Back to School

I've been slacking on posting to my blog because it's been a crazy two weeks. Back to school has completely consumed my life and I'm eating, breathing, and sleeping anything that has to do with high school. I wanted to make sure I gave myself at least some time this weekend to blog about Back to School. Here's a timeline of events.

August 5th: Have a meeting at school & pick up keys for my classroom. Take a sneak peak at my room. Everything appears to be as I left it.

The walkway to my portable.

Okay, maybe it looked a little bit worse than I remember.

August 6th: Begin moving ALL of the class materials I had in the guest room of my house into my classroom. Take a break and go to a meeting. During the meeting I ask our school's IT guy to check the computers in my room so that they will be up and running for Back to School. IT guy tells me he found mold in my classroom over the summer and I shouldn't be in there. I ask IT guy why there isn't a sign. I return to my room to check and sure enough find green mold all over my student desks. Go home grumpy.

Going home.

August 7th: Stop in my classroom to pick up some things. While I'm in there, the sign is placed on my door. I am later told that my room was a "petri dish all summer" and the district was supposed to be out last week to clean my classroom but it should be happening "soon." Go home sulking.

Advanced warning not necessary.

August 8th: District comes to clean my room. Classroom is cleaner than ever!!!! I spend 5 hours with my dad's fiance's wonderful daughter setting up my classroom. I decide to take a break over the weekend.

She is just as OCD as I am with straight lines & organization.

August 11th-August 15th: Pre-school week. Meetings. Trainings. Finish classroom and planning for first week of school.

My desk.

My "area." You can see my Teacher Tool Box on the shelf & all of my organized binders :)

My quote wall and my Student Station where students pick up their daily warm ups, absent work, get missing work slips & fill out the Missing Work binder.

My dinosaur computers & projects from last year's "To Kill a Mockingbird" unit.

My "Wildcat Best" wall where exceptional student work will be hung. My bins where student work is turned in. Independent Reading Journals and Writing Portfolios organized by period.

The Information board. Surrounded by the common core standards for ELA grade 10.

Can be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/9-10th-Grade-Common-Core-ELA-Standards-Posters-Polka-Dot-Print-303167

My finished product! 

August 18: First day of school!

I'm hoping to post on Sunday night about my first week of school, including the curriculum and tools I've used. I was so nervous about my new students and how they would adapt to my classroom rules and procedures but so far absolutely everything has turned out even better than I expected. Plus, I've received overwhelming positivity from finding out that I have students that I had in 9th grade last year to finding out that my seniors last year have been accepted to college and even positive feedback on my first week of lessons from my new students. I can tell that this year is going to be a great one!