More Classroom Organization

This week I have been on an interview committee for a position at my school. I've had a chance to start on my room arrangement. The room is next door to my old room and was the former Title One room. You wouldn't think it would be much different, but it totally is!
For one thing, every thing is facing the opposite direction. I know this doesn't sound like much, but it is driving me nuts! The wiring in the room was upgraded because of the number of computers Title One had, so I have lots of outlets unlike most rooms in our old building. Because of the number of outlets and their height on the wall, when the two cubbies were replaced they were not put together in one unit. In the middle I put the students mailboxes. I hope this will be a very handy place for them. Since there is also one of those four outlet junction boxes, I am going to put a rectangle table there (sticking out into the room) so when we borrow the laptops, we have a place to put them that is right near an outlet.
I am using the floor plan that was chosen by the class last year as the culminating project for a Math unit on area and perimeter. I quickly realized the winning entry was missing several pieces of furniture. So, I plan on moving these items out of the classroom next door to the multi-purpose room. On the first day, I will ask the students what is missing and where we might put those things. It will be a great learning experience to get us back in the mode of working together.

I started working on the main "teaching" board. Yes, looking at the picture you can see it is just a whiteboard clumsily attached to the old chalkboard with the sides of the chalkboard still showing. I wish our school had the time and money to do things right the first time. Anyway, at least I have a whiteboard. I'm allergic to chalk dust! The teacher names on the left side of the board are all the teachers at my school. Fifth grade is the first year they switch for a subject (Math), so this is where one designated student from each class can write the homework assignment from that class.  The right hand side has a graphic of the Olympic Motto as the Olympics is our theme this year.

I have a small class this year (only 20) so there is extra room..... and desks.  I want to help students be more responsible for classroom supplies this year.  Students will also be doing a lot of notebooking and lapbooking in Science, Social Studies and Math, so having those supplies in one central location doesn't really work.  Each group will have an extra desk in the middle of their group.  On it will be a caddie of supplies for the group to share, such as colored pencils, markers, highlighters, glue, and scissors.  Each child will continue to have their own pencils and crayons.  This way, if they leave the cap off the glue, they have no one to blame but themselves!
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