Teacher Week: Where I Teach Wednesday

I'm linking up for Teacher Week at Blog Hoppin' and today we're focusing on where we teach. Since I don't have photos of my new classroom, I'll tell you about my school.

I teach at an elementary school in Minnesota. I guess you could call us a suburb of Minneapolis but it's just now growing into that role. When I first came to the school in 2005 I had to wear a hard hat and keep an eye out for stray nails on the ground- it was just being built! We *almost* didn't open on time for the school year but we just made it. It was such a fantastic experience to be part of a brand new school my first year of teaching! I was originally hired for a part-time reading/math position mostly because I was so nervous I wouldn't find a job. Luckily it turned into a full-time first grade teaching position before the summer was over. Phew! 

Here are some photos:

This is our main entrance- the gym is to the left there and the office is towards the right. Our school is sort of a "walk out"- the parents drop their kiddos off up here and the buses drop kids off downstairs in the back.

Here's a lovely shot of our playground- there is a little bit more that is left out on the right side. It's another play structure for the littler ones (we used to have preschool here, too, but we've grown so much they moved out). We also use Peaceful Playground so there are now lots of things painted on the blacktop. There is a HUGE field to the left and a baseball field. There is a lake back there in the trees. The views from our school are gorgeous!

At our school we "loop" or have students for two years in a row. Originally our building had preschool and grades 1-5. We looped first/second and then fourth/fifth and considered third grade a transition year. This year we will have K-5, with kindergarten and first grade as stand-alone grades and will now loop second/third and fourth/fifth. This will be a big change but I'm excited to teach second grade again and move to third next year! I have been looping first/second for so long that there is ALWAYS something new in our curriculum (math, reading, STEM, etc.) so I'm so glad this year I will have nothing new to teach, only a new classroom and new kiddos!

Our classrooms are clustered into different "communities." We have a large area as a hub in the middle of five classrooms. We have five areas that have five classrooms each and then one small area with three classrooms of kindergarten; 28 classrooms in all. We also have a gym, cafeteria, media center, art room, music room and another class we call "World Adventures" where the students study different cultures once a week. 

I love the school that I am at and I feel so blessed. Our families are very involved and they make the school a wonderful place to be! This community is fantastic!

What is your favorite part about your school?