It's good to finally be back to my little blog :) I've been away a long time.
This past year has been quite different for us. My mother-in-law broke her hip in May (2018) so we moved for the summer an hour and a half north to be with her. I started school back at the same school I'd taught at for a very long time. As I began setting up my classroom, the opportunity came to switch roles and be a Literacy Specialist, working with small groups of kids K-3 on just reading. It was an opportunity for a change and a time to really focus on my skills teaching reading. I applied for the position but had to go ahead and set up my first grade classroom. I taught in it for 7 days. It was very strange setting up a classroom yet not planning on staying in it.
So 7 days into the school year I packed up and moved schools to be a Literacy Specialist. (More about that and what I learned in another post.)
When I arrived the room looked like this- I was horrified!
Do you see that duct tape on the carpet?! Needless to say, the room needed a serious and complete makeover! I had just created a classroom decor set, didn't use it since I was planning to switch schools, so her came the opportunity to decorate like I wanted to just on a smaller scale. I shared the room with the math coach. There wasn't a reason to use everything I made but these alphabet posters were perfect!
Here's how it turned out:
The colors were exactly what I wanted, my little space was roomy but cozy. The Let's Read banner helped show off my focus wall and the Learning Objective posters I created helped me and my kiddos keep focused.
Being a Literacy Specialist was such a fun thing to do! It was a HUGE change from the regular classroom. I'd also never taught 3rd grade either which was the primary group I worked with.
But... I was driving 90 minutes each way to work every day. Over Christmas vacation, a position teaching K-1 came up in a different district close to my mother-in-law and my mom and brother too. My husband and I made the decision for me to apply for the job and to make our move permanent. The interview went well, I got the job, packed up my 2nd classroom in the 2018-19 school year and moved. Again.
Fate is a funny thing. I love my new school so much! We love living in the town we both grew up in. Again. After 23 years. It seems all the challenges led us to a change that was meant to be. You know that saying
Well that seems to be very true in this situation. I'll be back soon to post some Small Group Reading Ideas & Strategies very soon.
If you'd like to pick up the classroom decor set you saw in the pictures, just {CLICK HERE}.
Leave a comment below and let me know you stopped by!
Thanks for visiting!
Have a wonderful day!
Wow! You've been busy, Chrissy.
ReplyDeleteYour room looks great!
I'm glad it all turned out well in the end.