Back To School Books!

The start of a new school year is always a great time to share books about friendship, manners, and celebrating uniqueness with students.  There are a few books about friendship that are my all-time favorites.  Tarra and Bella by Carol Buckley is story about a unique friendship between an elephant and a dog.  The story is endearing and lends itself to discussions about loyalty among friends and that friendship can come in all shapes and sizes.  After I read the story with students, I usually show them the news clips about Tarra and Bella from CBS news.  Watch the segment "On Elephant Sanctuary, Unlikely Friends" first, then watch "Elephant Loses Man's Best Friend".  Get your tissues ready.  It pulls at your heart strings.  

Another story that I love about unusual friendships is Owen and Mzee by Paula Kahumbu.  It's about an Aldabra tortoise and a baby hippo.  A great story about how friends can help one another in a crisis.  There's a fun video you can show students on Vimeo called, "Owen and Mzee:  The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship".

In addition to books about friendship, I like to read books to my students about celebrating how everyone is unique and has something special to offer to each other.  Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a clever book about a character named Spoon who tries to compare himself to all the other utensils in the silverware drawer, such as knife, fork, and chopsticks.  In the end, he accepts himself for who he is and learns to love his unique qualities. This funny book is perfect for opening up a discussion about student's unique gifts and talents.  

Here are two more great books for the beginning of the year.  Spork by Kyo Maclear celebrates individuality and demonstrates the importance of tolerance and leads to great discussions about respect for differences.  Another great book about friendship by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is Chopsticks.  Both of these books are funny and will leave your students giggling and wanting more.  

The beginning days of school are a great opportunity to refresh students memories about manners.  There is a set of books by Munro Leaf that are so cute and funny. They include Manners Can Be Fun, How To Speak Politely And Why, and How To Behave And Why. Even though they were published in the 1930's, his advice still stands the test of time.  My students love the simple, but funny illustrations.  

Some other great books to share with students about manners include Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller, Whoopi's Big Book of Manners by Whoopi Goldberg, and What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick.

If you have a great book that you love to read to your students at the beginning of a school year, please write the title in the comment section.  Thanks so much and happy reading!

A 5th Grade Reading Classroom Tour

This is a tour of my 5th Grade Reading Classroom.  I recently transferred from one elementary school to another and changed teaching positions.  I used to teach a self-contained class and now am teaching reading and vocabulary to four sections of fifth grade students.  This is my 18th year of teaching and I am so excited for a new challenge.  So, it's a new classroom, a new school, and a new teacher position for me.  Lots of changes. Here's the new look of my reading classroom. I hope you enjoy and leave with a few ideas.  Happy teaching!

Welcome to my 5th grade reading classroom.

This is what my classroom looked like before I moved in!  I had two large metal storage cabinets, a teacher desk, two bookshelves, a round table, and student desks and chairs. Wait until you see the transformation!

                               
                                        Q

My reading mini-lesson area.  I also use this area for morning meeting.  I bought the wicker chair from Garden Ridge and the little table from Big Lots.  It is a comfy spot to read and to teach lessons to my students.  The chart stand is perfect for writing anchor charts and the bulletin board behind this area will serve as our anchor chart display.  The book baskets to the right in the picture are for our leveled library.  I got the shelves at Big Lots when they went on sale and I had a 20 percent off coupon.  My husband put them together.  I found the turquoise baskets at Big Lots as well.  I made the level signs with scrapbook paper and my Cricut.  Now, my students can easily find books on their level.

This is a cozy reading nook for students.  I found the red plastic Adirondack chairs at Lowe's, the turquoise pillows and READ letters at Old Time Pottery, the rugs at Ross, the curtains at Garden Ridge,  and the inspirational signs at Big Lots.  The lanterns and pom poms came from a party supply store.  I also have pillows that students can use while reading around the room. My students love all the cozy places to read.   I am always on the lookout for bargains for my classroom.

This is our leveled classroom library for chapter books.  The cube shelving units I got at Big Lots were the perfect size for the turquoise baskets that I got at the same place.  These shelves keep our classroom library books organized and easy to find.

Here's how I display magazines in my classroom.  It's just three hooks and one curtain rod.  Magazines are in plastic sheet protectors and hung on the rods with shower rings with clips.  I keep a variety of magazines for students:  Time for Kids, Zoo Books, Kids Discover, American Girl, A Boy's Life, Ranger Rick, and Scholastic News.  

It takes everyone in the class working together to make a successful classroom, so everyone has a weekly job.  I used library pockets that have each job listed, along with a job description, and Popsicle sticks with numbers.  For completing their jobs, students get paid in tickets at the end of the week.  It's a great way to get things done efficiently and promote responsibility in students.  They love having a job every week, and they especially love getting paid.

Here's my teacher desk area.  I have to say that it is "organized chaos"!  I keep my teacher materials in the black storage cabinet behind my desk and I organize weekly assignments in the caddy that has labels for Monday through Friday.  I have a round table with small stools that I use for small groups (I'll add a photo later when I post about small group management).  

 This is how I organize our daily lunch count.  It also acts as the attendance count.  Students move their round wooden circle with their personal number to their lunch choice for the day.  If a student doesn't make a choice, then I know they are absent.   I made the signs on my Cricut and bought the wooden circles at Michael's craft store, painted them, and glued magnets to the back.  One of the student jobs is to fill out the lunch count for the cafeteria.

I didn't have enough bookshelves, so my handy husband made some simple black wooden shelves for me.  They are the perfect size for these red tubs I found at Wal-Mart.  These tubs are for pictures books and non-fiction books which are also organized by F&P level.

                      So, this is my 5th Grade Reading Classroom. Thanks for stopping by.                                Have a wonderful school year!