I'm so excited to be linking back up for Chapter 3 of the Teaching with Intention book study! I am totally loving reading this book, and this chapter is all about (as the title suggests) classroom environments!
I was both excited and weary about the reflection for this chapter of the book. Classroom environment is SO important to me, and I think making the classroom feel welcoming, inviting, and student-owned can lead to a much smoother year. Take a look at my classroom from last year (2014-2015):
My meeting area with easel, focus wall for math/reading anchor charts, and a spot for student work to be displayed (left):
My classroom library, (somewhat) well organized and equipped with comfy kiddo-sized chairs.. I admit if I were staying at the same school/in the same classroom next year I probably would have reorganized the library a bit better:
My "Super Improvers" wall (blue) with a card for each kiddo, the writing wall for Writers Workshop anchor charts (green), and my "Q&A board" waiting for student questions and answers (brown):
As you can hopefully see, I worked hard to make my classroom welcoming, inviting, clean, and organized last year. I admit that these pictures are from the beginning of the year, so the room wasn't always this tidy. I tend to have trouble with those dreaded "paper stacks," and my desk typically looks like an explosion by the end of the day. (My kids often joked that the desk fairy would come to everyone in the class except for me :s.. ) So that's one of my goals for next year's classroom environment: staying organized, even in the craziness of the day.
This seems like a good place to explain why I said "excited and weary." I'm a bit nervous about how preparing my classroom environment is going to go this year, because I'm changing schools, and at my new school, I will be sharing my classrooms with 3 other teachers. Some of you may be backing up to re-read that. Yep, I said classroomS and 3 other teachers! I will be teaching in a French immersion school (which I am SO excited about -- hence the new blog and title), and will be splitting my time between pre-K and K. My school provides for 2 teachers per grade level in the early grades (preschool through K), so I will have a coteacher with me all the time, and then there are 2 French teachers who will have each of my groups of kiddos for half the day.
This means I have TWO spaces to think about and several other people's needs and wishes to meet with the classroom space. As I'm new to the school, I'm not quite sure yet how that is all going to work, but I will answer how I would like things to be, knowing that compromises will happen and changes will be made. The words of the year are: FLEXIBILITY and ORGANIZATION. I can feel it.
These are mostly the same for both pre-K and K.
I need a large meeting area, and would like an easel for creating anchor charts/doing shared writing with my kiddos. I know this area already exists in both classrooms, complete with adorable little benches for the kiddos to sit on at meeting time! :) The one thing it doesn't have, but that I think I can pretty easily acquire without stepping on any toes, is an easel with chart paper. This will be a great space for read alouds, morning meetings, calendar time, songs... the list could go on and on!
I also think a library corner is important. This is something that doesn't currently exist in either of my classrooms. I think it's important because it shows how important literacy is, and creates a comfortable environment for students to enjoy books. There are many bookshelves in our current classrooms, but no reading "space." I'm trying to think about where I could carve out a little nook with some pillows and maybe a rug for kiddos to curl up with a good book! Space is limited, but I plan on talking to my colleagues about whether we can make this an important space for both languages. :)
If not,
I need areas for students to play to learn, including blocks, dramatic play centers, and a variety of spaces for them to use different materials, such as on the ground, on the carpet, on tables, on counters, etc. My pre-K classroom has a kitchen center, which I think is wonderful for that age, and both classrooms have lots of toys and space to keep them organized in a way that is accessible for students. I observed this past week and they are clearly able to find the things they need to play and put them away on their own. Wahoo! :)
I need tables for students to work in groups or on their own. Check! :)
I need space to keep my teacher materials organized as well as all student supplies. This is definitely the case in the classroom, where things seem relatively organized. I am not quite sure where I will put my binders, etc, yet, but I am confident we will be able to find a little space in a cabinet or a shelf somewhere.
In pre-K, this is a little more difficult. With pre-K comes a LOT of art supplies, etc, so our cabinets are very full. I am SO excited about all the materials we have, but would love to take a stab at organizing them in a way that makes them a bit more readily accessible.
I need space for student work to be displayed. I was recently told that the administration doesn't want us hanging student work because they don't want parents to compare students to each other. :/ I plan to make my case for why I think displaying student work is important to creating a classroom community and a welcoming environment. If not, anchor charts created as a class will still help students to take ownership of the space!
Overall, my spaces have a LOT of what I need/want for my students. I am so excited to get to work in this collaborative environment... I just want to get IN there and start leaving my little mark! Too bad I can't until Aug 21!
My teams really seem to have this down to a science. Kiddos will keep their backpacks, lunches, etc in cubbies. Most supplies (scissors, markers, crayons, etc) are shared and kept in cups on a shelf in the middle of the classroom. On this shelf, there is also a bucket of pencil bags, each one labeled with a student's name. In these pencil bags, students keep a couple of pencils, a glue stick, and an eraser. The system seems to work well.
For workbooks, textbooks, etc, the students have sterilite drawers lining the walls of the classrooms. They have one drawer for English and one drawer for French. Again, this seems to be working, so it's fine by me! :)
There are 5 tables in each classroom. Currently, the students have assigned places at tables, which is denoted by a list of names in the center of each. I would like these to be flexible, changed from time to time, but will need to discuss with my colleagues how they would like to run this. Overall, I like that they are shared space, and only used when students need a flat, designated workspace. :)
In the end, I am SO glad I read this chapter and did the reflection. It helped me realize what my teammates aready have in place that is successful (which is A LOT!) and what non-negotiables I need to ask for. That way, when the school year starts up and we are planning/preparing our rooms for our kiddos, I know which things I can be flexible on and which things I really need to explain my reasoning and express my need for. Basically, it helped me get a better picture of my "deal breakers" and the things I can just roll with. This will lead to better collaboration with my wonderful team. Overall, I'd say that's a good chapter study!
... Now to tackle my paper problem.... yikes!
<3 Ms Fliss
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