More Space for Our Space: Follow Up

This post is a follow up to my July 24th summer post about rearranging my classroom for learning.

First of all, I am adjusting well to not having my own teacher desk. It opened up so much space in the room. Last night, I realized another benefit...no desk to clean off for Back to School Night! I have an area in the room to store any materials for lessons coming up and files for my students' work. I also have a small white wheelie file cabinet that is my storage for what used to be in my desk. I threw out a lot and gave things away if I hadn't used them in the past couple of years. I have a place for everything and, so far, everything in its place. Seriously, for the first time in all my years of teaching, I had no piles to hide away or mess to clean in preparation for Back to School Night. Surprisingly liberating!

The students do not have their own desks and it is working out really well. There is no clutter or mess coming out of their desks. They know where their materials go and binders, etc. are organized and out of the way when not in use. 

There were a few issues in the beginning and we discussed them as a class and adjusted the storage to make it work more smoothly. They had great ideas and  it brought them together early on as a team working to make our room a better place for learning.

Now, unlike last year, there is a large library area to hang out in and read. The students love the flexibility of bringing the carpets anywhere around the room to read and work.

I am so glad that I jumped into the deep end with the room decisions I made this summer.