Throw Back Blog Post

As August is quickly approaching and we are seeing so many posts about setting up and decorating the perfect classroom, I had to reflect on my past teaching experience in a mobile trailer. We were in transition during the redevelopment of the neighborhood. The best solution to keep our program up and running for our students was to use two construction trailers. Yikes! While this was not a public school, I still felt the pressure to make my classroom Pintrest perfect for my students. What I quickly learned was that it doesn't matter how pretty a room looks. It is truly the feeling your students have when they walk in the room that matters. We collaborated together to make our room a home away from home.

This is a post from a previous blog that is no longer active (February 23, 2013):


To say that I despise the trailers is an understatement. Nobody should ever have to work in a building that shakes when the wind blows, leaks when it rains or snows, thin walls that do not block any noise, and one bathroom that is only in working condition 1/3 of the time. Just recently we learned that the windows can be broken just by pounding a fist on the glass. We are very secure! The drama of the trailer has added so much stress to everyone's job at South Lincoln. We have a heightened need for security and have to be extra positive in front of the kids about the situation.  If we were all in one trailer that would be fine but the kids go back and forth between two trailers for their different classes. In one trailer is the main office, social emotional class, and computer lab. In the other is the tutor room, my office, and my "classroom". On a nice fall day this is no problem but lets face it, we live in unpredictable Colorado where the weather is always changing. Just yesterday when we had a snow storm. I saw kids one by one fall down and knock each other over like bowling pins trying to walk up the icy ramp into trailer #1. It was hard not to laugh at some of the kids who were trying to ice skate on it and immediately ate it. I warned them! Disclaimer: Nobody was hurt while ice skating. What was i supposed to do, stop teaching so I could shovel??

Anyway, I have done my very best researching countless hours on pinteret on how to make my hallway of a room feel like a classroom without spending much money. I couldn't use any fun furniture because we can barely fit three white tables and 20 chairs as is. In the corner I have two tiny tall bookshelves to hold our "library" and classroom materials. I have used countless packs of 3m tape since we are unable to staple, pin, or attach things to the walls in any other manner. The trailers have to be returned in the same condition that they were when we got them. HA! Packing in over 90 kids a day in two trailers daily is not going to work. The first day it snowed the carpet was destroyed. Below is a picture of what the classroom currently looks like. I think it still looks bare but the kids love it. They love to see all of their work posted up all over the classroom. The take ownership of their work when they know it will be posted or hung up for everyone to enjoy. I teach K-5th grade literacy so work from all different grades are included. I think it helps kids know what will be expected of them the next year. Take that Lakeshore and every other over-priced teacher supply stores that charge teachers way too much for a silly posters. The power of student work makes a classroom a home!