My Classroom

The first day of school is upon us and my room is (basically) all set.

Here are a few views of my classroom:

Student Desks

I have 6 sets of 5 with class sizes ranging from 14 (very low level, mostly special education students) to 26 students. I've got these all set with composition notebooks and handouts for the first day for my first class.

My Desk Area

And I have a nice counter behind my desk where where I organize things, keep my tea thermos & have plants.

Absent students

This is always a challenge. You are trying to get class started and a student comes up to you and asks what they missed when they were absent yesterday. I point to this hanging file holder. There is a hanging file for each class. When a student is absent I put any worksheets (with their name on it and the date they missed, more than one sheet is paperclipped together) in their block. I might also put a post-it note on the worksheets with a reminder to take a quiz or get ISN notes from someone.

The bins to the right of the absent files are for extra worksheets or materials from any given class. I always copy extra so they go here until the end of the unit. Then they get recycled (or in the case of ISN materials I save them in a folder in a drawer for that unit).

ORGANIZING!

Also on my counter are some things for organizing. This blue organizer has my paper in it. There are slots (on the left) containing different types of graph paper, plain white paper and lined paper. On the right I have some copied ISN materials for the first day (table of contents and a ton of Frayer diagrams on the bottom right). On top are photocopied inserts for the ISN. On the right are ones I'll use for Algebra One and on the left for PreCalculus. I did ISNs in my classes last year so know what I'll be using for the first unit in both so made the copies before the copy machines got overworked and jammed (happens every year at the start of school). 

Next to this is a clear area for my ISN supplies. Since I have six tables of groups of desks I have six baskets, one for each "table". Students learn pretty quickly to grab their basket if it is not already on their table, especially if they see "TOC" on the white board (table of contents). And they return them to this spot at the end of the block.

I organize my paper for ISN foldables in hanging folders, genius idea! Thank you (Sarah? not sure where I saw this last year).


My class set of graphing calculators also go in a draw in this bin that clearly labels each calculator with a number. Each student has a calculator number they can borrow (although we only have twenty calculators and most of my classes are over twenty. But there are always a number of students who bring their own and don't have to sign one out).


Graphing calculators are sadly the extent of our technology these days. I am going to try to incorporate desmos in my classroom this year, but I don't have a smart board to do this, only an LCD for projecting images.