Shazam! If You Move It They Will Come

As a teacher you have a superpower! Your power of suggestion can influence learners. 

If I take a book and simply move it to a table somewhere in the room, students will decide to read it. STUDENT: Hey, these books are about today's Social Studies lesson! I didn't know you had these. Can I read them?

If I put it on the front ledge and spotlight it, they will read it. STUDENT: OMG these books are what you talked about in SEL! We should read them.

If I stick a big book in a smaller basket, they are intrigued and will pick it up. STUDENT: Did you put this book like this? Can I read it?

If I stand picture books in the midst of chapter books, they will pick them up. STUDENT to STUDENT: We should read these books because the girls look like friends!

How Many Books Do You Have?!

There are two reasons I spend a lot of time organizing my library each school year.  1. I love books. 2. I teach Literacy. I stay current with reading research which seems to change every year.  Some years we should Lexile our books. Some years we should use F&P or DRA or AR levels to group our books.  One time I tried the color-code method.  I have tried all of these various ways to organize my classroom library, but I have observed that students respond to books that are grouped by topics.  

The first thing I do when organizing my classroom library is to split them into Fiction and Nonfiction.  Then I put them into baskets and create my topics.  Sometimes they are grouped by author or series.  Sometimes they are simple: cats, dogs, horses. I also take suggestions from my readers and they come up with some pretty funny topics! This also helps me collect books that they want to read.

*TIP--I place Historical Fiction and Diaries between Fiction and Nonfiction.

*Even though these are four different bins, they are related. Horizon, Lost, and Stranded series are next to books about Survival.

Again, these are separate bins that are all related: Boxcar Children, 39 Clues, A to Z, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew are all next to the Mystery genre bin.

*Draw the readers to certain bins by adding props!

*Does your classroom library make every reader feel represented? I noticed last year that my library clearly represented Caucasian and African Americans, but I need to increase my Asian and Hispanic culture books. I added these topics into my bins. I also added a Native American bin.

Students will value reading books about students who are like them.  This is my favorite bin because it has such great stories!

Readers will connect with characters who have families likes their own.  Readers won't feel alone or like an outcast if they can read books about families that are not perfect.  

You can read this topic bin two ways: Family Matters (like they have issues) or Family Matters (like it is important).

Every year I seem to have twins in my class, so I like to have a bin for them!

Who doesn't love books about dachshunds and hotdogs?!   

Ease is the Word

Ease of use is one of my top priorities when creating new activities.  They need to be easy to store, easy to use, and easy to adapt.  I took all of my ELA task cards and ELA student games and grouped them together by standard.  They are stored in containers with the standards written on the front.  I do not mind spending money at Dollar Tree when it makes my teaching job easier.

Now if I need a quick review activity, because yesterday's exit tickets showed a lot of misunderstanding, I can just grab a container and do an activity.  When planning for small groups, I can hand the container to the person meeting with my students.  It is easy to add new cards/games when I find them.  If a TA is scheduled to meet with a group, but she can't make it, then I can show students how to play the game and let them work together.

Indoor Recess Conundrum

A rainy day that causes indoor recess also forces teachers to make a decision.  The children usually just want to go on their Chromebooks or draw or sit and talk.  Well, if I choose those for indoor recess, then I can probably sit and get some work done for myself.  This makes me feel guilty because I know they should be doing something somewhat active.  I collected a bunch of activities that I had in my cupboards and made some indoor recess bins.  Some of the games I found at Dollar Tree, so I do not mind spending a couple bucks on some games that might make a rainy day easier.

Student Ownership

In a previous post, On Purpose, I explained how our classroom works as a community.  This week our Kindness Captain (another blog post) created some new signs and even had the students sign one of them.  Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but it also lets a teacher know that the students internalized and valued the activity we did in class.  Whenever a student shows you they made something for the classroom, and they want to hang it up in the classroom, let them.  Do not be in control of your classroom decor--it is their classroom, too.

Sticker Madness

Staying current on popular trends with students is important to help develop relationships.  I talk about the latest video games, play the latest music, add You Tube/Snap Chat/Tik Tok to my lessons.  One current trend that brings me back to my own childhood is the sticker collecting.  Students have the opportunity to choose stickers for random reasons in my classroom.  It might be for helping a classmate, using manners, having an organized cubby, or just because I feel like it.  They are NOT linked to behavior.  Throughout the week I make sure every student receives one.

*Warning:  make sure you always look carefully through stickers sets to remove any that are inappropriate for school-age children.

Most students put their stickers on their water bottles, but some stickers have shown up at fun places around the classroom!  I love that the students are comfortable enough in OUR classroom to add their stickers to enhance the environment.  

Don't miss out on the Among Us video game trend right now.  If you know about this game and you can use the vocabulary from it, you can get students excited about anything!  I picked this bag of stickers up at a discount store this weekend and I cannot wait to show my learners.  I know they will be excited.