Day 29 – March SOLSC #sol17

My Table – Before

Let’s just say my table is never neat.  There are always papers, books, pens, post-its, etc. all over it.  It is more like a place where I drop stuff as I’m on the move.  I’m hardly ever sitting there because I usually meet with my small groups (reading & writing) on the rug.  It’s just always felt more comfortable to me and the kids seem to enjoy it too.  If you know first graders, then you know that reading to themselves means reading out loud so everyone can hear you!  It takes some time to be able to read in your mind.  So, when we’re doing guided reading or strategy groups on the rug, they can spread out a little bit so their “quiet” reading doesn’t distract the other kids in the group.  When I had a bigger table, I will admit that it was easier for me to be able to listen to their reading because they were right in front of me, but the kids were often distracted by each other.  And after seeing this smaller table looking like this, what do you think a bigger table would look like?  Yup, let’s be honest, the bigger the table, the bigger the mess!

I will admit it, most days I end up leaving my table looking like this at the end of the day.  It’s almost like I just let it win.  “Tomorrow’s another day,” I usually tell myself.  But not today.  I was winning the battle with the messy table.  I was super motivated – not sure why.  Maybe it was because I was trying to plan some guided reading lessons and was just writing on top of papers and stuff was starting to fall on the floor.  Yeah, that could’ve been some of the motivation.  So after the kids were dismissed, I came back to conquer the mess…

“File those papers, stack up the post-its, put away the tape and pens, put the photocopies where they belong.  Only leave out what you need for tomorrow.  Wipe down the table (it totally had crumbs on it – gross).”

My Table – After

There’s a really good chance that some of the stacks of papers were just relocated and that some things were shoved in drawers.  Out of sight, out of mind!  I’ll deal with those another day!  For now, I will just look at this and enjoy the lack of mess….until tomorrow!

Thank you to the team of writers at Two Writing Teachers for created this amazing writing community!