Where Are We? Signs

I'm getting really excited for this new year to start!  There is just something about the beginning of the year - filled with possibilities and nothing has beaten you down yet. 

 

Our school is going through a major shift:

new principal (and our assistant principal's first year was last year) and 13 new teachers!  That doesn't even count the grade switching of some teachers.  But I'm excited...new faces and new ideas make me happy. 

 

So to welcome some of the new teachers I got my craft on.  Here are some hallway signs I made.

 

 

 

I tried to match class themes if I could - safari, beach, camp, etc.  My personal sign is done with dogs - shocking, I know.

 

 

One of my teammates made the whole team matching 'Where are we?' signs as Christmas gifts a few years back. I stole the idea from her and started making these.  One of our school policies is to post where you are if you are not in the classroom.  This sign is easy to have as a classroom helper change as you leave.  Plus they are just so adorable.

 

Have fun getting ready for this upcoming year ~

Daily 5: Book Bag Management Tip

I have tried many systems for changing out books. The system I used the last couple of years has been the simplest and best.

 My students have several morning jobs: notebook check with me, lunch choice, bathroom, morning work, etc. When they finish their morning work they know to do unfinished work. If they do not have any unfinished work then they may choose centers (basically Daily 5, computer, or math games).

Another option is to change out books. They do this independently because I have trained them how to look at books and decide if it is a ‘good fit’ book or not. This helps make sure not too many students are changing out books; many are still working on other morning jobs. I have also noticed that my students that need to change more frequently make sure they get everything done so they can change out books. 

This also works in reverse - if a student wants to change out books but didn't get a chance to do so then I use that as a teachable moment that he / she needs to be more diligent at getting work done in the morning so he / she can get to change out books.  Works like a charm! 

If a student makes a bad book choice…it happens every so often…I notice within a week because I have them bring their book bags to my guided reading group.  That way I can monitor what is in each book bag.

This is the simplest management for book bags I have found.  After the students have been trained, it practically runs itself.

Books, Books, Books

No one ever told me this about books. I wish they had! It might not have taken me 3 years of teaching before I got my books in order. We all know that an early literacy classroom should be full of books. However, I believe you should have 4 distinct sets of books.


First, you should have a class library. These are the books the students will choose to read on their own. These books should NOT be leveled (because in life the books are not leveled). They should be grouped by theme: Berenstain Bears, Clifford, sports, Magic School Bus, fairy tales / folktales / fables, etc.

If you haven’t done this yet – take all your books (this will take time) and spread them out. Then start noticing the categories that emerge. I noticed I had a lot of books on the United States symbols. I never could read all of them during that unit so creating a library box of USA was the perfect way to utilize those books I didn't teach from. One more note about your classroom library – the books need to be facing the students. I have never been drawn into a book because of its spine. The cover is what catches my eye and interest. This is the same for students. Find a way to let the students easily see the covers of the books as they browse.

I have use color dot stickers to easily mark my books. You will want to find a system that works for you and your students. A friend of mine didn’t have the space to have her books facing out, but she still made it easy for the students to pull a box and browse the covers. The classroom library is going to be the main source of books for the Read to Self book bags if you use Daily 5.

Second, you should have your teacher books. These are books that you cannot have in the class library because you need them every year to teach from. I have started buying duplicates of books that I notice my students really love. That way after I have read and taught from that books I can put out the other copies for them to add to their books bags.  However, teacher books are not for student use. They are for a specific teaching purpose. These books I have organized in book bins with the spines out since they are for me.

Third, you should have homework books. These are books that can get sent home each week. I use the basil adoption leveled readers, phonetic book (i.e. Starfall books), and the old basil adoption leveled readers. Because my district mandates that I use the basil to pace my spelling I have the books ordered by the phonetic rule / spelling rule. Most of those books are leveled-ish…I don’t always agree with the level. I have many copies of each of these books so if one happens to get lost then I still have many other copies. Once a students has lost several books I go to photocopy / black and white books only for them. In 8 years of teaching I have only had to do that twice. If you have a good organizational system to send books home and return them then you will not lose many books.

Fourth, you should have guided reading books. These are leveled books that you plan to teach in small group. I use a lot of Wright Group Leveled Readers / Rigby Leveled Readers / Reading A to Z books. During my first few years of teaching I had to do my guided reading using books from the school’s leveled library, the basil adoption, or just a few books I had multiple copies of. It was not a good system – I didn’t do enough guided reading because of this.

So my lesson learned is to make things easy: easy to see, easy to organize, easy to use. I hope you will consider looking at your classroom books and thinking about breaking them into these separate categories. This would have made me a better teacher if I had thought about it sooner.