Settling In

As you know, I'm changing schools this next year after eight years at Christopher Columbus Charter School. My new school is Wissahickon Charter School, an environmental school in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. I am excited about this transition, though admittedly, a little worried too. It is going to be challenging, but I think I'm going to learn new things (I have already!), and that is always invigorating.

One part of this transition has been cleaning out eight years of teaching from my old classroom, packing up what I thought I might still need, renting a truck to transport all of my thrift-store/trash-picked shelves, and unloading the truck at my new school. I haven't been able to get in and unpack anything until this last week because they were teaching a summer reading program in my room and then they had to wax the floors.

When I got there Tuesday morning, there were all of my boxes stacked in the windows, and all of the furniture was piled in the middle of the room. The cabinets were still full of random stuff from the previous teacher. I spent three days cleaning, sorting, consolidating, labeling, and rearranging. My very first grade partner, Leah, even came in and helped me one day. Here are a few before and after shots (all taken from the doorway):

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Now that I know where everything is, I'm beginning to feel a little more settled, though there are certainly more "challenges" ahead--new curriculum, new management system, new-to-me students, etc. Here are a few more up-close pics, and then I'm done, I swear.

the doorway leading to the hall (from where I took the pics above)

the writing center

 my teaching assistant's work area (did I mention I get a teaching assistant???)

my "bean" table (I've always wanted one of those...)

my desk (and part of the library)

the rest of the library and meeting area 

I don't post much here about my classroom, but I do have a classroom website. Feel free to check it out this year.