Library Makeover, Second in a Three Part Series

Last week's Tip of the Week addressed Classroom Libraries. The article outlined the process we went through to create a classroom library that is easy for children to find books they love as well as return them to the correct place, all independently.

In last week's tip we talked about the step during the makeover where every book was sorted into a pile by either subject, genre, or author. After every book had been assigned a pile, one of us sat at the computer and opened an Excel sheet, typing in the name of each pile as it was called out. The Excel sheet became the table of contents for our newly organized library!

We get so many requests to see this table of contents. Often times it is helpful in the process of re-doing a library, to see what other topics, genres or author tubs teachers have.

New this week for members

As we gear up for back to school, the anticipation of getting to know our kids goes hand in hand with thinking about their assessments. Where do we hold assessment conferences, how do we organize the assessments, what about all the paperwork? Join Joan in this video as she takes you on a tour of her assessment area:

Many beginning readers come to school with a real sense of urgency to be able to spell, write and read their own names. In this first of a three part video series, you will watch Joan and Daniel work with one of his youngest ELL students and beginning readers, Maria. Watch as Joan layers the conference with new learning and a look toward future learning:

We know from experience that making a goal visible helps us stay motivated to achieve it. Our kids aren't any different. Below you will find the link to our "Graphing Stamina" download that we use in our classrooms to make building stamina goals visible: