I spent a week at the end of June cleaning out my classroom, going through lots of memories and possessions that have accumulated over the past 14 years. When I started at this school, I had a small room with one table, a second grader sized desk with my computer on it, a filing cabinet full of other people's old files and a huge bookshelf filled with leveled readers. Because of declining enrollment and the wonders of time, I have a HUGE classroom filled with all kinds of things, some of which I use every day and many that I do not.
Add to that my impressive collection of math literature and some of the professional development books I have read (I confess to also having a coffee table at home full of these!) I had a lot of things to go through. I will be following almost all the students and some staff members up the road a few miles to a larger school where I will be working with more teachers and many more students. Because this school is getting a large influx of kids all at once, they are creating several more classrooms which means my space will be a tiny room (it's not a closet because it has a window into the hallway!) that I will be sharing with a literacy specialist. This meant I had to a DRAMATIC downsizing of my possessions. I really pared things down to the things I use every day, the math literature books I look forward to reading to kids the most, the professional development books that I am always lending to other teachers and the math manipulatives, games and cards that give me the most bang for my buck.
Starting sometime this week, I will be going into the new school to get things set up and will be sharing with you some of my favorite things (aka the things I kept!). If you have a small budget, are just getting started or are looking to downsize, these posts will be must reads for you!
I also have been working on lots of posts and a free ebook on math boxes. I haven't shared much here on the blog about math boxes because there is so much to say and I have never been able to put a post together that says all the things but they are something we have been using every day over the past 5 years and they really saved us during the switch to online learning. They are also a personal possession of kids and are used by one student so they are something that will work well for this crazy school year we have coming at us. I have so much to say and share that I am working on a free ebook called Getting Started with Math Boxes. I REALLY want this ready to share with teachers and parents during the back to school season but you know real life gets in the way sometimes. I am working on it in the in between hours when my kids are occupied or sleeping but after 4+ months home together 24/7 I get less time to work on my projects than I would like!
I also just announced that my first book, the Complete Multiplication Workbook is ready for pre-sale and anyone who orders it before August 3rd will get a free copy of my very popular Multiplication Fact Deck and Activity Set. You can check out all the details in this post!
It has been 14 years since I have changed schools and I am doing it during a pandemic. Nothing like lots of change at once! I know there are not really pandemic experts out there yet but I bet some of you have a lot of advice for teachings changing schools. I would love it if you could share some of that advice in the comment section below!
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