Happy Friday! I hope you have wonderful plans for the long weekend. As for my wife and I, I think we are "stay-cationing" for the weekend!
I wanted to let you know that I've posted a freebie in my TpT store! You can click the little button over there on the right or follow this link to download my
IPICK Bookmarks. I tried to post a nice little picture of them on here, but for whatever reason, they were coming out really blurry. So, just click the link to get your freebie!
Next up... I've been waffling back and forth on how to organize my classroom library because it seems every year I start a system I think will be good only to have it fall apart half way through the school year. I went out in search of blog posts on the subject and one in particular led me to...
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| http:///classroom.booksource.com |
The only problem is... I can't remember which blog it was! If you pointed me to the Classroom Organizer, please comment below so I can give you the accolades you deserve! Update: I figured out who pointed me in the direction of Booksource -- Tiffani from Time4Organization! Check out her blog - lots of great organizational ideas there!
Anyhoot... I just spent the last day or so cataloging 393 books by scanning the bar codes with an iPhone (free app also available for Android) and now I have a spreadsheet with titles & guided reading levels. How cool is that?! What is more, you can create a class roster and have your students check out your books using the online tools! It's definitely worth a look!!
Finally... I got to visit my new classroom the other day! I thought I'd post a few "before" pictures for you guys.
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| Maybe where my classroom library will be? |
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| Student workstations |
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| Student workstations |
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| I'm thinking is will be my "meeting" area for Morning Meeting and minilessons. |
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| I have a sink! Woot! |
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| Teacher workstation |
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| Cubbies with additional storage up top! Score! |
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| This will be the CAFE menu for Daily 5. |
Presently, my challenge is where I will put my bean bags and other reading furniture I had in my other classroom. I'd love to have a designated reading area, but we may have to get creative with how we do that.
So, I guess that's it for today! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Be sure to show your appreciation for our military this weekend! :)
I just recently started using Book Source, too. I'd like to learn more about how you specifically use it next year!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to use the "online checkout" part of BookSource. I love the fact I can pull reports to see who has what book, and to see if my students are reading at their level (most of the time!). I'll be sure to let you know how it goes! :)
DeleteOh thanks! I will have to check into that. I started using book crawler but got tired of scanning in my books. Maybe I should finish that. LOL! I know, I know the initial part will be a pain but the maintenance later on should be nice. The thing is book crawler has something like 500 books scanned in and I am not a 1/2 through the library my boys have! I have not yet decided if I am stealing all of their books or just the ones that aren't their most favorites or what. Decisions... Decisions... guess it will all depend upon the grade level.
ReplyDeleteLove your sneak peek look at your classroom. Oh and for pictures of things I create - printscreen and paint are your friend! =)
Misty