I am so excited to be sharing my classroom with you! I teach first grade in Marietta and I love it! When I started thinking about my favorite spot in our classroom, I instantly thought about our book spaces.
Confession~I have too many books. I know. Thing is, I am always trying to match a reader with a book. Like the kid who really wanted Mario Brothers books (that was a challenge) and the struggling reader who wanted to learn everything there is to know about gerbils. Yep, gerbils. I consider this a personal challenge and it becomes slightly obsessive! This leads to way too many books, lots of organizing and reorganizing (thank goodness for these first grade helpers!) To manage the madness, I weed through all of the baskets at the end of the year. Students take them home or they are passed on to another teacher. After all, sharing is caring. :)
Let's get to the sneak peak!
Debbie Miller suggests we surround are students with books. Got it! This is one of our book areas. It houses Magic Treehouse, Arthur, Brand New Readers, Seuss, and David Shannon to name a few. They are sorted by series or author and most are leveled on the inside cover. That level is for me, not the readers.
Next up-the reading bench area. This cozy space has the most amazing natural light. Sometimes I have student conferences here just so I can enjoy it! #noshame
Conveniently located next to the bench are two more bookshelves. One has mostly informational books sorted by topic or series and the other has genres, authors, and more.
Heading to the center of the room takes us to more chapter books, biographies, movie favorites, holidays, and more. Last year's class helped me divide the baskets into these groups. They helped me because it was, well, their idea.
My latest addition to the book organization is this beautiful set of shelves from Ikea. I mean, wow, right? I'm in love. I.love.them. My mentor texts live here (when we are not using them) along with my thematic books. They are all out during our units, I promise! It was hard to let my favorites go into their hands for long periods of time, but I did it and I've never looked back!
Guided reading books are on this shelf and across the top. Some of my teacher goodies are here and there as I spend some time here during workshop.
There you have it! I'm so happy with my classroom this year. It has more students, more organization, more books, and more smiles than ever! What's your favorite part of your classroom?
Lyssa
