Back to School Blues

So yesterday I went to my new school to take a look at my new classroom and the custodians wanted me to draw a picture of how the furniture should be set up for me.  I realized that I am both excited and terrified about going into 6th grade. Excited because I have a lot of bulletin board space to work with and I can be more creative with setting up the room.  Terrified because I haven't been in 6th grade since my student teaching in 2008!!! I have no idea what I'm doing. Today's post is to show my classroom in the before and then in another few weeks when I am able to get back in there (they have to clean and wax the floors) I will have another post in the after.  So here's the before:

   The book shelves on this side are built in so I have limited movement there.

 I like the giant bulletin board over on this side.  I think this will be a great place for student work.

 I have a big white board and a small bulletin board on this side.  I'm even getting a Smart Board! (of course I am still waiting for the projector screen and printer to be hooked up in my school last year- which the principal promised but has since retired...)

Another bulletin board on this side, probably a good welcome/ news spot.  There's a big bulletin board behind the computer desks, but not much space to work with there.   They're going to replace the tall file cabinet and tall closet with short ones so I can reach everything.






So my dad was really excited about setting up my room last year but I didn't have a room until like the week before, and high school there isn't much to set up. This year I have been looking at Pintrest for ideas and have a lot to think about. It's overwhelming to think of how I want it all to look and what I need-- especially since I know very little about 6th graders.  I'm open to any suggestions about anything that will help.

The custodians asked for a drawing of how I wanted the furniture, and they said I won the blue ribbon of designs since they never saw such a detailed design.

I tried just drawing and it wasn't working out.  I'm a visual/ kinesthetic learner so I had to actually cut out tiny pieces of furniture out of my trusty pink steno pad and kept re-arranging my furniture on the paper until I thought it would work.

This is what I ended up with.  My biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to set up my teacher's desk so the cord will reach the outlet.  Last year we arranged our room and then realized there was no outlet, they added one but it ended up an obstacle course since it was between the teachers' desks. It's not set in stone, just paper.

I am excited about getting my room set up, I've already started buying things I know I'll need as I see them, but now that I know what my room looks like and have a lot of decoration decisions to make.

Well that's it for today.  Look forward to how it will look and more cupcakes are yet to come. I really feel like making some, but have no reason to. Mine and my boyfriends birthdays are coming up in a couple weeks so perhaps I'll start baking and freezing for that.  Enjoy the weekend all.