Back to Pure Michigan and a New Classroom

I am moving back to Michigan and moving into a new classroom this year! I will be teaching Kindergarten and I am extremely excited (and a little nervous). I cannot wait to start prepping my new room. I've been reading as many teaching blogs as possible trying to figure out what I want to do in my room. My goal is to create a room that is welcoming and well organized. The organization part is often my struggle. So, here it goes...

Step 1: De-clutter and Move Furniture...Then Move Furniture AGAIN and AGAIN! :-)

Before I moved I organized the supplies I've collected and of course it got worse before it got any better... 

I eventually moved it to my living room so I could at least sleep. I ended up with 15 boxes of books.Can you find my puppy Sophie in the second picture? :-)


My new colleagues, family, and friends have generously passed on supplies which has been a huge help since I'm moving from 3rd grade to kindergarten, but now I have to figure out what to do with it all! Here are some before pictures of my room:

I have a bathroom in my room...I will definitely need to develop procedures for that! I'm going to have 20 students at most, so I'm trying to decide if I should do 4 tables with 3 students on each side or 5 tables with 2 on each side. The biggest  issue I have to solve are the hooks provided for the students gear...

 

I'm planning on replacing these curtains with pull shades and a valance. That way I can make the room dark for my new projector and still have some color in the room. 

I'll leave you today with this bit of wisdom I saw on a sign in Kalamazoo, MI...