Well, I did it. Over the last week and a bit, I have been practically living in my classroom but the results are finally ready for your viewing pleasure. The room isn't completely de-cluttered. I have a few things that are a bit difficult to physically dispose of (I'm not being sentimental - they just don't fit in the rubbish!) but the end result is a HEAP OF SPACE. You'll see what I mean as you scroll through the pictures.
Enjoy.
Welcome to Room 34, home of Te Whakarewatanga! This is how the room looked when the students (and parents) walked in on the first day.
From the same position, here is the front instructional area and my
dumping ground desk. Each whiteboard slides across to reveal more shelving. More on that in a minute.
Disclaimer: this is my desk BEFORE THE SCHOOL YEAR BEGAN. You can tell because the wood surface of the desk is visible. Currently, it is a tad embarassing since Hurricane Week-One has ripped through and this area looks sadly chaotic. I'll get to that next week...maybe.
We've moved from the back now, standing by the Smart Board and looking back to the main entrance. Aren't those desks nicely lined up? I bet they look like that at the end of each day, right?
Not!
And now back to the front. These are the shelves that are revealed behind the board closest to my desk. Let me give you a tour:
First floor: Newsprint and Black Construction Paper
Second Floor: Paint, Glue / Coloured Cardstock, Laminating Sleeves
Third Floor: Student Stationary Sets, Wool (???) / Orange, Yellow, Blue Paper
Fourth Floor: MY Stationary, Stapler, Whiteboard Markers / Red, Orange, Green Paper.
I mentioned Student Stationary Sets. Here's a close-up of the "Can o' Cut n' Paste". Inside, are 3 scissors and three gluesticks.
And these are the "Can o' Drawing's". As the picture explains, each contains 12 colouring pencils, 6 drawing pencils, 3 rulers, 1 sharpener, and 1 rubber. I have four of each of these can sets to spread them around the class.
The coloured paper is sorted in these collapsable shelves. They lay like this to let the whiteboard slide shut...
...And pull open like this when I need access. It was a lucky coincidence that the collapsable shelves fit behind the board.
Finally, this is what I was hinting at above when I said there was a heap of space. When all is said and done, I ended up with all of this space available for later use.
Well, that's all for today's tour. I hope you liked what you saw and for those of you who commented on how beautiful the dark walls and white trim was, I hope I didn't let you down. This has been our introductory week and next week the students start timetabled study full tilt. That means they will be leaving me for most of the week and I will have two other classes coming around as well. When this week is over, I might be singing a different song but for now, I feel really organised and prepared to help my students learn.
See you there!
Finally, this is what I was hinting at above when I said there was a heap of space. When all is said and done, I ended up with all of this space available for later use. 
