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
Reorganizing Guided Reading Supplies
In this video from a first-grade classroom, Joan Moser and Gail Boushey ("The Sisters") help Kelly Yahr reorganize the books and materials in her guided reading instruction area.
A Seating Arrangement that Empowers: The Conversation Circle
How many of you have tried to lead a writing or reading share time with elementary students who'd rather chat with a friend about recess, or hide under the easel...
Classroom Changes and Birdhouse Gourds
I work with 24 third and fourth graders in a multiage classroom. Writing is a social endeavor for us - we have writing partners that help us grow our thinking...
It May Be a Mess, But It’s Our Mess: Creating a Student-Organized Classroom Library
It may be a mess, but it's our mess . . . This is my thought as I look around my first grade classroom. Children are spread out in groups...
Organizing a Classroom Nonfiction Library with Students
I will be honest with you. I am not a shopper. I do not like strolling through malls, hunting for bargains at outlet shops, or spending extended time under the...
Keeping “House” in a Literacy-Rich Classroom
Housecleaning is not one of my favorite chores, but it is necessary for my life to be organized (and for me to have some sense of sanity considering the pace...
Pencil Plans
I've always had a very comfortable relationship with No. 2 pencils. William Styron You are about to get really honest with yourself and no one else has to hear...
Creating a Kindergarten Classroom Library
Overwhelming. This is the only word I could use for many months as I thought about the transition from my third grade to a kindergarten classroom library. The first step...
Redesigning a Classroom: Putting Students First (and Technology in Its Place)
It takes time, effort, thinking, rearranging, and more thinking to design a classroom environment . . . and then every summer the cycle repeats itself. I set up a kindergarten...
You Never Know What You’re Going To Get
One of the things I find myself struggling with is that as I get older, I get busier. As my retired dad gets older, he has more time. This is...
Reorganizing Books in the Reading Support Classroom
You could say teaching is in my blood . . . literally. There is a long line of teachers in my family. My mom is a reading support teacher, and...
Favorite Spaces (Part 1)
Look at your learning space with 21st-century eyes: Does it work for what we know about learning today or just for what we knew about learning in the past? The...
Favorite Spaces (Part 2)
Look at your learning space with 21st-century eyes: Does it work for what we know about learning today or just for what we knew about learning in the past? The...
Bookroom Makeover in the Midst
In this video tour, Jessica Ardela and Josie Stewart talk about the renovations in progress in bookrooms at their school in Dublin, Ohio. The goal is to make it easier...
What Messages Do We Give Students with Our Classroom Library Design?
In the article Room for Beliefs: Linking Classroom Design and What We Value, Debbie Miller helps us think through the ways that our room design reflects the things we value about...
Book Boxes – Voices from the Classroom
Organizing the books that your students are reading independently often presents a challenge for teachers. How can you keep track of what's in the boxes, ensure everyone is making appropriate...
Changing the Learning Landscape: Organizing My 6th Grade Classroom (PHOTO ESSAY)
I wouldn't consider myself a big television fan, but I am addicted to the Bravo and HGTV design shows. I also have a special spot in my heart for Ty...
Out of the Closet and into the Classroom: Bookroom Management Tips for Literacy Coaches
Literacy coaches seldom have neutral feelings about their school's literacy closet or bookroom. They either love it or hate it. They love it at the beginning of the school year...
A Workshop Model in the Library: Time for More Than Book Checkout
Starting a new job as a school librarian has been a learning experience for me. There is so much to love from being around books and kids all day, sharing...
A Tornado of Books
Each year, for the last ten years or so, a "tornado of books" has hit my room sometime in the first two weeks of school. It is pure craziness; books...
Student Independence and Ownership in the Library
When I think about my long-term goals as a K-5 school librarian, I have to think about the skills that I want my students to have when they leave fifth...
