Moving classrooms is a challenge. At first I was pretty sure I wanted to keep my first grade room and transform that into our new elementary STEAM makerspace.
I created a list of pros and cons for moving and staying. In the end moving made more sense. Ultimately I needed to SHIFT my thinking from being a first grade teacher to a K-5 STEAM teacher. I was certain that moving would help me do that. Additionally, it would allow me to touch EVERY SINGLE THING in the room and determine what moves with me, what stays, and what is donated/sold (I only donated/sold things owned by me, of course!).
The process of moving took three full days. I also prepped and painted the new space. My principal helped paint! I ordered cardboard letters for our makerspace STEAM wall title. The metal letters came from Hobby Lobby. The cardboard cut outs are from Woodland Manufacturers, which I later spray painted.I also started collecting STEAM room supplies during this time. It’s not uncommon for me to now enter the space and find a pile of donated supplies. It’s pretty much like Christmas every week in our STEAM makerspace room! Overall, designing the space was a lot of fun! It’s still work in progress, but soon I’ll put up a room tour video post.
I’ve always cut composition notebooks in half four my first graders. Cutting 10 notebooks in half for a class of 20 first graders is nothing compared to cutting over 200 notebooks in half for 415-ish STEAM students! I tired of the process about half way through and enlisted the help of our middle school Tech Ed teacher (THANK You, Jerry!!!).
Have a fabulous day, teacher-friends!
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