The New School Year

Welcome to my classroom! It is finally mostly done. There are only a few things to touch up. I think it is better than last year and I love it. 

Tonight was Meet the Teacher night and most of the kids commented that they liked my room, which makes me happy. I think it feels open and inviting. 

This is my absent wall. I have a student job to maintain these folder.

Shot from the front of my classroom. I am trying groups this year. I am hoping that I have a group of kids that it works with. Notice the ceiling. I made tissue flowers which are hanging everywhere. Those are my favorite.

Shot from the size of my classroom.

My permanent word wall. This is another favorite.

My current word wall where all the words will start.

Thank you to Mom and Sammie and Jannette for helping me with lots of stuff. Only 3 days to the first day of school!

Smithsonians

The saddest part of my trip, besides being apart from Chris, was only being in DC for one day. I've only ever been to DC for one day at a time and would really love to spend multiple days in a row there.

We hit some Smithsonian Museums. I loved the Museum of American History and the Museum of Natural History. A little something for the history and science teacher in me.

These are some pictures I took with my class still in mind. This would be my class from last year because I know they would have loved to see this stuff. And I can only hope that the incoming 4th graders aren't too much different and will also love it.

I've said before that my students were obsessed with how people in history died. And John Wilkes Booth.

This is the hat that Lincoln was wearing the night he went to Ford's theater the night he was assassinated.  The hat is cast in bronze, I believe. 

This is a reward poster for the capture of John Wilkes Booth. I wonder if I can find the actual poster replica. 

And the real Ford's theater. We walked by it after it was closed so I didn't get to see inside. (Next time, along with everything else I need to do there.) I would love to compare this to a photo taken closer to Lincoln's time. 

And finally, there was so much in the Museum of Natural History. I wish I had more time to explore it. I got lots of ideas for science this year. Can you find the bugs in this picture?

My Favorite Lamp

This lamp has lasted me 9 years. It has been though Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. It has taken from high school to college to my career.

And it spends 7 months in a 5th grade classroom and dies. If you shake it, there is something lose in the bottom, which I am sure is from someone dropping it.

It was a really sad day. You wouldn't think I would be this sad about my lamp dying, but it effected me.

Now I have to get one of these too.

My Classroom!

I got to see my classroom this week. There is still another teacher's stuff in it, but you get the idea. I need some desperate help with some ideas. I am so excited to decorate it, but I am not sure what to do. The only thing I've got is a word wall and a welcome sign on the door and a small section describing me.

Does anyone remember their favorite Elementary or Middle School classroom? What did you like best about it? I am sure that it is mostly the teacher that matter when making a classroom inviting and comforting, but I don't want to have bear walls.