First things, first...

Our last day of school was Wednesday.  What a week!  Since I will be changing grade levels next year, I decided to offer my students and their families the option to loop with me to third grade.  I wrote a letter explaining the benefits of looping and that I understood that it is not the best fit for all families, then gave them the choice.  Although placing students for the upcoming year is NEVER set in stone in my district, my principal is willing to honor the parents' decision to loop with me and about half have chosen to stay with me one more year.  Yay!

That being said, I now realize that I have-in a way-created more work for myself!  I will not be moving classrooms, but I need to make my classroom environment appear like it is a whole new world!  I have decided on a new theme and will rearrange my bulletin boards. I am rethinking my desk arrangements, and, if I can make it work, I would like to make some other arrangement changes as well.  My room is wide and shallow, so placing students in a position where they can see and learn differently is a bit of a challenge! My brain has been working overtime for almost three weeks now! Then...I spent a majority of Thursday and Friday in my classroom!

To make all these changes, I needed to first do some serious weeding of the garden.
I CLEANED, PEOPLE!
I cleaned out cabinets.
I cleaned off shelves.
I threw away old materials.
I recycled many papers.
I sang "Let It Go!" on continuous loop!  Elsa would be proud!
Several full size trash cans later and as many of recycled papers/teacher workbooks--my shelves are clear.  All of my hard work and organization of second grade materials are put away behind my white board and I am ready to begin anew!

Note the extra space, empty boxes, and sticky notes?
That's because I'm not sure yet how I want these theme boxes organized.

These shelves are mostly empty!
The extra items are there because we have to
clean off the tops of everything for summer cleaning.  

Bring on third grade!

On Sunday I made a plan.  I organized my personal planner, made a list of things to get done before we go back in 6 weeks, and prepared my new Plan Book.
Yes, I create my own!  It works for me! More about that at another time.
Blogging will keep me accountable and I always welcome suggestions.