Today was my first official day of summer vacation. At a reasonable hour (about 9:00 a.m.), I headed up to my new classroom at the Montessori school. In my new set-up, there is an office area for me next to the classroom, with a storage room right off the office. The storage room has a wall of floor to almost-ceiling cabinets which are filled with materials. It is a true blessing to have such a nice physical space and such a wide range of materials.
My goal this morning was to pull everything out of all the cabinets to see what materials are there. In the process of doing this I reorganized and regrouped some things and threw out a few materials that were very old and in bad shape. I am thrilled to have some of the traditional Montessori materials that I have never taught with before such as the bead material and the bells. It felt good to see what is there. It gives me a better idea of what to tackle next.
(A FUNNY SIDENOTE: When I was in the office area, I was looking at the desk in there and thinking I would like a more functional one. The existing desk does not have any drawers and just has a funny shelf below the top. However, when getting ready to add the link to the bell material, I realized that the desk might actually be the bell cabinet!! I am going to ask Barb, the consultant from my training center, when we get together later this summer.)
Edited 5/24/08: On further investigation, I now realize that my desk is not the bell cabinet after all. It is too tall. Also, after cleaning and organizing, I am finding that it will be just perfect after all.
After going through the cabinets I was pretty worn out (even though it only took me about 2 1/2 hours of the 4 1/2 hours I had allotted to work today). So, I headed back to my old school for a while, chatted with a few colleagues, and straightened a few things. Since I still had time left before I needed to pick up the boys, I went to our two local dollar stores and our local thrift store to see what, if any, treasures I could find. I scored big at the thrift store. I found a little Zen sand garden for $4. It was in the original box and has 2 little rakes, several pretty stones, and extra bags of the really fine sand. I am planning to add it to the peace corner in the classroom. I have included a photo below:
I am planning to work at Montessori again tomorrow. My goal will be to start organizing the office area. I may head to Target first for an organizer that I have been dreaming of for the office. I will post about what I get done tomorrow, tomorrow!
You sound really enthusiastic about the new position (job). I wish you lots of luck in the new job.
Posted by: Thimbleina | May 23, 2008 at 02:11 AM