Back to Work

I went back to my classroom today for the first time since mid-June. As always, I am super excited to get back to work! It's my 13th time doing this, and I have the same feeling when I walk in every single year: overwhelmed! No matter how organized and prepared I think I am when I leave in June, it never fails that I come back in August feeling as if I have a billion things to do. I know that it's not really so bad, and that everything will come together as it always does. But for the first day or two I seem to just walk circles around my classroom, completely spinning my wheels.

This year I will have a brand new team partner, increasing the number of fourth grade teachers at Sycamore Ridge from two to three. This may change the rotation system that Meg and I have enjoyed over the past two years, so I'm not sure yet what subjects I will be teaching.  In addition, we have a new science program, and I will be piloting two different math curricula this year. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on language arts, but there are always new things I want to learn about and try in that area as well. 

But before I can get any of this work started, I need to set up my physical environment. I am a very visual person, and I can not get down to business until my space is organized. I am trying a new desk arrangement this year, and so I spent probably an hour today just shifting desks around. Next, I got the rest of the furniture into place. I then had to settle all of my pictures and stuffed animals back into their pre-summer homes and replace my books and binders on the bookshelves. When I left today, I felt like I had some semblance of order, and I brought a lot of the curriculum planning home with me, where I know I will do it instead of getting distracted by a wayward pile of papers. So, try not to be jealous - I'm off to peruse Harcourt math manuals...