Reorganizing the Literacy Library

A project that Julie, Trina and I have taken on this summer is to reorganize the Literacy Library on our campus. This is the library that the teachers use to pull books for their guided reading groups.  It has become an absolute disaster zone. For someone who teaches reading every day, it became a huge frustration to try to find appropriate books and keep everything organized.

We have started the process by going section by section to make sure all the same titles are together and in sets for teachers to pull. Then we are using online resources to update the levels on the books. In previous years our campus used Reading Recovery as part of their reading interventions. However, that program is no longer used on our campus. We now determine student reading levels through DRA2 and teach through guided reading based on the DRA2 data.

This means that the books are currently still labeled with Reading Recovery levels. I didn't realize how off these levels can be from DRA2. So book by book we are checking the levels through publishers databases and other leveled library inventories that districts have posted online. Once this process is done we will also create an inventory of our library so that we can purchase new books based on the needs of the library.

We've been working on this for a few days now, but it doesn't feel like we've made a whole lot of progress (even though we have done a LOT!) This is definitely a time consuming process and we want it done the most effective way that will help us through the year.

One of my wonderful co-workers, Tracy, also thought of a new checkout system. We are going to put library pockets with labels on each of the boxes showing the DRA2 level, Guided Reading Level, AR level and number of copies of each title that is in the box. There will also be an index card for each title with the same information inside the library pocket.

When teachers pull the books for reading groups, they will pull the index card for that set and place it in a filing box by the door under their name. When they return the books, they will pull the index card out of the filing box then re-file the books and index cards, ensuring that they have the same number of copies as needed before returning the books. We're hoping that this method will help the library stay organized for a longer period of time.

I will continue to post on our progress of this summer project!

Teaching is Like a Party

Today I went to Day 1 of a two day workshop with Kim Sutton from Creative Mathematics. This past year I wrote a grant to purchase quite a bit from her catalog thanks to our district's wonderful Education Foundation.

As teachers, I feel that we get overwhelmed by "new and updated" curriculum, ever changing student expectations, and the newest standardized test that students have to pass. What I like about Creative Mathematics, is that it can fit into any curriculum. She takes basic math concepts and makes them fun for students. She finds ways to challenge a student and makes it easy to differentiate for students as well. I'm excited to teach math this year because I can start from the beginning with setting a better foundation of number sense with our students. Now before you go buying everything on her website, check with your co-workers. Chances are they probably have some of her books.

This is something that Kim said today regarding teaching math

 and how students come to understand math.

It just made me laugh because isn't that true?!?! We're so excited when it finally clicks for the student who has been struggling with a concept all year. Welcome to the party!!

(If you can't laugh and have a little bit of fun with your job, you're not going to last very long.)

Classroom Posters

Before I (well really my wonderful Mother who came to help) started taking posters off my walls, I decided to take some pictures of my "teacher made" ones just incase they got messed up over the summer, or I wanted to recreate them again next year with my students. It is my goal to have less "decorative posters" in the classroom and have more "anchor charts" that I can change out throughout the year. If a poster stays on the wall too long and isn't referred to as a resource by myself or the students, then it just becomes decoration regardless of what information is on it.

 This poster went with our "How to Fill a Bucket" lesson. I noticed that around Spring Break our students started being really short with each other. I found this idea on Pinterest to use the "How to Fill a Bucket" book and then a teaching blog that had the bucket templates on it. Each student made a bucket. Throughout the week, they would write notes to each other thanking a student for doing something nice or filling the bucket by writing a nice note. I would like to start this at the beginning of the year next year, but with more guided templates. Then we could work up to the blank template that we had at the end of this year.
The poster lists ways to "fill a bucket" such as being nice, smiling, giving compliments to others, etc.

This poster was also an idea from Pinterest. However, I changed it for our classroom. The teacher who originally posted this on Pinterest had a different phrase, that I can't quite remember at the moment, but it kinda had a negative twist to it. Part of the "Love and Logic" philosophy is having students solve their own problems. I quite ofter tell my students they are "allowed to do _______ as long as it doesn't cause a problem". To go along with that mindset, I created this poster. In order to be a successful student, they must learn how to solve problems. I felt like this was an appropriate guide or discussion starter to help students understand what being a "problem solver" would look like. I referred to this poster quite often through the year.

I also created a poster that showed the difference between "Problem Solving Independently" or "Need Help with Problem Solving". I don't like to use the word "tattling" and really try my hardest not to use it in my classroom. At some point in a student's life, they are going to need help from others to solve problems. I want to teach my students that there are times when they can problem solve on their own and sometimes they need help to problem solve. It is part of my job as a teacher to help them learn the difference. I forgot to take a picture of this one before I took it down, but I plan to remake it with my students next year as a beginning of the year activity.

This is my "Love and Logic Classroom" poster I created. I use these phrases quite often in my classroom. I also create a separate poster with the school rules and refer to our "Love and Logic Classroom" poster as well. All students sign the poster in agreement for the class expectations through the year. If you have not read "Teaching with Love and Logic" I highly recommend it. It completely changed the way I interacted with my students and significantly reduced my stress level throughout the year. Not to say that it wasn't a challenging year, but Love and Logic gave me some tools to help me through it!

These are my pocket charts for my stations. I had one set for the morning "Reading Group/Literacy Stations" and one set for the afternoon "Math Work Stations". Since our students change for the morning, I couldn't keep one set for both the morning and the afternoon. I haven't completely decided if I am going to do "Literacy Stations" next year. I am reading up on Lucy Caulkin's Reading and Writing Workshop. I may do a mixture of stations and workshop, but I haven't figured out how it would work yet.