The Remodel

BIG changes to our classroom today... the back pod talked up a storm again this morning, so right before lunch I had them change from a pod to a straight line. Once one pod did it, the rest of the class slowly followed in wanting to try it. So now we have three staggered rows instead of square pods. It gives more room around the tables and is actually easier to maneuver around the room. Although, that could be because of the next big idea the girls had at lunchtime.

First came the complaining about where they were going to put their crates now that we're in rows. Before, they'd set them to the sides of their desks for easy reaching, but now that the desks are next to each other, they have to put them behind their chairs... not nearly so handy. "Miss H, we should get lockers!" Mr. E and I had just talked about that the other day: too noisy. Of course the girls had a counterargument.

Then one of them lit up with an idea, "Gasp! We could put our crates out in the coatroom!" The third and fourth grade class has crates in their coatroom to keep their stuff organized (and crates in their room too, I believe), so it wasn't an earth-shattering idea, but they were excited nonetheless, especially when they realized their crates would fit perfectly on the shelf above the hooks.

So, the girls spent their recess reorganizing their crates so nothing would fall out when they're stacked on the shelf. The boys weren't too happy about it (because some of the girls took over the space above their hooks). At second recess, the girls convinced the boys to switch hooks with them so the girls could be right under their crates. None of the boys want to move their crates to the coatroom. One boy is being stubborn and refuses to trade spots with the girls (hence the open space). The girls have grand plans of changing out their books at their lockers during the day. Hopefully it lives up to their expectations. I know one thing for sure; I'm not going to just let them go out there anytime they want to grab stuff. If it's like a real locker system, they can only go out between classes. We'll see how it goes.

In other news, it sounds like bad weather ahead for the Fine Arts Festival. Already the planners are thinking about postponing it until next Saturday. I honestly wouldn't mind. We could use a few more days to practice our songs. Tomorrow night we play bells for the Ash Wednesday service. Those songs are decent-sounding. One needs a bit more work. We have practice again tomorrow and should have it polished up by the end of the day.