Fun Question--Decorating your IS Classroom? What to bring?

[JudyB]

When my husband and I went to China, I really had no idea what would be available and I brought over way too much stuff. Now I know better. Even though there was no teacher store for hundreds of miles, with the help of local friends, I could order pretty much what I needed on line. My school had a great supply of pencils, paper, folders, etc. Not the type I was used to, but flexibility! Decorations? I used student work and some posters I brought from the states. It was virtually impossible to stick much on our walls and certain types of tape pulled the paint off the walls, so everything kept falling. The best thing is don't think about decorating until you get there. You have no idea what the walls are like, what is allowed, and what is available to you in your new country. You really don't want to haul over a lot of stuff if possible.

More importantly, think about any classroom items that you consistently use year after year that you might want to bring. For example:
1. Meditation bowl or other device to get student attention - I use it to get kids attention and also for mindfulness activities. They aren't cheap, so I always bring mine.
2. Certain academic materials you love - For me, Math4Today (great warm ups), certain universal math/language posters, PYP posters/pictures, Lucy Calkins reading and writing units (I find these programs really work well with PYP and/or writing/reading workshop, whatever you do at your school), a morphology workbook I can copy for the kids, and a couple other things.
3. Lesson planner - Couldn't find one of these to save my life. I now have a digital version I can update and print out.
4. Certain favorite books that you use for teaching certain skills, read alouds, etc.
5. Your own computer - I don't know about you, but I have downloaded and created so much of my own teaching materials, that it is easier for me to bring my own personal computer to work and use it there. I do not trust putting everything on the Cloud or other out there networks (I'm a bit weird about that), so bringing my own Mac was a huge lifesaver.

I make sure that all my school materials fit into a smaller suitcase. Then I have a larger suitcase for my clothing, shoes, personal supplies, a couple of books, etc. and a carry on bag as well with my computer and a few other things. Three suitcases. Not so bad. :-)

Hope that helps!

[JudyB]

I almost forgot. Expo markers and Sharpies are a must!!! Those can be hard to get and expensive.