Library Organization

Classroom Library Organization

Hey friends! 

I wanted to share a few tips about organizing your classroom library. The classroom library is simply one of the most important components to your classroom. In the primary grades, this is where students can fall in love with reading. I want to have a neat and inviting area so that my students WANT to go to the library. Part of the task of building your students excitement up about reading is providing them with a plethora of books to pick from. 

I have a serious problem. Like, seriously, I'm addicted to books and bookshelves. I've had my husband build four new shelves this year and he will likely add four more over the next year! I am constantly searching and sorting  through garage sales and the Goodwill for new books for the library. Don't even get me started on Scholastic Book Clubs...I seriously need an intervention :) 

(Please note, these pictures were taken in the middle of my labeling process)

I'm very blessed, because my teaching mentor shipped this system to me pretty much 100% complete. I just had to add a few additional labels and I was good to go. She also sent me so many of her own books and I'm forever grateful for her kindness!! I wish she had a blog so I could credit this idea to her, but she doesn't. Sad face! She sent me a binder and the stickers to label my books!

Here is a view from inside the binder...

Each series has a corresponding sticker. One sticker goes on the book, and another sticker goes on the  book basket label. This way, the students can match the stickers together to verify that they are putting the books back in the right place. I know this seems like a lot of work, and it is! However, after using this system, I have had about a 85% decrease in lost, misplaced and damaged books. The students see the system and understand that I take a lot of pride in my literature selection. I purchased the dots: HERE

Labels inside the binder. Like I said, this wasn't my system, so I don't have ALL of the labels yet. You can click here  to grab some of the labels  I do have. I am updating these so the file will continue to grow and updated!!

Each book gets a label inside the cover. This identifies the book as my personal property. Each book series has it's own label. You can edit these to add your name. The labels print on AVERY 5160 templates!

My next step is to label the back of each book with the sticker that corresponds to the series. All students have to do, is check the back of the book to be sure it matches with the sticker found on the book basket label.

I sort my library by book series and theme. I also have a small area in my library that I'm adding leveled books to. I do this because I want my students to have a genuine love for reading and the option to "browse" a book even if they cannot read it. Students should love to read, and having high interest books available will help that.

We also have our separate leveled books so that each student has a collection of books in their independent reading level.

This picture was taken before I added the stickers to the book baskets. I keep the leveled readers close to my guided reading area so the students can browse the boxes after our reading groups. The leveled labels are labeled by Founts and Pinnell Guided Reading levels and are printed on Astrobrights Fireball Fuchsia paper! I used these stickers to label my books. 

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101st Day of School

What a busy week we've had! After Valentine's Day, we started preparing for our 101st Day of School. We wanted to do something different for our first graders this year since they celebrate the 100th day in Kindergarten. We wanted to get the students excited about learning, kinda of re-ignite the fire they once had. We've had a lot of testing lately and thought these ideas would work to get them in the spirit again!! 

We decided to have three different rotations. One teacher did Reading Stations, I did Math Stations, and another teacher had writing.

In the math room, we had three stations: Fast Math Facts, Frisbee Toss, and Estimation Station! In Fast Math Facts, a parent volunteer showed the students a math problem. When the students were ready to solve, they tossed a ping pong ball into the correct bin. 

The Frisbee Toss game was SO EASY! My husband made a stand out of foam board. 

 I went through my math flash cards that I already had and pulled out addition and subtraction problems with the answers of 10, 15 and 20. I set it up in the hallway so the frisbees wouldn't be an issue for the other games :)

My kids LOVED this game! 

Last, we had Estimation Station. This was SO easy to prep and the kids LOVED it. I'm going to use it again next week with different items! 

For reading, we also had three stations. We put the kiddos into groups of three before rotating! 

At the first station, the kids played "Toss A Digraph". The ping pong balls were labeled with ch/th/wh and ph words. They had to read the word and toss into the correct bin. 

Who knew reading could be SO much fun!! *wink, wink*

Next, the kids moved over to "Toss a Sight Word". The same concept, except just sight words on the balls and one bin to toss it into. For some reason, I guess all of the excitement, I didn't get very many pictures of this game :(

Next, the kids moved to the Build a Tower Station. This idea from the fabulous Cara @ The First Grade Parade. We jut modified it a bit because every station had to have a specific SOL or standard tied to it. All I did was add sight words to the towers. We also had students who built sentence towers. The kiddos loved doing this activity. 

You can get all of the signs and game cards for the activities shown by clicking here!!

For writing, my next door neighbor used Deanna Jump's 100th Day writing project.

This was so.much.fun. The kids were so excited about WRITING which is so hard to do with firsts. 

All and all, it was such a great day! Our students were engaged and learning at the same time!! 

Here's a few goofy pictures of some of my team members and I!! Love them! 

5 Things Every Teacher NEEDS To Hear

Hey Friends. It's been a crazy last two weeks! We've had Valentine's Day AND Tomorrow is the 101st Day of school! I can't wait to share all I have planned for tomorrow! It's going to be so.much.fun!

Flashback to a few days ago..It was just one of those days. A day that I spent reflecting on all the different relationships I've had with administrators over the years.  I've been extremely blessed to have worked with some really amazing leaders. Leaders that made me want to be the best teacher possible. These leaders held me to a high standard, a lot was expected of me, but I ALWAYS knew what that was. I knew what they wanted to see in their staff. 

All of that reflecting made me think "Do administrators read teaching blogs?" 

I thought *maybe* the answer was YES! I've known several admin. bloggers before..so why not take a chance. 

#5 I Notice The Small Things

I think as a teacher, we naturally focus on all the little details. All of the details matter! We have to plan our every single minute of our day. We spend a lot of time to prepare for our dynamic lessons. It absolutely makes my day when I hear something like "I noticed you changed the bulletin board in the  hall that's been empty."  or "I like how you put time into your anchor charts today". I find it so interesting the amount of administrators that fail to find something positive about their employees. Just like with our students, we want to find that characteristic or method that IS great. Everyone has SOMETHING amazing about them.

Another teacher said it best "We work so hard for every little detail". 

#4. Your Time Is Important To Me

This one is higher on my personal list than number four, but I figured I'd place it here anyways!! :) 

For me, the expectation that teachers will stay late to get the job done is always the norm. That's just part of the job and I get that. I'm okay with that. This is not about teachers staying later than our contract hours, but more about how that is received. If you do not stay late, that does not mean you are not a good teacher. That does not mean you are not prepared. I once had a co-worker who worked all the way through lunch every single day. I do *most* days, but not *every* day!  She had to be able to leave within a few minutes of school getting out and needed to get things done so she would feel okay about it. She was an amazing teacher! Seriously! But was she judged for leaving "early" everyday?!?! You bet! Teachers want to feel like their time is important to the administration. 

#3. Go Eat LUNCH!

Remember how I told you about the co-worker who worked through lunch every single day?!?! I bet she would have loved to hear "GO EAT LUNCH" every now and again! 

#2. I'm Still A Teacher

I'll never forget the administrators that have helped make me into the teacher I am now.  One administrator I had was always in my classroom. At first, this alarmed me. I thought "What did I do wrong???". The very first time we spoke after she was in my room, I was SO nervous! She immediately told me that everything was fine. She only spoke of positive things that she saw. Everything that she had to say was all in a positive light. I began to grow fond of her classroom visits and the nerves melted away. After a few visits, she would still always start with positive things that she saw but incorporate a few things to try. Here's the BEST PART..She was teaching me in those moments (& I didn't even realize it). She saw herself as a teacher. This administrator used "teachable moments" to help me be the best I could be! 

Another teacher shared with me the next idea. She shared with me that the administrator would leave a form called "3 Stars and 1 Wish". They would leave three positive comments and one thing they would like to see the next time! I love this idea! What a great way to use teachable moments with TEACHERS!!! 

#1 Great Job! I Believe In YOU!

This one is the obvious phrase that all teachers need to hear, however, how many teachers hear this often? I know it sounds silly, but it feels GOOD to know that your leader feels that you are doing a great job.  Doesn't it feel amazing when you hear your boss is IMPRESSED by you? Teachers are still human beings and a little praise goes a long way for morale! Knowing that your administration believes in you is the best feeling out there!

**BONUS PHRASE**

**FAMILY IS IMPORTANT TO ME**

I have a friend that periodically posts pictures of her children's school functions on her social media page. Every SINGLE time she does it, she thanks her administration for allowing her to go to those type of events (in the same building). It might only be a few minutes, but she's thankful she gets to experience things with her child. Family is the most important thing in our entire lives, so why do we put it on the back burner to get things done for school? I know it's hard, but remember, FAMILY IS IMPORTANT. I have several friends who are preparing to transition into a leadership position at their school, I hope and pray the remember these few phrases. I pray that they also not forget what it was like to be a classroom teacher. Don't ever forget! I'm so fortunate to work with amazing people every day! I know most administrators mean to tell us these things and it's important to remember just how much everyone needs a little love! 

Happy Teaching! 

Classroom DIY Guided Reading Edition

Hey friends! I wanted to share with you a few tricks I've used over the years. Sometimes everything cannot be colored ink and graphics. Sometimes you just need simple, but effective ideas.

One thing I always keep in my binder are these little response cards. It's so easy for the kids to write about the story or the word work we were doing for the day. To make them, just download them HERE. Just print and insert into a sheet protecter and you are DONE. Store them inside your reading binder for easy access. 

One day I was found an entire box, like a big box, of index cards. So I started thinking of ways I could use them effectively. At the time, my students were not taking the entire "Read To Self" time seriously. They would "pretend" read or not think about the story while reading it. This had to be fixed PRONTO, so I was excited when I found the cards. I needed a way to spice it up while keeping the time useful. I made these  labels and added them to my color coded index cards. I've found so many uses for these cards. I started with them in the "Read to Self" Center. Students had to pick two cards to act out once they finished a book & before starting a new one. I've also kept them inside my guided reading binder, and used them in the "I'm Finished" bin. 

Another easy DIY activity to implement is these Rhyme Time mats. 

I just printed them on colored yardstick and placed them into a sheet protector. I use these as a warm up activity for guided reading. It's easy to skip some of the basic skills when our students are on or above grade level, but rhyming should not be one of those things. No matter where my students are reading, I always teach them rhyming skills. It's important for students to look in the patterns of words and recognize these features. It teaches them to actually think about the words and the similarities in other words. 

All of these activities are FREE and can be accessed HERE and HERE. 

Reading Intervention

Hey! I wanted to share with you some different strategies we used this past year for reading intervention. My Reading Specialist and  I worked together to create a series of Reading Intervention Binders  to help our teachers with reading intervention. There are SO many strategies and ways to do intervention, but it makes it so much easier having a program to follow. We use this binder during our intervention time and at the beginning of each guided reading lesson. We focus on word work, phonics, sight words and vocabulary first. Then, each binder moves into fluency and comprehension. They are designed so you can use them with a variety of reading levels. I am a firm believer in a separate intervention time every day. I usually do this during the last 15 minutes of every day. It's challenging, but it is so powerful to revisit those struggling readers outside of your normal reading block.

One thing we tried to do was provide a variety of ways to reach your students. Each binder includes assessments so that you can see which part of the binder will most help your students. We use Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark System in order to track our students progress. I give the benchmark once a grading period, but do informal running records in between.

Here's how often we are required to give informal running records:

Standard Running Record Form 

Running records are a great way to determine a students weakness in a quick fashion. The most important component is analyzing the running record! 

We use the following chart for our first grade students as they progress through their reading levels:

The intervention binder is designed to start at the basic level for each grade level.

All of the binders address the components of reading and the literacy continuum.


Word families are a great way to introduce students to decoding skills while teaching vocabulary at the same time! Our Word Families Binder is designed for the Kindergarten- Second Grade classroom! Students who are struggling with decoding should start with word families because they are easier to decode. We begin with short vowels and then move into digraphs/blends.

 Here are a few pictures from our First Grade Reading Intervention Binder

   

 Students have the opportunity to build vocabulary through learning synonyms and antonyms.

Decoding is an important skill that can hinder a students reading ability. These pages were designed to help students segment and blend words together.

We've got all components covered! Fluency passages are also included.

The first grade binder includes preprimer, primer and first grade sight word activities.  My students love using these pages. They are designed to be no prep but still effective. I often use these as morning work or as a warm up to our intervention lesson. I've also used them in our writing groups. Students have to create sentences based on these words. Students need repetitive practice with familiar words. A few weeks after I've assessed my students, I'll give them these words again and have them practice them in different ways. That way, students show a higher level of mastery. Sometimes students seem like they know the words because we've "skilled and drilled them". That's why I like to revisit previously taught words or skills about  a month later, so I can be sure they've developed a deeper understanding.  We often think of spiral review so much in math and sometimes forget that reading requires spiral review as well!

For this activity, we use it in several different ways. One way to is have the students place a marble or counter in the box next to the sentence you say. The other is to have one reader read a sentence out loud and have the other students move their counter to the correct sentence. To do this, I simply print two sets of the same page and spread them out. It should work out to where the student next to them has a different page. 

Sight word three in a row is a favorite! After I use these pages in small group instruction, I place them in a student binder at a reading station. The students know exactly how to play the game since we've practiced it in small groups. The other great thing about this is that words change and increase in difficulty so the students aren't just using the same two game boards over and over again. All of the binders have these activities, the words are just more difficult. 

I prefer to do my reading intervention time separate from my reading block. I like to do this because I want my students to practice reading all day long. We should consider ourselves reading teachers all day long. When we have a large amount of students below grade level,  I always try to take a mental inventory of how much print they are exposed to. We cannot change what happens when they leave our rooms each day, however, we can expose them to as much print as possible when they are under our care :) 

As with any intervention system, assessment drives instruction. Use your benchmark or diagnostic data to determine where your students need the most help! I LOVE chatting about data, so feel free to e-mail me or message me on Facebook about your specific needs! 

Here are the binders in pictures:

2nd Grade Binder

 

Word Families 

Third Grade

Fourth Grade 

Fifth Grade

Click here to download the reading development chart and running record forms.