A Room For One

My room is ready for . . . me.  

I don't have a homeroom class this year, so I don't have to set-up my room for students.  However, I did.  Sort of.   Last year, I began to think my room was a bit too bright.  I had a lot of different bulletin board colors and borders going on, multi-colored baskets galore, and a bunch of big and bright polka dots on my window.  This year, my plan was to tone it all down a bit.  I wanted to have one color bulletin boards with the same border and some color unity throughout the room.  I was even going to break the bank and buy all new baskets in one color for my class library.  Then, I found out that I was going to be a push-in basic skills teachers.  Since there wouldn't be a class of students living in my room this year, I toned down the plans a bit a lot.  Take a look!

This is the view of the front of my room.  I moved my meeting table up to the front because I think I will probably be pulling some friends to the room for small group instruction sometimes.  Notice all my bulletin boards are sky blue and have the same cute triangle border.  I love it!  It might look a bit boring, but if I had a class in here they would be filled with student work which would provide plenty of interest.

From this view, you can see I went with blue shelf curtains.  Last year, it was lime green!  I went with blue this year for some unity.  It also hides the ugly copy boxes filled with my teacher books that are sitting on the shelves.  In the picture below, you can see that I did keep my colorful dots on the windows.  I think because the rest of the room is toned down a bit, they pop more.  And yes, those are the desks that will sit empty this year. :-(   

But, it's not all pretty blues.  Here's the back of the room with all the empty boxes I didn't need to unpack this year.  I'm not even going to show you the other side of my room with the four empty bookshelves.  It makes me sad to think about all my books packed away in boxes.  :-(

As I'm writing this post, I was asked, "Why would anyone want to see your empty classroom?"  Well, I don't know!  But, I do know I love seeing other teachers' classrooms.  It's kind of like sneaking a peak in someone's house when you walk by at night and the shades are up and the lights are on!  I admit, I totally do that!  Looking at the pictures above, it does seem like a very plain and boring room but I don't really have a need to put up anything right now.

If you click over, you can see my room set-up from last year. Holy cow, the crazy colors!  I loved it at the time, but I'm ready for my calming blues this year.  If you click over and look at the pictures, take note of the book baskets.  When I have my own homeroom again (hopefully next year!) I am definitely going to invest in new baskets in a single color.

On a happy note, remember when I telling you about the rolling cart I ordered for my travels from room to room this year?  Well, it came and I love it.  So many compartments to fill for my organizational OCD!  Or, as the saying goes, my CDO where the letters are in order AS THEY SHOULD BE!!   :-D

Loving those compartments.  This cart will be perfect for holding the papers, books, and supplies I need as I visit my friends throughout the day.  By the way, check out that close-up of the border.  Isn't it cute?  Gets all my crazy colors in without being overwhelming.

So, there you have it.  My room for one! 

A Question For You:  Have you ever looked around your room and decided something needed a major do-over for the next year?  This year for me it was toning down all the bright colors.  What was it for you?