Let me backpedal a bit...

Okay, so blogs are so much easier to maintain during lazy summer days.  Seriously, I have been so busy I have not even read anyone else's blogs either!  ***GASP***  However, it does help that my husband is out of town for a week, so I am going to have some extra downtime to go blogtastic on you!

Well, I'm certainly not going to sit here and share every last detail of my life since my last post, even though I know you would skip all the way through the post and only look at pictures read every last word.  So, I will simply break apart a few pieces of the past couple of weeks in a couple of different posts to update!

First of all... I have a job, and that is GREAT.  Our school board was in a financial battle with the county commission, and it's been such a bumpy ride.  We finally started school a week and a half after the original start date.  Unfortunately, the budget was not accepted, and so we have had to face massive cutbacks across the county.  It's very disheartening to see our commissioners ignore the pleas of our community (you know... the ones who voted them into that position in the first place) to help support the financial needs of our schools.  We are extremely underfunded, especially compared to comparable school systems across the state.  I am so grateful to see have seen our Director of Schools stand up for what is most important: our students.  After all of the madness, we are still waiting to see what jobs will be cut over the next month or so, but we believe that our school is secure as it is a smaller elementary school and those will be the last to have to make cuts. 

One positive out of the delay was that teachers had extra time to prepare our classrooms.  (Which is what makes me laugh because there are some people that think we shouldn't have been paid for those days we were out.... How many teachers worked anyway!?)  Though my room is never finished, this is what my classroom ended up becoming before the kiddos have come and exploded all over it!

This is the door into my classroom.  I have a movie theme, so my first grade stars got to take a walk on the red carpet as they entered!

Here's the classroom as a whole...  Scary crowded... So many things in a small space!!!  Make it work, people!

Computers:  One that's up and running.  Two that are only monitors.  Thanks to budget cuts, it makes it so difficult for us to get technology in the classroom!  There is also my puzzle/game station, shelf full of books that looks like madness, and the backside of my classroom library.  I want to get some fabric to cover some of that up!  Take notice of the behavior chart with numbered clips for my Red Carpet Ready friends!

Big Book station on the left, Book Nook in the background.  It's for reading under the stars with the "stars" of children's stories (Clifford, Arthur, Curious George, etc).

A better look at Book Nook. 

Close up of the book organization.  On the right are my tubs organized by author, character, topic, and theme.  On the bottom are the leveled books that the students can choose from during station time. 

This is the cubby area/listening station ("Hearing Clearing").  I don't have storage in my room so you get to see all my junk on top of the shelves!  Don't look at it.  Seriously.  Stop.

Cabinet with as much little crafty-junk crammed in as humanly possible and Word Wall/Word Work station.

Carpet time... Hardly any room for my white board, but I make it work.  This is where I keep my Popcorn Words (Spelling words), sight words, weekly poem, etc.

Calendar time and shelves with materials I use throughout the day

On the left is my Math shelf (that I'm trying to hide) with manipulatives on the bottom.  Then you have my station board with Art Mart station underneath and the Write Site table on the right.

This year I decided to get rid of my desk and use my Reading Group table instead in order to save space.  I am FREAKING OUT with how on earth I am going to keep it clean enough to also have students sitting around totally organized and able to keep all things straight and orderly so that the Reading Group table is an inviting environment for my precious little ones.  Don't let the mess in the back trick you into thinking that's plenty of space for my junk.  Do you know how many piles of papers and randomness end up on my desk by the end of the day?!

Well... that's my room!  Some of it has been tweaked already, but I'm not gonna retake all of those pictures to show you.  So... deal.  

Let the chaos begin!