Have you ever moved classrooms?
Have you ever moved classrooms when you have no AC in the summertime?
Have you ever moved classrooms after a long-term sub has been in your room for 2 months?
Have you ever moved classrooms with a 2 month old?
I bet you can see where I’m going here. Well, last Friday, I got to do all of the above. Luckily, I had the help of my awesome hubby since I had to bring little miss along because she’s still eating very frequently (and I also didn’t want to leave her).
So after going out on maternity leave in the middle of April, I stepped back into my classroom last week for the first time.
THIS is what my room looked like at the beginning on the year.
When I walked in on Friday, I was walking into a room where the new teacher has already moved her stuff in (she asked me if this was okay and I said yes) but all of my stuff was still out. And of course, since I wasn’t there for the last 2 months, some things were not where I left them. My sub was fantastic and of course had to make the room her own, which is totally cool. However, I walked in to this room where everything was not where I left it and it was also filled with double the stuff. I was super overwhelmed.
Also, this was my first year at my school, so I wasn’t exactly sure what protocol was. Luckily, I found one of our fabulous custodians and she told me what I had to do. (Which was a good thing because I didn’t realize I had to label everything with my room number. I probably would have lost 1/2 of my stuff!)
So, after a mini-freak out, I got to work.
Here are a couple pictures once we got started. I wish I had taken some when we first got there, but I was feeling super overwhelmed and forgot.
My husband is awesome. While I was stressing and trying to figure out where to begin, he put all of the boxes together for me.
If you’ve been reading my blog or following me on facebook for a while, you probably already know that I <3 books. I might be slightly obsessed… I’ve posted about how to organize your library, how to find cheap books, and even how to make a book hospital for sick books. Well, the picture above is the last of 6 shopping carts full of books that my hubby took to my new room. This was the tiniest load. The rest were over the top of the cart. I think I’m banned for buying more books for a while. :X (FYI, that doesn’t count my professional books, my box of unorganized books, my favorite teacher read alouds, and the 3 bins of books in my attic.)
Luckily, little miss did an excellent job. She’s 2 months old now and is starting to grab and reach for toys. This little giraffe kept her happy most of the time.
So, once the little miss was not so content anymore, I quickly pulled out all of the stuff that needed to be packed up, threw it willy nilly on the desks, and then held her while hubby packed the boxes. He’s seriously the best!
It took about 3-4 hours, but my stuff was finally boxed, labeled, and ready to be moved. I was actually surprised at how little it looked like I had, but all of my books are already in my room, and that’s the majority of my hoard supplies.
We took one last shopping cart of random stuff in my room that I didn’t want someone else to move and risk breaking/loosing. (Your school has shopping carts to move things around too, right? 😉 ) Oh, and THANK goodness for the elevator at my school because I’m moving from the 3rd floor to the basement, and that’s a lot of steps.
Before we left, I had to snap some pictures of my new room. This is the view from the door.The stuff on the left is the previous teacher’s belongings that need to be moved to her new room. Did I mention that about 1/2 the teachers are moving grades/rooms this year? I’m really not sure how I’m setting up my new room. I loved my old room, and had it set up exactly how I wanted it. Now, I have to really think about what I want to do and how I’m going to make the space work.
This is the view from the back wall. (Can you spy my hubby holding my little miss? heehee) This room is still a good size room, but is a little smaller than my last room. I was very spoiled in my old room when it came to size, storage, and technology. However, it was also the hottest room in a school with no AC. Since my new room is in the basement I shouldn’t melt it will be a lot cooler.
I am SO glad to be done. Shout out to the hubs for all of his help. It would have taken forever without him.
Now I’m going to enjoy the next 2 months with my sweet baby girl before I have to go back to work. I am very excited to be moving back to first grade, and I can’t wait to make my new room feel like home, but it is definitely going to be bittersweet to leave my baby in anyone else’s care. I’m pretty sure even Mary Poppins isn’t good enough to watch her. Luckily, I still have plenty of time to enjoy before I have to worry about any of that, so until then, I’m going to enjoy every minute.
Before I go, Wednesday is the last day you can grab this exclusive freebie before it disappears forever. Head on over before it’s too late!
