Getting Ready for School

For the last couple weeks I've been getting Joel's classroom ready for him.  It was a complete dirty, disgusting, disaster when we walked into it for the first time 2 months ago, but the janitor told us just to wait 2 weeks until he could clean the carpets and it would look a little better.  So, we did and he was right.  Then we tackled clearing all of the bulletin boards off, because the other teacher just left all of her stuff on there, along with the year of dirt on the tables and cupboards.  So, we wiped EVERYTHING down so we could get a nice fresh start. Then with a clean stale we started.  I began with out school logo.  Gotta have out mascot up in the room!  The last teacher had this table covered with green and white contact paper and Purple and Orange duct tape.  It was hideous.   So, David and I took it outside and uncovered it to find and nice black table.  But in the process, ripped of some of the black paint.  So I decided to paint the table.  It turned out spectacular. 

Which lead to this.  And no, I didn't even ask. I just figured I was improving the oldest school in the district and they would be happy that I did it.  Maybe one day I won't be so forward.  But don't count on it.

Then I got to work brainstorming on what to do for the other walls.  He had a 25 foot back wall.  That he hung his marathon posters over.  Two 8 foot panels in the corner and and entry.  Not to mention the hallway outside that had not been changed since SHAYNE went to school there.  Yeah, I wasn't going to let those stay the way they were. 

He also ha a 6 inch by 3 foot piece of paper that needed to cover his window for his classroom.  The one he had on there was just a regular green piece of paper which was not going to work with the decor.  So I had his awesome name and some paw prints made out of silver vinyl and put them on black and made this amazing little window cover.  It was 100% better.

Joel said that he wanted Dodgers Baseball somewhere in the room, the St, George Marathon, His Star Wars stuff and Ironman.  So I went with that. I looked up Dodgers and Math and low and behold the Dodger Corp has a Dodgers Mathletics Program that puts together math packets that go along with their players and their stats for the season for grades 1-8!  Easy Peasy!   I had Brad print me up the Dodger Mathletic Logo and I created Dodger Corner for Joel to post worksheets for kids to do. That took care of my one of my 8 foot walls.   

This is Joel's C.O.W.  Computer On Wheels.  It holds all of the little laptops for the kids to use each class period.  So, they call it a COW.  So, I cleaned her up and named her Bessie and gave her her Dodger Corner to graze in.  Ben liked helping out, since it is his school. The suitcase on top of her is full of calculators.

Under the Panther logo's I bought some gray material and while looking online for some ideas about solving Math problems, came upon this idea which fits perfectly into his running theme so much that it tied running into Math.   Therefor creating the perfect theme, "EVERY STEP COUNTS!"  I'm a freaking genius!  If you miss a step in math you're basically screwed.  Not only do you miss points but you'll more than likely get the wrong answer.  Then a poster on the steps to solving math problems.  Oh so nice. 

I had Brad print up this perfect poster and I slapped some paw prints on it.  STEPS, get it?

Which leads out the door through the Ironman hallway.  You can't tell but the Swimmer is Angles and Distances,  The Biker is Geometry, and the Runner is Linear Equations.  With more paw prints. 

Outside between his door and the other teacher's door is this new adorable sign that says, "8th Grade Math is Easy as PIE".  Oh my heck.  That is so dang cute!  I just love it!

Then there is this massive wall that goes all the way behind his door and I didn't want to take all the signs away so I put the school ones behind his door and redid the first part of the wall with funny Math Meme's that the students would like and understand instead of 15 year old posters that were super lame!  I liked it.  It looked a lot cleaner and more inviting. It made Math look a little less intimidating.  And let's face it, Math needs all the help it can get!  

Then for the last but certainly not least bulletin board of all bulletin boards.  The 25 foot wall of death!  I had no idea what to do.  The one thing that we still hadn't touch was my detested ALEKS!
So, go big or go home.  The ALEKS MARATHON.  25 feet of 26.2 miles!  Yep that's right.  The ALEKS Marathon.  It looks something like this.

For every 26 topics they move 1 mile.  Of course they have a placement test first to see where they need to start and all that wonderful stuff.  But, each student is given a paw print with their name on in.  Thanks again BRAD!  He printed them and I cut them out, had them laminated and then had Shayne and Ben cut them out again.  210 of them!  This is the, just cut into manageable strip stage.  We also went with the bare backboard look to represent St. George's red dirt.  Hahaha.  Mainly I figured that they were going to be stapling in the paw prints over and over and that would look horrible in a paper background.  So, picture this with 200 Panther Paw Prints all over it.  It's going to looks awesome!  They will be spread out because they will all start at different levels.  It is not necessary to complete the marathon.  Just an incentive.  Something to make ALEKS fun.  Because it's not.  I can't stand Aleks.  Can you tell?  I think it's the worst!  Anyway, my bulletin board is the best!  

Here is the finished product.  The only problem is Joel is missing the 2009 St. George Marathon poster.  If anyone knows where we can copy one we'd really appreciate it!  Right now he has a frame up there and we are just waiting to see which student notices first.  His desk is in the corner with his Star Wars things.  Everything done and done.  Joel's ideas executed in my style because he didn't' get a choice.  He can change it next year.  Right now we just needed to get something on the walls.