First of all, you will need a little background info about my classroom to understand where I am coming from:) I have a VERY small classroom!! AND there are NOOOO closets in our school:( So, I have to fit EVERYTHING that I have IN my classroom...yes, you read correctly-NO closets!!! I have 2 storage cabinets that are JAM packed and lots of shelves.
I also teach in IL. (and not near Chicago--Chicago schools get a HUGE majority of the money that does get distributed.) But, IL is in VERY bad financial shape:( The state of IL owes our tiny district over $500,000. It owes larger district around our area(we are close to STL, MO) millions of dollars. So, needless to say there is NO $ to make any kinds of improvements. That is why last year I had 27 kinders in my class!!!!! NO MONEY to hire a 3rd teacher:( (THIS year they had to hire a 3rd kinder teacher and I still had 21 kinders)
So last year, when I had 27 kinders in my class, I had desks in my TINY classroom with NO closets AND one of those kiddos was in a wheel chair!!!! Needless to say, there was no room for anyone to walk around and she ABSOLUTELY could NOT maneuver through my room:( She had to have the desk closest to the door and had to be taken out of her wheelchair and carried around when we needed to move to the carpet, etc. I had bruises on my upper legs ALL year long from bumping them on all of the desks and tripping over them when trying to teach!! Here is a pic. of what my room used to look like with desks. I wish I had a better one, but this is all I could find.
When you walked in the door, there was a wall of desks. There were little rows to walk through. I tried to put them in pods but, there just wasn't enough room. I couldn't put them far enough apart from each other and it was too hard to walk through AND every time they would scoot there chairs out to get up, they would be bumping into each other. So, the rows worked a lot better in our cramped space.
So, last Summer, I asked for desks. I drew diagrams of my classroom and how it looked before desks and what it would look like after desks showing how much space I would have with tables and I sent a letter and my diagrams to the superintendent AND it worked!!!!! I couldn't believe they were actually going to spend $ for me!!!!! Yay!!! So, here are some pics from my classroom this year!!;)
The other problem I had was what to do with their supplies, books, etc. Well, my mother-in-law is VERY handy an she whipped up these awesome pouches for me!!!;) They are made from denim, so they are VERY durable!!
Great Extreme Classroom Makeover. I love the paint stir stick idea.
ReplyDeleteWow...I can't believe how many kinders you had at one time in that tiny room! I love your idea about the paint sticks-I get so frustrated with name tags bending and they kids playing with the corners! I think that's a new summer project for me! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteStacee
I loved reading about this and holy cow, what a difference it made in your room!! Thanks so much for linking up and sharing...and congrats on earning your tables! :)
ReplyDeleteKristen
Wow! Loved this post!
ReplyDeleteMy campus is moving to a renovated middle school (smaller classrooms! No storage!). I'm considering a pouch for student chairs. I was wondering how you manage individual student supplies like that. We had community supplies last year (mistake!!!) and I want to try having something like pouches next year.
Very nice! I've decided to go the no-desk route as well. My classroom is way too small to have desks. Plus, they keep all sorts of creatures and "goodies" in their desks. ;)
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog through Welcome to Room 36's blog! We are from Illinois too...not Chicago, the suburbs!!! :)
Nice to "meet" you!!!
Melissa (and Nicole!)
Hey! I just found your blog too! I love this! You are a go-getter and I love that! We have tables too. I have also done the desk thing...I like change a little too much and I rearrange my room several times during the school year, so having 21 desks was NOT ideal for this teacher. I also LOVE the paint stirrer name tags! I Pintrest'ed you on those...will be making some this summer! Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSo Then There Were 2
Awesome idea! I think I would be happy with just tables. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteFirst Grade Frame of Mind
Wow!! What a difference the tables make! I'd love to try that in my room. Thanks for sharing the pics!
ReplyDeleteWILD About First Grade!
Wow-you can really see what a difference the tables made! I can't believe you had that many students! I had desks my first year of teaching and begged my principal to switch me to tables (not easy considering I was teaching 2nd grade at the time and the only classrooms in the school that used tables were the kindergartens-guess it was a sign I was meant to be in kdg).
ReplyDeleteKeen on Kindergarten
I have tables in my k classroom. I made my chair pockets out of denim material a couple of years ago. They are holding up quite well. Chair pockets can get cluttered just like desks do. I sometimes have a pouch cleanout time to find the "lost" items that have made their way to the bottom of the pouch.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the tables? How long are they? Thank you ! Shan
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of paint sticks for name tags. I teach KDG in St. Louis and have a tiny room (even smaller than yours by the looks of the pics...600sq ft). This year I had 24 kiddos and now I am determined to rearrange my room to get more space. Do you have any other tricks to help me condense?
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas!! I am definitely trying the paint sticks too:)
ReplyDeleteI have always had tables in my Kindergargen classroom and have a morning and afternoon class. I laminate their name tags and use clear packing tape to tape them to the top of their (rectagular, plastic) pencil boxes. They are easy to stack up and move and work for me!
ReplyDeleteThose are great ideas! Is making the pouches inexpensive? I have 30 students in a first year charter school and no school funding for classroom arrangement. (and many student loans)
ReplyDelete