We have crossed into Part 2 of the book which is all about taking action in your classroom.
Up this week is Chapter 3: Environment, Environment, Environment!
This week's hosts are Stephanie from The Learning Chambers,
Corinna from Surfin' Through Second,
I'll be honest, this chapter took longer for me to read because there was so much in it.
The first quote that stood out for me was on page 27. Debbie said, "When things are going awry for teachers, things are probably not going so well for the kids either."
This is so, so, so, so true! I know there are always going to be those times when I'm not as prepared as I should be, or a lesson won't go the way I thought it would, but one of my goals this year is to be more prepared than I ever have been. I think that because this will be my third year in Kindergarten, my vision for the year is a little more clear than previous years. So, one of my goals is to be prepared!
To get prepared, I will need to be very organized (a huge downfall of mine)! I'm really not good at staying organized. I always have such good intentions at the beginning of the year, but by about October, everything is thrown to the wind. My grade group jokes that if there is anything that needs to be kept up with for more than about a day, I do not need to be the one to keep it because it will be lost in the abyss. Ha! It's so true!
Debbie suggests that the first step is to "Clear the Decks!" When I set up my classroom this year, I will start at the very beginning and be ever so purposeful about the furniture, baskets, bins, and seats that I bring in to the room. Everything in my room this year will have a function…cute, but functional!
Last year, the first thing I looked at when setting up my room was where I wanted my literacy centers. I wanted to be sure that each center had a defined and functional space. After I found those spaces for all of my centers, I was able to place the students' tables, my table, etc into the classroom. I absolutely LOVED my classroom last year (except the organization aspect). I do want to change it up a little bit this year by maybe lowering a table to two, moving centers around a little, but I will definitely be starting the planning and arranging with the center spaces first.
What do you do first when you set up your classroom?
I am so with you on the organization part! It isn't my strong suit, but I am trying.
ReplyDeleteI look at our meeting area first. This is the hub of the classroom, and I try to arrange spaces that go out from there in a reasonable way, like spokes on a wheel, so the kids aren't tripping over each other as they go. It's interesting how being intentional about the placement of furniture really does lead to better organized, more intentional teaching.