Moving Day into My New Classroom!

So it finally had to happen.  I had to take ALL of my things from FMS and move them to my new classroom.  I have been dreading this day since, well forever.

Caitlyn (my former neighbor at school) always said that whenever she needed anything, she would come to me because I had EVERYTHING!  I like to be prepared, what can I say. The packing process was miserable.  I did it over 3 days.

Day 1
It was more of a 'search and rescue.'  I went to school to survey what I needed.  I had some boxes and I found out the cold heart truth was that those boxes just weren't enough.  In addition, I ran out of packing tape.  So I packed what I could and walked away.

Day 2
This was a serious packing day.  I needed to get my butt in gear and make some progress.  The hurdle I found on this day was that I wanted to keep everything.  It was so hard to let go of things.  For example, I had 4 brand new fly swatters in my cabinet.  I should really get rid of them, I haven't used them so naturally, they should go.  But, what if I create a great SMARTboard game and I NEED them?  In the box they go!  After my internal fights subsided, I did pretty good.  I was able to give things away to co-workers, separate the things that I was going to leave for the new teacher that would be in my room and pack the things I was taking.  At the end of the day, I had 2 table tops loosely filled with 'stuff'' i didn't know what i was going to do with.  In my book, it was a success!

Day 3
This was the day I was going to move out.  I was on a mission and I had to finish it that day.  It was not so bad.  I worked on tying up to loose ends.  I gave away MORE things to another math teacher.  This lightened up my load by a bit (and filled up her stroller!)  I had everything packed and started to bring things down to the truck.  On the second trip down, I realized that I had not packed the truck properly and needed to re-organize.  It was hot, the boxes were heavy and I was quickly becoming crabby!  In the end, I called the hubs and asked him to come by with my car for the last load.  I took the easy way out.  When everything was packed and loaded, I bid farewell to my home for the past 3 years :(

I may have added this picture before BUT it is still sad....

So now what?  I had boxes in my car and in my hubs truck.  Should I just let them sit there till I can't handle it anymore?  I was fully planning on it but I also was feeling a bit like a hoarder still.  So the next night, we pulled the cars to the alley and it was my time to go through and purge some more.

Yesterday, it was time to bring my boxes to my new HIGH SCHOOL room!  Here are some pics of my room after 1.5 hours of unpacking.  Nothing on the walls yet but soon!

Looking in from my door.  I have a classroom that is attached to another room through a wall.  I have only ever seen these walls with cork board but as you can see, I have a WHOLE wall of dry erase board!!!!!!!  Also, it is magnetized as well, SCORE!

 This is a view looking in from the door.  A mess, I know but totally workable.  You can barely see them but on the window sill, I have unpacked my gnome collection.  It is official, I work here now!

Last picture that has the most work to be done.  On the far side of the classroom, there is 1 tall cabinet, 1 short cabinet (under the counter), a very long counter and an equally as long shelf.  Above is a giant brown bulletin board.  It is 30" x 20'.  That's a lot of dip!  This is my biggest challenge and something that I may be most proud of when finished!

So I am very excited to move on to this new adventure.  I can't wait to share pictures when I am 'finished' with my classroom.  Reflecting on this process, I think every teacher should 'move' every 3 years to reduce the amount of clutter.  What do you think? 

Thanks for reading!