Classroom Library Facelift... or Full On Surgery!

Alright. All teachers have pet peeves. I have a couple, or a few, or maybe a lot! Haha. But each year I pick and choose one or two things to tweak to see if my peeves can become more of a perk.

One of those pet peeves was my library area.  Problems included how to organize (leveled?, genre?, none at all?), and (the big one) how kids put my organization back in order! Throughout the years, I've tried a variety of methods, but here is a picture of the latest method before the major library facelift (combo of baskets with major themes and then other books on shelves by genre/theme).

BEFORE picture

Last year, I even made a sign letting kids know how to use the book markers in the library and how I've pulled out my hair every year. It doesn't work.  

Let's start the FACELIFT!!!

I felt after this last year, I needed to change up my environment to feel fresh & new again. So what better time than now to just fix this library up. I knew it would be a tedious process, but I guess that's what summers are partially for! Teachers on a break completely??? Pishh!

Basically, I researched different organizational styles and decided to follow these directions: 

• Daily 5/CAFE article on Classroom Library Makeover - 7 Steps  
• or video explaining the process

Back to School Night

Back to School Night...when teachers present to the parents/families what their child's school year will be like.  It is an important night because it's a great time to build rapport and get family support from the get go.

I remember always thinking, "Ugh, it's so soon in the year.  I barely know their kids.  Why can't it be a few weeks in???"  But now that I've thought about it, it's okay that it's early.  I prefer it so that I get all my information out to them as soon as possible.  There are definitely years where I had to wing it when I told them about curriculum since it wasn't all figured out yet, but it's also okay if you change things.

So what's on students' desks???

• Name tag (I encourage parents to check out their child's desk for neatness and see what we've been working on so far)
• Apple for parent (see below for information about the poem and where I got the idea)
• Packet of information about classroom/curriculum & tips on how they can help their child this year (packet is underneath so you can't see it)
• Letter to parent from student welcoming them and telling them what they are excited about and what they've already learned so far.
• Tent card for parent to write a positive note to their child while they mingle and wait. 
• Pen/pencil so parent can write the note. 

Cleaning Cards - Why didn't I think of this before?

Ever have one of those days where all of a sudden you look around the classroom and realize it is all out of whack? Not like a hurricane hit it, but it's the little things that look big that bother you, like these:

• books/dictionaries are backwards or spine is faced IN!
• tape was obviously used because pieces students did not want are now stuck onto the counter
• random pencils (which are always scarce) are laying all over the place
• there is a colored pencil in the marker bin & scissors in the ruler bin (can't they read the label?)
• paper is in the recycling bin because someone was too lazy to walk across the room
• that same tiny piece of trash has been there for 3 days
• There is trash sitting directly by the trash can, not in it

You get the point.

What a Week! Cheers to November!

So this past week was conference week.  MAN, AM I TIRED!!!  We got today off, so you better believe I slept in.  But when you have to teach all week (full days) and then conference until 8pm multiple days in a row, it can drain you.  (I would also throw in my current state of pregnancy doesn't help, but I've really been feeling fine.)  It's different when I think of things to work on and end up working until 8pm because I choose to; but there's something about back to back meetings and 12 hour days that can just get to you.  On my first day, I only had a 20 minute lunch break in between two conferences and had to chow down fast.

So anyway, my student led conferences went really well.  I posted how I ran them here.  92% of my appointments showed, which is great!  I would say my most successful conference was also my most difficult parent.  Have you ever had one of those parents that is more difficult to work with than the kid?  Who am I kidding.  Do I have to ask?  Yeah, the one that doesn't support you from the get go, believes everything the lying kid says (who, by the way, is smart enough to know this and manipulates the adults in his life to pit them against each other), and claims to want the kid to be accountable, but they give in every time.  That's the conference I asked my principal to sit in on with me not because I couldn't handle her myself, but because I wanted the conference time to be focused and have his support.  Anyway, the kid's lies were all out there, miscommunication/more lies he told them at home surfaced, and samples of his lack of effort were unveiled. among other things.  Parent even apologized to me for pitting herself against me and believing every word her kid said before asking me, etc.  I also turned around the anger she felt towards her kid by showing her what he is capable of and giving her suggestions on how we/kid could move forward.  We discussed two goals the kid can focus on this quarter, and what we (home & school) can each specifically do to ensure we help him this next quarter.  I also sent a follow-up email detailing this information so it's clear.  Phew!!! How long will this support last throughout the year?  Who knows, but I'll take it as it comes.  :)

We also finished our first read aloud for the year, The Witches, by Roald Dahl.  I love this book!  I make the Grand High Witch voice when she speaks, which makes the students laugh, and I always stop at the worst times (which is when something is about to happen).  It was a perfect ending time for the book because we were able to watch the movie before Halloween to compare and contrast the book and movie.  Anyway, this year, I decided to do something different with my read aloud time.  Listening AND comprehending is a skill and I don't necessarily like them drawing or working on other things, tuning in only when they want to.  So I created these listening response questions that students answer after each read aloud (or whenever I have time for them to respond).  Here are some student samples below:

Daily 5/CAFE

Okay, so ever since I did the book studies last year at my school, I have discovered Daily 5/CAFE has been a pretty big craze, meaning I've found a ton of posts and blogs all about Daily 5/CAFE.  This is my first attempt at it this year and I wanted to post some things that are working well and reservations I have.  Obviously, trying anything new takes time and I plan to use it next year too before deciding how I want to run my reading/writing stations.

Book Boxes:
Can we talk about how EXPENSIVE magazine holders are?  Even cheap ones multiplied by 30 does not equal cheap.  Anyway, I found a pretty inexpensive way to make book boxes and did it this past summer.  Here's the site I found with the information & directions: Book Boxes from Priority Mail Boxes.  I ordered the boxes from USPS and they shipped it to me for free.  The cost of labor was spending some summer time doing all this, but after buying paint (about 3-4 cans for 15 boxes), the cost was about $0.82/box.