Setting Library Procedures

Everyone loves Curious George! He's engaging and reading his book is great way to set expectations for your students or children when it comes to the classroom, home or public library.  In the book George takes a trip to the public library and learns that climbing shelves and riding carts are not the best way to behave in the library.  This picture book can be read before discussion takes place about the "do's and dont's" of the library.  I have provided an anchor chart  with touching points for my classroom library above. It's important for you to keep in mind what and how you want your library to look before you wrap up the lesson and finish up your chart.  One important point that I always make with my students is that they need to explore books that they LOVE.  No boring books allowed! The reason this is so important is because it leads to authentic reading.  If students are taught how to find books they love it's hard to get them to put the book down. Watch my video below for more ideas and standards to tie the lessons into.

How To Save Money On Your Classroom Library or Mentor Texts

Who doesn't like saving money? Every summer I sit down with my wishlist at the computer and add a few titles to my mentor text collection. I do this by searching for used books on Amazon.  Watch the video below to see my process.

Back to School High/Low Linky with A First For Everything and MyCarolina Classroom

I think that I just had the best "back to school" week ever! So it's no surprise that my high for the week is that school started and everyone made it home in one piece!!!

Are you ready for my classroom reveal? This year I changed from 1st grade to 2nd grade.  That meant a classroom change too.  Along with the room came a new teaching partner.  I'm really trying to find a balance in life so I promised myself that I would organize the room and just get everything set up so that the kids can learn.  It was hard parting with my over the top classroom decorations.  However, I love that I was able to get everything done and I'm not stressed out.  Here are some pictures of our room.

Shared Reading Area and Classroom Library

Shared Reading Area

Word Wall


 I wish that I could remember who I saw do a word wall on the whiteboard first so that I could give them credit.  I found it on Pinterest.  I love that I can write and change the words as needed.  It really comes in handy during testing time.

Library labels from OwlinaVoweltree

We are half way through sorting genres.  You can't see but there are about ten fiction buckets.  The kids are going to learn some different genres over the next few weeks and sort them a little more.

Writing centers from Mel D at Seusstatistic

The writing center is also interchangeable!  It will be fantastic when I can just clip another one up without ruining the paper.

RP/AR Chart from A Classroom Full Of Smiles

My favorite part of our wall has to be that it is so interactive.  We set it up so that we can change out the subject vocabulary and anchor charts.  I came up with the idea to attach clips to the board so that we can just switch out the charts.  It is very user friendly and will keep the paper looking nice for some time.  The AR/RP clipchart is nice because the students can track their own points.  We can use this on our teacher evaluations at the end of the year to show student's tracking their own data.

Calendar Math put together by my fantastic partner

Classroom Door

  I'm in love with Inspirted Owl's Decorate Your Classroom and  Greatest School Year Ever ! It really sets a tone for the year.

Student Work

I'm going to break tradition and leave off the low.  There were too many highs to really care! Here's to hoping that we have the best year ever!