Choice Lit Topic: Classroom Design
There’s been a remarkable amount of brain research demonstrating how crucial environments are for learning. Cozy, well-lit and well-organized spaces are essential for literacy learners of any age. The constraints teachers face in designing and organizing their classrooms are enormous — from irritated fire marshals to fear of lice infestations, with limited budgets always at the forefront. You’ll be inspired by these beautiful classrooms, created by teachers who manage to design spaces any reader or writer would love.
Results
Adjusting the Classroom Library for Student Needs
It won’t work. Can I make it work? No, I can’t make it work. This was my circle of thought during the first month of school. I had recently finished...
Nonfiction Displays
In this five-minute video room tour, 4th grade teacher Andrea Smith from Dublin, Ohio shows how she builds a classroom community and much of her literacy curriculum from the care and study of unusual pets.
Reorganizing the Classroom Library
I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. Jorge Luis Borges It’s Monday morning in my fourth-grade classroom, always a busy time for returning and...
Reorganizing Primary Information Texts
Each summer, I think about all the things I want to change in my classroom for the upcoming year. I think about replenishing supplies like chart paper and colored paper,...
Classroom Environment: Access to Supplies
One way I promote a sense of community and ownership is by making all supplies and materials accessible to students. I make time during the first few days of school...
Classroom Environment: Bulletin Boards
At the beginning of each year, I make it clear to students that it is "our" classroom, not "my" classroom and that we share responsibility for taking care of our...
Beyond Cute: Print Rich with Purpose
Preparation for the new school year is under way. Are visions of chevrons, polka dots, and owls dancing in your head? Many classrooms are filled with them. Rosy-cheeked, curly-headed children...
Creating a Classroom Environment That Supports Community Building and Independence
I absolutely love setting up classrooms and get excited every summer when I get the chance to change parts, rearrange, add, and/or delete. I want to create a classroom environment...
Curating a Classroom Library
If you had told me 15 years ago when I began teaching that I would get rid of at least 200 books in my classroom library each year, I would...
Classroom Environment: Classroom Libraries
Anyone who knows me can tell you that one of my greatest passions is children's books. I thrive on finding, buying, reading, and sharing children's books. When a colleague or...
The Power of Charts in the Classroom
I love creating charts with students each year during read-alouds, minilessons, and discussions. In my classroom, you will never see charts that are laminated, store-bought, or faded from previous years....
Classroom Displays for Nonfiction Learning
We are surrounded by visible reminders in our daily lives: dates marked on calendars, sticky notes left for family members on the refrigerator, or comments made on an article shared...
Reorganizing the Classroom Library
When entering my classroom, you immediately notice one thing: books. The classroom library now houses more than 3,000 titles. In more than 14 years of teaching, I have amassed quite...
Inviting Book Tub Titles: Nonfiction Library Redesign
The Dewey Decimal System is an organizer’s dream for placing an expanding supply of informational texts into a library, a way to help readers find what they need with the...
Community Board: Invitations to Independence
Our Community Area is a large space where we gather for meetings, lessons, and read-alouds. It gives students an unobstructed view of the Smartboard for shared texts and e-books; the...
Helping Allison Redesign Her Classroom Nonfiction Library
Visiting other teachers’ classrooms during my 28 years of teaching has provided a privileged way to see how classroom design, especially the classroom library’s design, affects children's learning lives. I...
A Classroom for Elementary English Language Learners
Stella Villalba gives a tour of the classroom library and publishing corner in her grades 1-5 classroom for English language learners.
Effective Organization
I’ve come to believe you can only be as effective as you are organized. I first learned this truth as an artist, when I set up my studio. (Studio is...
Room Tour: Mandy Robek’s Kindergarten Classroom
Mandy Robek shares her kindergarten classroom design, with an emphasis on literacy and collaboration. Mandy is a teacher in Powell, Ohio, which does not have a full-day kindergarten program. She...
The Information Board: Celebrating Nonfiction Every Day
An anchor display in our room is our Information Board, a place to highlight nonfiction resources and our learning. This display has two purposes: Half of the display shares nonfiction...
Habits That Maximize Time
This is the key to time management—to see the value of every moment. Menachem Mendel Schneerson How often are we reminded of the value of ONE minute? When I’m...
