downsizing.

For the last two years, I had this HUGE classroom. Perfect for 26 five-year-olds.
That classroom is now going to be a second grade classroom, and I'm moving downstairs.
To the dungeon.
No, really.
It's a dungeon. It even looks like one.
As if moving to the dungeon isn't bad enough, the new classroom I'm moving to is HALF the size of my old one.
And I'll still have the same amount of kids as normal. 25-26.
I've stressed over it, cried over it, complained about it, and argued with my principal about it. I lost the argument. I'm moving downstairs.
I normally don't set up my classroom this early in the summer, but since my new room is so much smaller, I was worried about everything fitting.
So I dragged my mom to school the other day to help me rearrange my furniture. I'm going to wait to hang up decorations and stuff, but this is what I've got so far.

This is the view from the door.

My desk/small group area. Because of the size of the room, I had to forego an actual desk this year.

Back wall of the room.

A few of my student tables and my library.

View from the back corner of the wall looking toward the door.

Now, the part of the classroom that REALLY bothers me is the ceiling. There are tons of pipes and air ducts just chilling all over the place. It keeps the room from looking like an actual classroom, and just industrializes the space...in my opinion anyway. 

Yuck. So I'm spending the rest of my summer coming up with ways to decorate the room to make it feel "home-y." Once I lay my rug down, I think it will help. I'm going to get a few more lamps too, because the less fluorescent lighting, the better. Since I have to spend AT LEAST a year in this space, I want to make it as comfortable a space as possible. It'll be awhile before I head back to decorate, but I'll post some pictures when I do.

xoxo, wife.