Where the Magic Happens...

For the last few weeks, I've been completely focused on getting the "schoolhouse" ready for the first day (August 16). My goal was to have everything finished by today, so that next week would be all about enjoying the last few days of a most wonderful summer. I was really excited that the blog hop was about the school rooms this week. It feels as though I'm expecting company here in our schoolhouse and I'm so glad you stopped by...
Here we are in the school room. I have been teaching writing classes this summer, so we have an extra table in here that is going to leave in another two weeks, when they end. I'll be glad to see the table go, but not my wonderful students. We have had such a blast together so far!
Each of the kids has a desk and a pinboard. I got these desks at Target last year for a really great price and I love the chairs from Ikea!
I got these at Ikea, too, in the kitchen area. I LOVE how accessible the kids' supplies are and they stay organized pretty easily. Man, I've got a real problem with school supplies. I will NOT be opening the cupboard to display just how many packs of crayons, pens, pencils and glue sticks I bought. You know you've got a problem when you can't sleep on Saturday night in anticipation of Sunday morning's Staples flyer in the paper.
I grabbed a few "Command" hooks and hung our Poster Center on the side of my armoire. Big kid posters up top and the Pre-K posters down below (although I'm sure they'll crossover).
The kids' old cubbies find themselves on top of a table that was a FREE cast-off from a J. Crew store that was closing in our area. Curriculum that needs to be kept close at hand is stored here.
This table is also where we will do centers. You can see some of the "centers" file folders I mentioned in my previous post on the lower shelf. One set of workboxes is also to the left of the table. The other ones are up from by my table. The LAST thing I need to do before we officially start is to organize the filing crates down below...ugh...paper...my nemesis!
I love that the glider found new life in the reading corner. I just got these cool chairs for the kids at Walmart for $19 each. I'd love to make cute covers for them one day, but the black is fine for now. These are definitely a step up from the Pottery Barn Anywhere Chairs that were there before. My kiddos would flop over backwards in them and I'm sure you can imagine how engaged they were in reading from that point on.
The old computer now plays the games that are not supported by our Mac.
This is Carlos! Carlos is the perfect example of why we do what we do. My oldest is so creative. One day he found a bent hanger and I could see the wheels in his head start turning. He grabbed tape, construction paper, scissors, googly eyes, rubber bands and enlisted the help of his sister. The two of them were busy at our kitchen table for a solid hour, plotting and problem solving. The end result of their efforts is Carlos, the duck. He is starting to fade, but he is absolutely priceless to me!
One last look out from where I sit. The overhead projector is my baby...and as I mentioned earlier, teacher habits die hard. I'm so excited to have one again!
I hope you all enjoyed seeing our schoolhouse. Guaranteed it won't be this neat for long. Look, my little guy is already moving posters around! :)