money with your name before it goes into your room.  Anything that belongs to the district or building doesn't get a label.  Books I could have probably set on the counters in front of the windows but since I was teaching over the summer, I brought them home. 

But books are just one section of a classroom.  I have math manipulatives, art supplies, pencils, paper, erasers, rulers, games, bookmarks, prizes, different types of paper, etc...  I can't take all these home every year.  And during the school year, all of this stuff stays in MY desk because I had no place to put it.  My area of the room was constantly a mess because I had limited the space I had in my classroom.  There is no point in trying to make room for my belongings in the cabinets because they are full of materials that I can use with my students.  To make room for myself in the classrooms, I am buying a few little plastic storage containers from Target.  You can add wheels to the bottom and each unit has 3 drawers in it.  Right now Target has them in 3 or 4 different colors.  I am going to keep math supplies and games in one, art and writing supplies in another.  During the year, I can keep some light items, like different types of writing paper, on top of the units.  At the end of the year, the custodians can simply wheel them out of the room. 

I am excited to see how much more organized my desk will stay with all of that stuff somewhere else!