Classroom set-up.

Yup this is some dry boring stuff.
I remember the lessons we did at uni on classroom organisation. Rows, horseshoe, groups... and the different reasons why blah blah blah. This is just revising that... and my thinking behind it.

When I first went to the classroom I changed the tables to groups. It didn't work I had no clue about who I was sitting with whom the dynamics were a disaster. I changed back to rows. The disaster of the initial group set up made me afraid of going back, until my mentor and fantastic teacher to boot Mrs M gave me some suggestions.

One of those being 'Table points'.

The tables are in groups there are 4 of them. This term we have 'The west Tigers'... 'The Big Fat Pigs shortened to the B.F.P's'... 'The Diamonds'... and 'The Spider Pigs'. The theory is to spread out the 'troublesome' children so they are amongst the children who know how to behave appropriately, you know kind of using peer pressure to get those kids to behave. The tables each gave themselves their name and throughout the day the tables are rewarded for various wonderful things such as tidiness, working sensibly, listening and being cooperative, and sometimes even something simple I observe such as sharing. At the end of the day the winning table is rewarded with a treat and at the end of the week the winning table receives a reward, 20 minutes free time.

I love this set up much more than the rows. However I had to have that background knowledge to implement it more effectively.

I've had more to think about this term and have made a few more changes. I moved my desk. Something simple I know but I love this simple change.

The space of the classroom: The entrance to the room is via a long corridoor... leading down carpetted steps. The children sit on the steps for roll marking, whole class discussions, chapter reading etc... on the opposite side of the room there is also glass doors leading out into an amphitheatre. My desk used to be stuck in a corner next to the store room.

Firstly, let me say that a teacher RARELY sits at their desk. But you can bet when they do someone will come to the door!!! I could not see the goings on in the corridor, nor if anyone came to the door.

I've moved my desk so I have a view of everything. I can see the corridor, if someone comes to either door, and the whole room. I also made use of having a bookcase close by which has all my programming folders in it, the top of the book case is where all marking is placed, I can simply reach around and grab it if I have a spare moment.
This keeps my desk tidy and yes, I may be one of the more unorganised people of the world... and being a teacher I am surrounded by those super organised people... it's really rather freaky LOL. But I like tidiness... I also found I had more space... the table groups have much more space between them so I can walk around the room much easier.

Yea it's boring, but it's something we don't really think about until we're there. At least I didn't.
Change the room to your liking, work with the space... work it, work it, work it!!! hehe. I've also started to add my own personal touch of cuteness with some cute little animal cushions. We have a penguin, a koala, a pink poodle and a bumble bee!!! The chilren use these during reading groups when they read to me, during D.E.A.R (drop everything and read)... and hey they don't think it's daggy like I was afraid they might :)