And the white boards were hung by the maintenance crew with care...

School starts tomorrow! I'm so excited. I feel like a kid. The first day of school's something I've always looked forward to but this year it's extra special. Special because I have my own classroom again, it's a new group of students and I'm in a very new place. Lots of newness.

The newness continues with my classroom. Last year it housed the elementary computer lab. Due to the large size of our classes this year* , the two third grade classrooms were moved to two rooms with larger space. The other room was previously the elementary school science lab*.

I was thrilled when I heard that EAB made this decision. It demonstrated to me that they put students' needs first and they thought out of the box by reorganizing some of the classroom spaces.

So, when I arrived 2 weeks ago, the journey of creating my new space began. Here's what I walked into on Day 1.

To say it was a bit overwhelming was an understatement. As you know, I'm a girl who thrives on organization. I may have a lot of stuff but what I have I need and want.

There were many LARGE boxes to sort through. Previous teachers' materials, maps that included the Soviet Union, duplos, faded posters and so on. I worked a bit each day on things and after about 2 days it looked like this.

Then I came to school for most of Saturday afternoon. The room finally felt like it was coming together. The tables actually were in groups, the boxes were mostly gone. Ahhhh. I was living the good life!
EAB has completed over $1million in renovations and updates this summer. New gym, new classroom spaces, all new computers (school-wide), a renovated Early Childhood playground which will have sprinklers to beat the heat and so much more. As metioned earlier, my room was one of the renovations made. And I also mentioned my classroom used to be the elementary school's computer lab. This meant my room housed the school's server (see in corner of picture).

Originally the server was going to remain in my room until Winter Break then it would be moved to a nearby storage room. Well, the timeline was pushed forward and Monday (2 days ago) several men spent the entire day moving the server. I was so thrilled to have the server moved but it was a huge undertaking. After the server was moved, the wall where it was located needed to be plastered and painted. Due to all the painting and plastering and drilling there was dust everywhere.

When you're in a new place, your home and for me my classroom are 2 things I can control...well, a bit. Now my room was in total disaray and I felt it looked like I took about 2 giant leaps backwards. Ahhhhhhh! Monday night, after a nap, chats with friends, the Goo and my parents, I knew everything would be fine.

And today by 6:00 it was. My room has been swarmed by all of EAB's amazing maintenance workers in the past 72 hours. The electrician, the painter, "general" maintenance who hung my dry erase and bulletin boards. And a lot of their help was managed by my wonderful classroom assistant Miguel. So with all of their help and my blood, sweat and just a few tears...here's my room...

It's a blank canvas ready to share all of the learning my students and I have together this year. For those of you in the states who are teachers, it's a little perspective. In your final few weeks when you're worried about it all coming together, know that it'll be fine. And I can say that honestly from a girl who had an entire server ripped from her walls, was covered in dust and wound up with a beautiful and simple space.
All teachers can relate to that feeling when your room is ready and you're just so thrilled to meet your students. But something that I don't think I've ever experienced is 2 additional highs that add to your feelings. The first for me was the note below.

Craig is my school's headmaster. The closest U.S. comparision I could give is a school district's superintendent. I was planning with my teammate when Craig stopped he left me the note. On the day before school begins, he's just as busy as I am, but he took time out to visit each of the new teachers. How wonderful is that? It's truly the little things that make your day.

Speaking of little things, while I was finalizing my lesson plans I looked up from my desk and saw this...the moon. It's just about full rising above our playground. Doesn't get much better than that.

* Teacher Side Note: Large class size at EAB is 22. Due to the large size of the 3rd grade classes I also have my own classroom assistant, Miguel. He's wonderful and I'm thrilled to have the extra help. Not trying to rub it in, just the facts.