De-Clutter and Breathe Again

I spent all day Saturday at school de-cluttering my classroom.  Wow!  I felt a huge sigh of relief when I walked out of the room before heading home.  It's that time of year when we have exhausted all efforts in creating a warm, inviting, nurturing environment for our students to flourish in.  By now I know what's important to them and me!  We started last week like it was the first week of school.  First we took surveys to determine what areas of our classroom was most important, what seating was preferred (I have used tables, desks, slanted writing centers, etc for various seating options this year.), and what subjects were favored.  Our class decided the writing center was most favored, desks were preferred over tables, reading area was valued, and the SMART board was important too!  Then the rearranging began.  Students moved tables, chairs, desks, and other miscellaneous clutter to create the learning environment they craved.  The end result was fantastic!  On Saturday, I went in to finalize some of the minor details (such as needed supplies readily available in each area, new nameplates with first and last names, and a few new accessories), but most importantly I removed ALL of the piles that had gathered from teaching since winter break.  I hope they are just as excited as I am to start the last chapter of this school year.

PS  Now if I can just get the listening center funded, that would be a wonderful surprise for them:)