Where it all goes down Wednesday with my bonus EARTHQUAKE story!

I'm supposed to link pictures to my classroom today for Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week 2011...

...which is funny because I promised pictures of the room yesterday without realizing the challenge. I took a "before" picture, but we had a little earthquake here in VA that freaked me out (see below pictures for the story), so I forgot to take an "after" shot. That's okay though, because my room will look pretty much the same without as many desks because I only have 18 students right now!!! They finally gave us another teacher in 4th grade, so we get small class sizes for the first time in 3 years. One year I had 26 students plus 3 for resources and parties. It was insanity! Anyway, here are the pictures.

View from my desk

My Promethean board that I'm in love with! Seriously I don't think I'll go to another school if I can't have at least a Smartboard after this. I hardly use my white boards now.

Cubbies and word wall (btw the penguin on top of the cubbies was from an Odyssey of the Mind team I coached a few years ago. They had to create a "creature" and make it do things like eat, walk, talk, etc. They won 2nd place at the regional competition, and I thought the penguin was cute so I kept it! I had to throw it out eventually though because it collected so much dust.

And finally, my "before" picture for this year. I was a little frustrated because I put notes on EVERYTHING saying "Do Not Move". In the past, they haven't, and I hoped that would be true this year, especially since I'm pregnant and CAN'T move those things now. But thank God for two male admin that were in a good mood and weren't too busy to come help me! I actually got my entire room set up today!

Okay, now for the earthquake story:  If you can't tell by the pictures, we're in an old, poorly built building. I had my furniture in place and was talking to another teacher when we felt a big shake. At first we thought they were working on the roof because there's a lot of construction going on at school right now (we start after Labor Day, and I'm not sure it will all be finished), but then it kept going and the floor started to shake. Little bits of dust were falling from my ceiling, and I was starting to really freak out. I wasn't convinced the walls or ceiling were going to stay put, but they did! Turns out there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Mineral, VA (about 1 1/2 hours from my school)! Everyone is fine, and the only signs of "damage" I saw at home were that it opened kitchen drawers. I don't ever want to go through one again though...