Welcome!

Hi friends! This blog is for teachers and families- all for the sheer joy of literacy. When we are enthusiastic about reading and writing our students and our own kids become excited to read and write. I hope that we all can be models for those in our care- how did you show your passion for reading, writing, learning, language, or words today?? It's in those small, daily moments that we teach kids to love literacy.


Friday, November 25, 2011

Tour of my Reading Intervention Classroom

I know that my room is not the best reading room out there (by far!!). But, I though I'd share with you all what I did with my awkward (peach) space to make it work for me and my students.
I work for a charter school that rents out an old catholic school. The classrooms are small, and the extra spaces for the psychologist/ed specialist/counselor (etc...) are quite limited. I moved rooms this year- from the random small room above the gym to a different (slightly bigger and more versatile) room on the stage. I think I'm in an old storage/prop/dressing room. Well, I've grown to like it. I call my room the reading loft, because it's quite lofty indeed!

You enter and head up the stairs. I keep my filing cabinet on the landing, along with noise-cancelling headphones (I use for Read 180). I also store 2 bean bag chairs under the stairs. The kids love these. I have all my intervention students names on the oak tree. There's a (hidden) bookshelf between the stairs and the wall.
This is where I work with small groups. The table also doubles as my desk to save space.

On the wall by the table: I have small pocket charts for vocabulary for each of my small groups, Thinking Maps, SIPPS Sound Cards, and a timer for my groups.

Boxes of leveled books I use for my intervention groups. I have 6 of each book set.
These clear bins hold materials (books, folders, etc...) for each of my groups.

I had this Einstein poster from when I taught middle school. I converted it to a poster for decoding tips. I like to tell my students that Einstein (the smarty that he was!!!) had a hard time learning how to read.
These bins are labeled and leveled so that kids can borrow books weekly.
On the other side of the carpet area are more books for students to borrow. These are the chapter books for the Read 180 students I work with.

My table is to the right in this picture.

This is the area behind my table.

No space goes unused in my small room!


I used painter's tape to divide up my white board.

Unfortunately my white board is not magnetic, but I did discover that velcro works wonders. With these laminated sentence strips, I am able to quickly post a schedule for each group.  

Door exits onto stage

I post student work on the outside of the door.
I meet with my Read 180 students on the stage for whole group instruction (15-20 minutes a day). I wish I had a classroom to meet with them in, but space is limited.

There it is! My room. Not too glamorous, but it works well.

Be well! Read on!






11 comments:

  1. fun to get a glimpse into your world!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an amazing use of space! I love seeing how teachers get creative with small spaces. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cool! Thanks for showing us around. Great use of your space, too. I just realized that your blog is not showing up in my Google feed so I haven't been stopping by as often as I used to. Off to get caught up. =)

    ReplyDelete
  4. We reading specialist tend to get shoved into the small spaces, don't we! You've done a great job with an interesting space! I love your Einstein poster. Great tip with the painters tape on the chalkboard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jackie, You are so right on! Great to have you stop by!! Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jackie, thank you for sharing what your literacy space looks like. It looks like a fun space! Did you create the oak tree, charts, bean bags, and other space-saving ideas on your own? Where did you find ideas and resources to build your space efficiently and effectively? Are you the only literacy teacher in your school?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks so wonderful! Those students are lucky to have you

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your room! It is evident that you do your job with joy and fidelity.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love your room! It is evident that you do your job with joy and fidelity.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...