Classroom Set Up

 It's getting toward the end of summer and teachers are heading in to set up their classrooms. I like doing this as soon as I get the all clear from our custodial staff that my room is complete. We host a kindergarten orientation at the beginning of August so we need our rooms ready early. Most summers I spend days and days going in for a few hours at a time and this drags on throughout the summer. This year I wanted to do something different. A few years ago I suffered burnout and I'm still working on this (another post for another time). Since then I'm learning to do things differently.

Let's first talk about why we spend so much time setting up our classrooms. Yes we want to create a welcoming environment for children but it goes deeper than that. As a teacher I spend 9 months out of the year in that classroom. I am there most of the day. I need and want it to be a space I love to be in. A haven. A happy place.

As I approach my 10th year in Kindergarten I wanted to clear out my whole room. So I did something drastic. I made arrangements with my husband to hold down the fort at home for one whole week. Give me one week in my classroom and I'll be done. He agreed. So let me take you through how I did it.

Step 1: Gut the entire room! That's right. I emptied every single shelf and every single cabinet and storage shelf. Use a teenager if you have one ;) and lay it all out in the room.

Step 2: Go through EVERYTHING! I created space for trash, sell, give away, and keep. I put in my mind that if I have not used it in the last few years it had to go. It's natural for teachers to hold on to things because you never know what grade level you may find yourself in. You are a district employee and as such they can make changes based on the needs year to year. Also, some teachers want to change it up and explore other grades or situations. At this stage of my career I'm dedicated to kindergarten so I was ready to let go of some things. It was slower progress than I thought it would be but well worth it. I ended up with 3 LARGE bags of trash, a massive free pile, some things to sell, and kept only the things I new I needed/wanted and would use.

Step 3: Organize! Think very carefully about where you want things. I struggle with organization. Every year I learn a bit more and put more into place. I began placing items where I wanted them. I made sure it made sense to me and worked for my purposes. I'm not a cutesy teacher. I don't make cute labels and my budget was low so there was no purchasing any on TPT. So, I did a low budget address label with a font I like. Labels really do make a difference. Let's talk containers. I saw all the rage of acrylic bins on social media and thought I should try it out. Turns out I don't like them. I couldn't purchase many of them. I actually prefer the shoeboxes. They are a good size, fit nicely on the shelves, and are affordable. Plain and simple.

Step 4: Furniture placement! Now this is what can really get me every summer. I spend A LOT of mental energy on this step. I'll think and think and think and then draw it out on paper. Why spend the physical energy if you don't have to! Then I try it out in the room. Thankfully, I liked my placement last year and only wanted to change 2 areas. So it went much more smoothly. I'm happy with the placement!

Step 5: Final touches! This can be the fun part or tedious part, however you look at it. I think it is the creative part. This is a time to decide on a theme. As I mentioned before I started out with a camping theme. It was very bright and cartoony. I have evolved over the years and now I have a sophisticated nature theme. I focus on neutrals and watercolor nature. I love it! It is serene and calm. Just what I need and I know it is what helps my students as well. It feels safe and peaceful. I also did a thing! I decided to purchase my own rug. With all my neutral colors and serene nature theme a rainbow rug was an eyesore. I found something with more earthy tones. I also found a desk skirt perfect for my natural room! I'll have more details on Insta soon when I feel like it's all together but it was ready enough for orientation and I'm loving it!

What's in a name?

 Ok, why "S'more to Learn" 

When I started out teaching I loved camping. I was young and thought camping in the great outdoors was fun. As I've gotten older I realize "glamping" is where it is at ;)

But when I started out as a first grade teacher I wanted to incorporate this love into my classroom. I decided to theme my decor around camping. I wish I had pics of my first classroom. Sigh...

I did this for 2 other reasons. 

1. I had a bunch of camping gear I could use and found some affordable decor on Oriental Trading Co. Great start for a first year teacher. 

2. As I thought about the age I was going to teach I found a strong connection to camping and the early grades. My job was to teach foundational skills to young children to prepare them for each grade moving forward. I called them survival skills. You need these skills to be successful at school just like you need survival skills to make it through the wilderness. I was a camp leader teaching survival skills to my first graders. 

Though I have matured from the camping decor, I keep this thought with me. I am teaching survival skills to my kindergarteners. I am still leading them through the wilderness and hoping they learn enough to survive. I still use an outdoor theme to decorate but it's less campy, more outdoors serenity.

So what does this have to do with the name of this blog. Well, what is the best and most popular camping treat? A s'more! I love almost anything s'more related. There is just something about the combo of marshmallow and chocolate (I can give or take the graham cracker). Yummy! I use this camping treat as a play on words for my favorite thing to do. Learn more or Learn s'more. 

I LOVE learning new things. I am addicted to self help books, teacher blogs, podcasts, and TPT. In fact I had a discussion with my husband one day about "getting to know you" activities and how we are always asked to tell interesting things about ourselves or sometimes the question is about our favorite thing to do or our hobbies. I am always stumped. I don't find myself that interesting. I'm too interested in other teachers and other people and using their amazing ideas and some of my own. I told my husband when I really thought about it, one of my main hobbies was working on improving myself through the self help books/podcasts I learn from. It is a weird hobby I grant you, but I've never been one to do what's "normal". 

I want this blog to showcase what I've been learning. I am not affiliated with any of the teachers or authors I may share about. I do not get any incentive from them. I simply love their products or ideas and want to share what works for me in the hopes it can help you. I like to think we all want to be great teachers. I feel a great teacher is always learning. Always finding ways to improve in some way that can help them as an educator or help their students find success. 

So, long story short, I think we all have s'more to learn and I hope you join me on my journey!

Welcome to my blog!!

 Hi! I'm Abby and this is my first blog post...(eeee so exciting!!) I've always wanted to do this but thought I don't have much to contribute to the world. I'm usually the one checking out other people's blogs, podcasts, facebook groups, etc. Anything and everything that can help me be a better teacher. I follow the old adage of "a good teacher begs, borrows, and steals/buys." I've been very good at this. I know I come up with a few original ideas but mostly I learn from others...and use their stuff (I have an addiction to TPT...shhhh.)  And I love to learn! I mean I really love it. If there was a career where I can just get paid for increasing my knowledge on any and everything, I'd do it. So far, I haven't found one so if you know of a career out there that can help me do that please share!! 

I created this blog as a way to provide an outlet to talk about my education adventures. I LOVE talking about education. Thankfully I have a teacher husband and we can have fun discussions about the things we are finding and learning.

I'm hoping my ramblings and adventures will help you as well! I hope to share all the things I'm learning and as I try to implement them in my classroom, you will learn from my failures and successes. I'm hopeful you will find something that will inspire you or at least a tip or trick that can improve your classroom as well. 

My goal is to post at least once a week but it could be more depending on what I've learned that week that I'm bursting to share with someone...aka YOU :). 

Thanks for following along. In my next post I'll share about me and how I came up with the title of this blog because there's always s'more to learn!!