A Blank Slate to Make my Mark

Oh my! I have a lot of work to do in my new classroom. Cam and I stopped in the other morning to take some photos of my empty classroom. Looking at it was very overwhelming to say the least. I thought I could unpack a couple boxes before swimming lessons, but we didn't get much accomplished, just sorted through a few bins of teacher resource books. Here are some photos so you can see the magnitude of work ahead of us.

Hooray! I have a smart board in my new classroom! Along with a document camera, scanner and printer.

You can also view the rats nest of wires that I will need to sort through under the desk. Yikes, it's a mess! A job for another day. My computers have to stay in that location, so I'll place the carpet in front, not ideal but no other place will work. I think I will cover all the bulletin boards in blue, with a uniform border. Maybe something with blue, green and purple. I'm not sure what to do about the 'green' blackboards. I've thought of maybe covering them, but I'm not sure. I will attach my CAFE strategies to one board, and my word wall to another board using magnets. Not sure about the others, I most likely won't write on them so I figure I could post some stuff on them instead.

I'm not thrilled with the location of these shelves but my thoughts are to use them for my leveled books and other books for students to choose for their reading bins.

My teacher's desk will go back here in this corner with my personal frequently used resources on that tall shelf behind my desk.

A shot of the back of the classroom. All of the stuff on top of the big brown cupboard has to go. I just need a ladder to get up there. I will take down the clothesline while I'm up there. Not my style. You can also see all the boxes I need to unpack. The bulletin boards back here will be done in the same style as the front, with a blue background. Maybe my work with words and listen to read centres can be on the long counter.

Anyways, I think my first job will be the bulletin boards. Any thoughts on what I should cover them with? I've heard of people painting them, covering them with wrapping paper, covering them with plastic tablecloths or covering them with bed sheets. Any thoughts on the best plan of attack? Please leave a comment with your best solution.

Thanks for reading,