Action time!

After 2 weeks holiday, and with the previous terms planning phase complete, we were all ready to start taking some action. A lot of anticipation had built up and the class were bursting at the seams to get started.
The first port of call was the parents. We had a Dad kindly come in and saw the metal legs off 2 of our tables, as per the kids' requirements.

The goal was to create some lower learning areas so the kids could kneel around them or sit on cushions while they work. Here's what they looked like when they were done:

We had some parents doing refurbishments at home, who kindly donated a big square of carpet (to cover our tired old mat space) and some large pieces of plywood which we used to create some quiet, distraction-free individual spaces. And (ironically) we found a reason to dig out a couple of old-school desks. Turns out there was still a use for them!

We took every item of furniture out of the room and our school caretaker kindly disappeared all of the unwanted stuff for us (like 75% of our desks). Then we put it all back in again according to our plan. It took some reshuffling as our design wasn't quite to scale, but this all went fairly smoothly.

(At this point I'm kicking myself for not taking any 'before' photos. Grrr!)

Anyway, here are the 'after' photos:

No desks!

The kids loved it! Not only were they enthusiastic about coming to school and learning in their brand new environment, but their behaviour immediately changed. They remember to pick up their rubbish, move safely inside, put away their books and games.... They are proud of their classroom and don't want to mess it up!

Happy kids. Happy teacher. :)

Next steps: Using the environment, reviewing and adapting it as we go, and working on the finishing touches - Painting, art work, finer details.