Teacher Toolbox

If I could show a picture of my desk drawers at school, I think most people would recoil in horror.  Although I have the best of intentions, as the year goes on, highlighters, pens, and binder clips tend to just get thrown in the drawer.  I end up accumulating too much stuff and then have nowhere to put it.  So as I was browsing Pinterest, a single project stood out: the teacher toolbox.  Yesterday, I made it and I am thrilled with the results!

My inspiration from this project came from here: Learning in Bliss and Create. Teach. Share.

This was so simple and cost less than 20 dollars to make.  I bought the set of drawers from Lowes (Stack on 22-Drawer Storage Cabinet located in Hardware) for about $16.  I then picked out 4 complimentary designs of scrapbook paper from Michaels, Mod Podge, and sponge applicators.

To size the paper, I simply removed a drawer, traced it on the paper and cut to size.  My friend Bridget brought this nifty paper cutter over:

This made it so easy for me to get fast, straight cuts.  In fact, my mission today is to find one of these for myself.  

I printed out the drawer labels on printer paper.   To make sizing easy, I used two of the formatted labels available in Microsoft Word (Avery 8660 and 8163 to be exact).    I used embellished scissors to cut out the words, and then used a thin layer of mod podge to affix the label to my already sized piece of scrapbook paper.  After that, I brushed another thin layer of mod podge on the paper, taking care to avoid the printed words, since they bleed.  I pressed the finished product into place on the inside of the drawer and Voila!  Perfect place to store all my various teacher necessities!

Reading about Reading

It's all I've been thinking about for the past week... how am I going to teach reading next year?

This will be my fifth year teaching fifth grade and I have not yet found a reading program that works for me or my students.  I want my students to read... a lot.  However, that's easier said than done.  When I was in elementary school, I loved to read!  I would read under my desk instead of listening to my teacher.  My favorites were books by R.L. Stine and the Babysitter's Club series.  My favorite days were when the book order came in (yes, I was that kid). 

Even though these were the days before high stakes testing, my school did have us take the Metropolitan Achievement Test to see how we were faring.  It always became a competition between me and my friend, Heather, as to who could get the highest score.  We always scored in the high school level - which looking back on it, really makes me doubt the accuracy of those tests.   Most importantly, I was always above grade level and I base that on the fact that I read... a lot.

For the past five years, I've been teaching out of our district mandated basal reading series.  The program doesn't allow for a lot of personal choice when it comes to reading.  Some may say that students should be reading at home, but that often doesn't happen for my struggling readers.  I teach in a high-poverty neighborhood.   Many of the parents are concentrating on just making ends meet and most of my students don't even own a single book.  In a neighborhood like this one, the school and teachers can have a tremendous influence on a student's reading lifestyle.  It's actually the reason I teach where I do.  I know my students need me and I know I can have a great impact on them. 

So now I read and think about how to reach them all.  Here are some of my finds:

I found this blog through pinterest.  It is written by two Chicago-area teachers and they have amazing ideas in all curriculum areas.  What caught my eye is this:

Click on the picture to link to the post.  These teachers detail how they keep their records for individual reading conferences, guided reading groups, etc.  I have to admit that the reading workshop model is a little intimidating organization-wise, and this post makes it seem doable.  They base their practice on two seminal reading workshop texts:

I'm reading Reading Essentials currently and I love it!  Regie Routman's philosophy is that we teachers are doing too much busy work and not enough of the practices that improve students' literary achievement.  We keep them busy with too many literacy "activities" and not enough actual reading.  Meanwhile, we're running around like crazy, trying to stock centers and plan activities, that we have no time for evaluating worthwhile assessments that could improve our teaching and move our students forward.  She suggests making an independent reading program at least 30 minutes of your reading block.  I'm thinking that I want to make that happen.  It will be more than just "take out a book and read.":-)

Finally. I'm doing a book study of the Daily Five and the CAFE Book here: 




These are fantastic books that detail what students should be doing during independent time when you are seeing groups and also how to structure your lessons to improve student reading.  This book study is led by teacher bloggers and focuses on implementing the Daily Five in the upper elementary grades.   The 100+ comments on each post are a little daunting, but I love reading other teacher's thoughts, especially when I find that they share the same struggles as I do.  I like it even more when others have found solutions to my challenges.

Library of Dreams

Like the Billy Joel song...

That is how strongly I feel about my classroom library.  And I should feel like that, because this project occupied my entire day.  What I thought would be a 2 hour project, took 7!  7 hours!  I've always wanted an organized library.  I have an amazing one at home, so why should school be any different? I've tried in years past to organize my class library, but I've always been bogged down in the number of genres I chose to separate the books into or felt immediately discouraged when the library dissolved into a complete mess by the end of the first week.

Then I read The Book Whisperer - the subject of my previous post.  Donalyn Miller describes in the appendix about "The Care and Feeding of a Classroom Library."  I thought to myself, "this could work."

Introducing, my new and redesigned classroom library (click on each picture for a larger view):

Each basket is labeled with the genre of the books it contains.

Every basket has a number.  That same number is also on every book in that basket.

Organized books are a lovely sight.

I am ecstatic about the results.  And I should be... because while other teachers were planning and hanging hallway bulletin boards, I was on the floor sorting books.  Totally worth it.

The Book Whisperer

My friend, Sarah, introduced me to the book The Book Whisperer over the summer.  On her recommendation, I downloaded it onto my iPad and read.  The author, Donalyn Miller, is a sixth grade teacher (read her blog here) who uses independent reading as the center of her reading program.  Her students are expected to read at least 40 books throughout the year!  This comes as a shock to many students - and my students are no different - because most go through an entire year only reading two.    How is this possible?  Today, students don't get a choice in the books they read in class.  As teachers, we instruct mainly out of a reading anthology with passages of full length novels.  While I do see the benefit in our anthology, I also know that it doesn't promote the love of reading.

When I was in elementary school, I remember being hooked on The Babysitter's Club series.  I would get so involved in one of the books, that I would hold the novel on my lap and read under the desk while my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Safford, instructed at the front of the room.  Due to their only being ten other students in my class, my teacher caught me pretty often.  However, I remember that anticipation of not knowing how the plot will turn and this strong wish that Mrs. Safford would stop talking and let me get back to my book.

I want that for my students.

I want them to become so engrossed in a book that they forget they're in a classroom.  I want them to haul that book around everywhere.  I want them to run into walls because they were walking while reading (I've done it).   Because while I am responsible for teaching the reading skills needed for fifth grade, I also want to give my students a more lasting gift.  I want them to be able to call themselves "readers."

Five stars for The Book Whisperer.  Reading it made me want to get back into the classroom immediately.