We are six weeks into this new school year, so I am a little late in getting this post up.  Our theme for this year is camping.  In Technology, students will be going on a “Internet Adventure.”  I wanted to share pictures of my classroom, mainly to bless you once again with my cute grandchildren. By the way, I have added two since the beginning of last year!

I have discovered over the past 12 years of teaching, attention to ORGANIZATION and PROCEDURES are huge stress relievers.  I made two important organization decisions this year over previous years that have already paid huge dividends.  I am equipped with a lab of 28 macbooks.  Most of the computers are about 10 years old, and although they are laptops, they are not holding a charge for long.  I have to have all 28 plugged in. That means 28 cords!  Last year was frustrating because students would have the cords all tangled up by the end of the day.  This year I simply color-coded them with tape.  The number cards are in 5 colors, so students know to match the cord with their color tape closest to the computer with the color on their computer card number.

The next decision involves the Makerspace.  I have all the supplies in buckets that are labeled.  Those buckets sit in stacked crates.  Last year, most students were successful in putting the items back in the correct bucket, but they did not know where the buckets came from.  Great confusion and arguing ensued as a result.  This year, I split the tag that shows the supplies and taped one-half to the bottom portion of the bucket and the other half to the crate itself so it “matches up.”  Result: NO MORE ARGUING about where something belongs.

Here are my “tree trunk” alternative seats.  I love the way they turned out.  The cushions are crocheted from plarn (plastic Walmart bags).