Update: My Classroom...

I never would've guessed that preparing a classroom could be so much work.

Okay, so I realized there would be a lot of set up and organizing to do to get the room ready for students. What I didn't expect was that the room's previous teacher would leave literally EVERYTHING. From what I hear, she took the last day of school off and never came back, leaving all of her personal items, student records, random papers, and junk behind.

My first visit to my classroom was overwhelming. The janitors had already cleaned desks and carpets, so the furniture was piled up against the back wall. They had also kindly piled up any personal belongings on the teacher desk. I walked around, trying to get an idea of where I wanted various things to go and taking a look in the many cabinets and drawers around the room. Every cabinet was full. Nothing was organized. I had a BIG job ahead of me.

I spent the next three classroom visits cleaning everything out. At first I'd pull out a stack of booklets or papers and think, "Yeah, those could come in handy," and put them aside. Eventually I got to the point where I no longer looked at what I was taking out. It went straight from the cabinet to the trash can. 

Last week was the first week where I felt like I could actually start making the room my own. My sister came with me on Monday to help put up a few bulletin boards and fix up the student cubbies. Last Friday my Mom and cousin came to help me finish cleaning out the teacher's desk (I'd piled all of her stuff in boxes by the door at this point) and begin to organize my books for the classroom library. I'm so so SO glad to have such awesome help with such a big job!

I was in my room both yesterday and today. My desks are set up in groups, my calendar wall is up, and my student work displays are finished. I cut out and painted a large, cardboard tree to put in my reading area. I'm just about finished making my milk-crate bench (Pinterest has been my inspiration for so many of these mini projects), and I finally got rid of all of the extra furniture that's been hanging out in my room. Overall, it's coming together. In just about a month I've gone from "I am so completely overwhelmed", to "My room looks pretty good!". There are still a ton of little things to do, but it's getting there.