Plan B: A Success

Jenepher to the rescue!

Mom writing in on my centers board

Entrance to the reading room: underwater adventure

First Class Work-sailor hats and all-can't wait for the student work to be on it to make it more attractive

Thanks to a fabulous Mom who helped me with the center chart, math treasures, our anchors wall, and the red nautical flags with all the subjects on them. She is amazing and I am so blessed to have such a great Mom.

The most busy wall in the world, but the color is amazing! I love the green, yellow, orange, white, and blue :) BYU and Richland High all represented in one wall!!

Word Wall is finally complete, fishies and all!

Working more on my room, getting help, and starting over really was a blessing, because I am so much prouder to walk in and think, "Yeah this is my room, I am proud to be the teacher of Room 18!" Now I just need to get organized with my bookshelves, files, center bins, student materials, name tags, get that board up, and many little things. Soon my sailors will fill the ship, and it will be a wonderful learning place. I'm so excited to start this adventure!

Plan A Not So Great

Plan A

The shower curtain in the reading room before...

It looks okay, but with a few borders and better lettering it just pops!

Word Wall before I made the letters bigger

The door before it changed as well

I did the Math Treasures bulletin board all on my own, but it is crooked and turned out a lot better after my wonderful Mom helped me :)

Hey Everybody! Sorry that I haven't blogged in a long while; I've been so focused on my room, and then making mistakes with it, that I haven't had time to blog. Luckily, my Mom came to Utah and saved me from having to work alone-she was such a great helper, with the bulletin boards, the cutting, pasting, and thumb tacking. Also, dear Jenepher came to help and really made the reading reef library room pop with some cool fish cutouts we put up and green streamers as seaweed. I am so indebted to these wonderful women and I really do appreciate all those who support me and want me to succeed. Thank you Ashley Chamberlin for giving me great ideas with the reading room and making it look like underwater. Also, the one bulletin board I didn't change was "Sailing Towards Knowledge" (my theme for the 2011-2012 year) and it was because I had Ashley.

What I have learned from having to literally tear almost everything down and start again is that I need to get help with setting up a classroom. Yes, I have the ideas, but I just need to be a little smarter about making sure letters are big enough, there are attractive borders and colors, and that I don't waste money.

Even though I have to work harder to make anything turn out really well, I know that this lesson in making mistakes and trying again instead of giving up is so valuable. When I have my students and they make mistakes and feel that they have to work harder than all the other students in the class, I can relate to them. Sure, I feel the two other interns at my school are more prepared, more creative, and yes, their rooms were perfect right at the beginning, but I have worked so hard, and making my room better helped me appreciate my mom and the work I put in so much more. Lessons can be learned always-especially through challenges.

Next post: what the room looks like now!

I Got the Keys!!

The lone desk

This side is where the theme's bulletin board will be: Sailing Into Learning

None of the desks or tables were moved yet. It's a huge room though!

The happy/scared/excited intern!!!


Hey Everybody!

I got the keys to Room 18 just a week ago and though I was so overwhelmed, with the help of some wonderful friends (Stephanie and Ashley), my room is coming together and will continue to be a place for learning and fun. I'll take more pictures as the process of decorating and organizing continues, but for now, here is the room before I really moved anything. (Trust me, it looks so much better). I really am in debt to Stephanie Wright for moving all the desks, they look amazing, and helping me put up one of my bulletin boards-Captain's First Mate.

There is still a lot to go, but I know that with help, faith, hard work, and a lot of creativity, this classroom is going to be a wonderful place for children to learn and grow.