My Solemn Vow

And to all teachers out there, this is my solemn vow to you.

If ever I become a principal or a superintendent or owner of a private school for amazingly well-behaved children,

I promise you, teachers in my pretend schools, that I will allow you to have at least one solid day a year to. . .
have no students. . .
have no meetings. . .
have no phone calls to  make. . .
have no parents to meet,

I vow that I will allow you to have one solid day to. . .

WORK IN YOUR ROOM!!!!!!!!!

If someone could just wrap this in a bow for me, I would be eternally grateful.  It would be wonderful to have one day where I could just work in my room to complete the million and a half things I just don't have time to do during the day.  You can even lock me in my room so that I can't talk to my colleagues.  I just want a day.  Why can't that ever be worked in to the school year?

I stayed in school until 7 PM tonight working in my room. My friends were gone by 3:00, and then my work really began.  No, I didn't get all my papers graded or my lesson plans for next week done.  Those all came home with me for some weekend fun.  What I spent four hours doing was moving bookcases, tables, desks, taking down bulletin boards, and attempting to reorganize my classroom.  I was extremely successful in creating an even bigger mess which awaits me when I return.  I was somewhat successful in getting all the desks and furniture in place.

Our principal went on a bit of a spending spree and every teacher was able to order some items.  I am getting two new bookshelves and a new kidney table.  Woo Hoo!!!  In addition to that, we are all getting new leveled libraries of about 200 books.  Double Woo Hoo!!!  This means I had to make space.

This is the back wall of my classroom that originally held my class library.  The problem here is there is no room along this wall for the two new bookshelves or the new leveled library.

This was my mish-mosh of a meeting table along the wall perpendicular to the library.  The problem here is twofold.  First, that meeting table is two tables put together.  It's a bit too big, and my friends keep bumping the table so it is always coming apart. The second issue is that this is the area I need to put my class library now. 

So, here's what I did.  I moved some big cabinets to the back of the room creating a space for my meeting table in the back.  Be warned, it's a mess!  This is what it looked like when I left tonight.

Once the table is delivered, I can get rid of the table above and the attached desk.   Here is the table that I'm getting. Yeah, I went with yellow.  Wondering about that now.  It looks so bright in this picture!  I really think the one I picked was a much more mellow yellow.  I'm hoping!

Picture Source

My goal until the new table arrives is to organize my meeting area and make it not only more workable for me, but organized!  I'm going to change the bulletin board paper behind the area to fit from the floor to the height of the cabinets.  It will be a nice little alcove.  I'm also going to look at some cubby type book shelves for the area.  I think it might provide more efficient storage that what I currently have back there.  Whatever I do, I've got to get moving because in the next couple of weeks I have to administer the DRA2 to my friends.  That table will be very busy!

I've been thinking that my room was a bit busy looking lately, so this change has come at a good time. I'm not posting pictures of any other parts of my room right now because, honest to goodness, it looks like a tornado hit it!  Once I have more done, I will post about my new library area and meeting area. 

If you have any tips for pulling this all together or better organizing, please feel free to share!  I'm toying with the idea of changing all my bulletin board backgrounds to one color paper for a less busy look.  Any thoughts?