Virtual Open House: Classroom Tour 2018-19

It's that time of year again! School has started. I just dropped my son off for his first day of first grade. It was so... uneventful. He said goodbye, turned around, and walked into the door of the school with his friends. I wanted to cry. Obviously this was way more of a big deal for me than it was for him. He was excited to go. #momlife

Meanwhile, back at my own school, I made my annual classroom tour video EARLIER than ever before! Yay! I like to do this so that both students and parents can see a little peek into our school, and to what students can expect when they come to class. Some things are very similar to previous years, and others are quite different. I like making these videos to highlight those changes.

One of the biggest changes from last year to this one is the official name change from "Computer Literacy" class to "Creative Technology." It just SOUNDS more exciting, doesn't it?

The annual classroom tour video is fun to make, because designing for learning spaces is one of my favorite things to do. One of the things I'm most looking forward to for this school year is the creation of our official makerspace next to the library at Sandburg. It's 100% brand new and set up from scratch! Having so many possibilities always makes me excited.

If you enjoyed this year's tour video, please share it on social media! Here's to an awesome school year!

- Mrs L.

Virtual Classroom Tour: 2016-17

They're here! Our new NeoRok stools arrived on Friday, so I finally got around to making our "Welcome to Computer Lit" video for the 2016-17 school year. Take a tour of the classroom, and see what's new this time around. There's lots to see, and I'm pretty proud of how the room has evolved over time into a pretty fun future-ready learning space!

One of the things that you don't see in the video is how I tried to consider all of the senses when I was designing the space. Our room is in the basement, so the space can get a little... well... musty. So I brought in a wax warmer lamp to make the room smell nice! Students walk in and try to guess the scent of the day!  At present, it's usually something pumpkin-y or fall-related...

In coming up with improvements to the classroom space, I thought about the aesthetics of the kinds of spaces that adults like to work in outside of home or the office - places like Starbucks, Panera, or Barnes and Noble. Soft surfaces, comfortable seating, relaxing music and sounds, and soothing smells. I tried to echo and pull from these qualities to use in my own classroom. 

You can watch our room tour and hear about what's new here:

I turn off comments on my YouTube videos (because YouTube), but I welcome your comments here if you have anything to share!

- Mrs. L.