*Phew*

First day of classes is next Monday. Would you like to see how ready I am?  Here's the art studio classroom...

The supplies order came in late yesterday afternoon and my amazing department head mobilized every hand and foot available to her to get the boxes off of the truck and into the hallway by my classroom door. It was such a blessing to walk in this morning and see a mountain of boxes just waiting to be unpacked, inventoried, sorted, and organized. I had mandatory meetings this morning (my first real stretch of "working" time in my classroom) and even with the incredible assistance from my visual arts "team mate" (she instructs the upper-level studio classes in a part-time capacity), I was only able to get this far along.

The good news? Well, it really looks a lot worse than it actually is.

The not-so-good news? There's still plenty of work that still needs to be done and I have maybe a day and a half to finish it AND most of that time I will have my three year-old daughter in tow because of a very inconvenient turn of events. *shrug* I'm just trying to take it all in stride and be overwhelmed despite of unprepared I feel like I am because in all honesty? I've done a lot of prep work and so it's just a matter of going down a checklist and just doing a whole lot of easy and little tasks.

Remember one of my last posts with a hazy picture of my planning notes for the year? Well, here is a updated and perhaps easier to read version... (click on the image to enlarge)...

I always start out planning in an excel spreadsheet and then I print it off and hand write notes, work out material listings, etc. etc. etc. and then go back and update the spreadsheet and re-print it. What you see pictured above is I believe my second draft of my whole year's project list for all of the classes I'm instructing this year. I will keep this document in my notes/files for reference purposes for years to come when I'm interested in either repeating a project OR expanding/improving upon it.

Anyway, just thought I would check-in here and show you not only finished works of my students but also the "works-in-progress" that is the working studio classroom of my own doing. Will try to update in the coming weeks once school kicks off with my finalized project list for the year and maybe some pictures of how I organize the classroom work space.