The New Year Has Begun!

I'm really pretty terrible with keeping up with blogging. I totally planned to blog all summer long, but believe it or not, it was actually a whirlwind of a summer. I went to a week-long AP conference, took some time to see my in-laws in Florida, spent lots of time preparing curriculum, and moved into my new classroom. Add onto that the fact that my old district was year-round and didn't get out until the middle of June, and it actually made for a pretty busy time!

We've been back in school for a couple weeks now (only 3 days with kids, though) and I have to say that my mind is buzzing with ideas and excitement every single morning when I wake up. I've been completely exhausted this week, yet I can't wait to hop out of bed and get to work. I love what I'm doing so much this year! I loved my coworkers and kiddos last year, but third grade common core was NOT my fave. Being back to teaching French has made me so happy again, and my school, district, and students are so awesome!

Okay, a huge narrative and now onto the thing I've been wanting to post for a week: my classroom set up. After living in it for a few days with students, I think it is going to work really well. I'm sure that I will switch it up during the year (I always do, haha) but it works very well right now. Please excuse the mess as these were taken before students came while I was finishing some things up. I still have a lot to do throughout the year, but I wanted to feel settled from the very beginning so I got all my essentials up first.

From the front by the door. I have 32 desks, so I had to work hard to squeeze it all in. You can see my Whole Brain Teaching Posters in French on the wall for that daily routine, as well as various maps (some purchased/obtained, some made with a projector and bulletin board paper). The students have already commented on the curtains, which make the room feel so much softer and more homey (aka SAFE when taking risks in the language!).

From the front by the windows. I have two lamps for ambiance when I'm working late or for when the lights are off and the projector is on, and my teacher area is easily accessible from two sides but still somewhat contained.

From the back by the maps. I spent A LOT of time arranging the desks - walking loops all the way through the room, sitting in various seats to check the views, making sure they weren't so close to my desk to easily grab stuff/rifle through papers, and making sure all the things that students would use were accessible. 

From the back by my (VERY MESSY) desk. I wish I could get rid of that old TV, but it is still used at times. I may see if I can get a DVD player or something that I can connect the coaxial connection to, and subsequently connect to the projector so I can get rid of it!

Not going to lie - I am NOT the best about grouping on the spot, so I have to be very intentional in my plans, or I have to put procedures in place. Senor Next Door labeled his rows with numbers and then each desk in that row got a letter, so I stole that idea. I also put a different color dot on each desk (four total colors). This way, I can group by table (number), by letter, or by color on the fly. I also took care to make sure that I did not have the same color on every letter. For example, I put a red dot on 1A, but then 2B, 3C, 4D, 5A, etc. This ensures that the groupings truly are different. Also, if you didn't know - you CAN write in permanent marker on most desks and remove it easily with a Magic Eraser. Please test this on an inconspicuous area for your individual desk types first!

Last year, this organization system saved my life as a self-contained third grade teacher. I had a hanging folder for each day with a manilla folder tucked inside each one for every subject I taught in the day. So far this year, I've only been using the drawers to hold my copies because I haven't had time to organize my crate folders yet. I don't think the daily system with one hanging folder for each day is going to work for my very large classes this year, so I will rethink this and update at a later date.

This is my daily routine space, and I continued a lot of the things that I used when I taught French K-8. I've already gotten the HS kids to buy into my crazy calendar routine with weather (especially my L1 kids - they LOVE that they can understand so much after only a few days!). In this space, I use the black drawers for turning in work as they leave (not homework at the beginning of class or anything during class) or anything that's late, a note from their parents, etc. I stuck a picture of me receiving my college diploma on the top. There are caddies for each "table" with extra supplies, and all of my novel sets are under that piece of gray chevron fabric. The question word posters are from the French Teachers Facebook group. You can see that I stick my weather cards in an envelope that has the top cut off and is stapled to the bulletin board so that I have easy access and organization to these cards for every class period. I also added those two signs in English (leftover from my third grade classroom) because they really support the type of environment I'm trying to create. I also leave my wireless mouse and projector remote on the bookshelf to grab easily while teaching. I keep a regular mouse plugged into my actual computer as well because I found that I kept leaving my mouse across the room and having to walk back and forth, wasting class time.

I can't remember who I stole the Absent Work Binder template from - it was a Language Arts teacher that I found on Pinterest, but I need to find the source. I customized the templates to fit what I do in my classroom and have finally got a system that WORKS for me... as long as I keep up with it, ha. I'm going to teach my aides (senior AP French students!) to fill this out using lesson plans, etc. each day so I don't have to worry about forgetting it, but this is the first time I feel confident in a system for absent students. I've used that white hanging bin from IKEA for years for collecting work, but I think I like the drawers much better so I actually moved it to the closet for the time being.

This is the space right by my door. I keep some little broom/dust pan combos for when we do anything messy and some dusters hanging on 3M hooks. Personally, I don't like to anger my custodians when I do projects, and HS kids will still do this for you if you ask, especially if you give them candy. I also have a dry erase calendar that E left me. I saw that someone on Pinterest had their students sign up for after school times for tutoring, clubs, or test redos. Since I already had the board, voilà. Super easy to manage and super easy to implement.

I'm not going to lie - I hate these wall shelves. I nearly took them down completely when my husband noticed that one of my bookshelves fits perfectly under them. I still think they are hideous in the way of organization, so for now, I have my Eiffel Tower screen hiding the majority of my junk back here (purchased at Hobby Lobby two summers ago - not really my style with the paint splatters, but the students love it and it adds some much needed color to the room since I can't paint my walls here). This is also where I put everything my students need except tissues - pencil sharpeners, hole punches, tape, staplers, extra pencils, hand sanitizer, and bins of other supplies that they can access as needed.

Last but not least are my bulletin boards. I have NO idea what is going on them this year, but they are done! Technically, it's one long bulletin board that I sectioned off. I used fabric so it will not show as much wear as paper throughout the year. I made the tassels out of tissue paper from previous projects (these are SO easy to make and spice up any party or bulletin board). 

Here's a close up of the fabrics, trimmers, etc. It's actually all accented in navy (not black) but the lighting was terrible so it doesn't translate in photos. The mint and navy scallop fabric was on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and the Eiffel Tower/Paris scenery fabric is from Walmart of all places. Super awesome find on that one!

WHEW! That's a super long post! I hope you enjoyed my classroom tour. My students have already made tons of comments about how much they love it, which is exactly what I was trying to do. I've still got a long way to go (especially in redoing my maps with the new regions of France and adding lots of text throughout the room) and I have to work within the restriction of nothing in the top 18 inches/hanging from the ceiling, but it feels settled and organized!

What are you doing in your classrooms? What kind of things should I put on my bulletin board?