Going Inside the Building

Today was great! The superintendent of the district opened up the building for employees to come in and look around, which means I got to see my classroom for the first time! Yipee! The outside of the school is just beautiful.  I only got pictures of my classroom, but if you are interested in looking at the floorplans, etc of the building, they are at www.gcdsd.org and you will see a place to click for anything you may want.  My classroom is on the second floor. 

 

Floor plan picture taken from www.gcdsd.org with arrow and text "my classroom" added by me.

 

Now remember, I will be teaching 2nd grade.  The floor plan says that my classroom is a 3rd grade room, but they had to add extra 1st grade classrooms (and kindergarten I think?) so everything down stairs kind of got shifted over, and thus I got shifted up.  When my prinicipal told me that I was going to be in the upstairs room, she said that she had put me upstairs as opposed to one of the other 2nd grade teachers because I had a year of experience while the other new hire is fresh out of college.  So by putting me upstairs, the new teacher and the veteran teacher will be right next to each other.  This makes it easier on the new teacher for if she needs help.  This made me feel good, like she trusts me to be on my own.  

Being upstairs though kind of messes with the plans of the school.  Down stairs, each classroom has a set of cubbies in the hallway for students use (store their coats, lunches, backpacks, etc).  Upstairs, there are lockers set up in the same way and for the same use for those classrooms.  With the original plan of 3rd grade and higher being upstairs being changed by having me up there with them, my 2nd graders may be required to use the lockers.  I talked to the superintendent about it, and he said that there will need to be a conversation about whether my students will go down stairs and use cubbies or use the lockers assigned to the room we are in.  After thinking about it, I think I would prefer to have the students stay upstairs and use lockers, but we will see. 

Now I will show you my classroom!  Here is a panoramic shot of my classroom.

I am calling this my "teacher wall".  On top of the white shelves will be two white boards that will slide hiding the storage area behind it.  With those, there will be an interactive projector.  Also, in each classroom there is a microphone/speaker system.  I will get to wear a microphone around my neck so I will not have to speak as loudly and I can save my voice.  This will be a life saver for those days where I may have lost my voice due to a sore throat or something.

 

Along this wall, there is a sink and additional storage.  There is also a built in counter to be used for student computer centers.  (In this picture, you can kind of see the lockers outside of the classroom in the hall that I was talking about earlier). The room is about 2/3 carpet and 1/3 linoleum.  

Ok, so this isn't actually my wall.  This picture came from a 1st grade room downstairs, but you may notice in the panoramic shot that one wall is completely empty minus the items leaning up against it.  When everything is all finished, this is what that wall will look like.  The middle is a white board (the dots are part of the big sticker that is on the board protecting it before it is used) and then two bulletin boards on either side.  The wall that these are on is a "self-healing" wall, so it won't show holes from staples or thumb tacks after they are removed.

My favorite part of my classroom is the view! It is just stunning.  Here is a picture of what I will see whenever I look out my window in my classroom:

Ignore the nasty eyesore of the half torn down building...but I must pause for a moment and shed a tear in honor of my old high school...Ok, now looking past that, you can see the beautiful Grand Coulee Dam.  This picture doesn't even do it justice as to how well I can see the dam, but it is just magnificent.  I have the best view in the building, and I even thanked my principal for giving me such a gorgeous location. 

I was never a teacher in the old building, but some things I was told today about how this building is so much better include:

• Windows that open
• A/C that works
• Tiled floor in the classrooms (this was about 50/50 on whether teachers liked this or not)
• A huge library (and I mean HUGE!)

 While there, I also got to see some of the furniture that I will get.  My classroom will have desks (yay!).  These are not the traditional desks that you would think of though.  These desks are trapezoid shaped, so that means that they will fit together in multiple different arrangements for groups. 

So I am super excited about my classroom.  As of today, we were told that everything was on schedule to have the building opened to teachers and staff starting on September 2, that's just 18 days away!

While I was there, I also go to meet other teachers, including the veteran 2nd grade teacher. She was really nice and even gave me her phone number so I can call or text her if I needed help with anything. 

Update

It has been a while since my last post, so here are some updates about Jackson: he has started fully crawling (no flopping) and pulling himself up to a standing position, he understands the word "no" and cries when ever we say it to him, and he has really attached himself to Alex's parents and now cries whenever they leave the room.  He is no longer sleeping through the night.  This part sucks, but since Alex is here to help me, it makes it OK.

Alex and I have come to an arrangement for deciding who has to get up with Jackson and when.  We take turns who gets up with him in the morning and the other person gets to sleep in. The person that gets to sleep in is the one that has to get up with Jackson if he wakes up in the middle of the night. Its been pretty good recently because he will only wake up once and it is normally before Alex or I actually fall asleep.

Updates on teaching:  I have signed and turned in my contract, which means I am officially an employee of the Grand Coulee Dam School District! Yay!  I also got an email a few days ago about the new building.  I will get to tour it on August 15, and then (assuming all goes as planned) I will be able to start setting up my classroom starting on September 2, with the first day of school being September 15.  I couldn't be more excited.  Its weird to think though that if I were still in Alaska working at my old school, I would be returning to work tomorrow, meaning my summer would be over.  Thank goodness I have another month plus to spend at home with my baby boy!

Update on Alex:  Alex has been offered a position as a Journeyman Electrician at a company in Moses Lake (about 1.5 hour commute).  Unfortunately he can't begin working there until he gets his Journeyman card for Washington State which can take a very, VERY long time.  Ugh.  I guess its good though because it means that he and I get to spend our days together with Jackson.

I joined a mommy group.  So far I have gone to Spring Canyon (local swimming location on Lake Roosevelt) with them.  While there, I got to meet the man that teacher P.E. and Weights at the high school.  It was nice talking with him about what teachers are still around and who have retired.

Well, that was a lot, but I figured I should update you all.  Hopefully I will get on again soon and keep it up to date, but right now I can hear Jackson being to stir, so thanks for reading, and I will update soon!