Workshop Wednesday - Prep & Tunes Tuesday Rocked!

So I'm linking up with my favorite linky ever, Workshop Wednesday from Ideas by Jivey! I've got kind of a random posting of thoughts today regarding preparing for a successful reading workshop.

I'm a big believer in student choice, and this comes into play in a few different areas in my class when it comes to reading. First, the students need to be able to choose books that are a "good fit" for them.

Student choosing a book from the hundreds in my room!

The Two Sisters explain in their books all about the IPICK idea of choosing good fit books, but the thing I want to focus on (that I think some teachers forget the importance of) is that second I, interest. So, if a kid is going to choose their own book, and it has to be interesting (and on the right level) then that means one of the biggest things a teacher needs to do to prepare for reading workshop is to build a giant classroom library! And of course, if you have a giant classroom library then you need to organize it somehow! And if you organize it somehow, then the mouse will want another cookie! I mean, the kids will be able to find new books quickly.

So, step 1: Build that library!

I have a HUGE classroom library, and quite frankly am kind of a snob when it comes to classroom libraries. When I walk into a classroom and see that an experienced teacher has one little shelf of books I have to admit that I shake my head a little bit to myself and wag my finger at them (in my mind only, of course.) There are lots of ways to get books for your room if you're willing to a) spend a little money and/or b) put a little work into it. 

I yard sale, go to Goodwill (LOTS of cheap books there!), and bargain bin hunt in other stores of course, but one thing I do to build my library is use Scholastic Book Clubs in my class. It always amazes me when I meet a teacher who doesn't do this. I just can't help but wonder "Why NOT?!" I know some of you are reading this and thinking, "Everyone knows about Scholastic Book Clubs." But they don't. I meet a few teachers every year who don't. And I know a LOT of teachers who know about them, but don't use them...(finger wag) 

Some of those books!

I buy the dollar deal books pretty much every month, along with a few others when I put my students' orders in online. But the best part (besides putting books into my kids' hands) is the points system. Points can be exchanged for free books, and I've gotten literally hundreds of free books over the years. 

More of those books!

The second way that a lot of teachers know about, but don't use for some reason...is through donorschoose.org (or another similar grant program). I've not used it for books, but I did get that big fancy $400 rolling bookcase in that picture up there through them. If you haven't done it yet, you should really think about trying it out. I've had 4 projects funded through them over the last 4 years. It's super easy to do! It amazes me when I do a search on my area for active projects and only find a couple. There are HUNDREDS of teachers in my district, so why aren't there hundreds of projects?

Even more books!

Of course, the problem posed by having a thousand books is that you need to organize them or else the kids will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. I arrange my books in multiple ways, and the kids are trained to go through steps to find new books. In fifth, I always wanted the kids to have 2 books in their queue. Now that I'm moving to 3rd/4th I will have "book boxes" for the kids to queue up around 4 books at a time.

New readers might not have seen my
"read bead" post about reading through
the genres. Go check it out!

I organize my library by genre, media type, and lexile level. The kids in my class are expected to read across the genres throughout the year, so their first step is to decide which of the genres they would like to tackle. 

We use MAP testing in my district, which provides me with the students' lexile level. The kids know their own Zones of Proximal Development, so they begin their search in that range of books. Once a kid has narrowed their search to "Mystery Books in a 600-700 lexile range" or "Sci-fi Graphic Novels around 500" it's easy for them to make a choice. Kids make these choices in their spare time, not during reading time. This is why I insist they have that queue of books I mentioned. Read to Self is NOT choose-a-book time.

My big challenge to tackle this summer involves all those books pictured above. Those are just the books I have taking up space in the closets of the spare bedrooms at my house. I taught Kindergarten through 2nd grade for 10 years before I moved to 5th 2 years ago. Most of my picture books and low level chapter books didn't translate to 5th, but now that I am moving to 3rd/4th (!!!) I need to go through all of them (and the ones in my classroom) and create my new classroom library and reorganize it all! Waaaaaah!

Alright, random tip of the day. We keep a little magnetic spice jar on our kitchen magnet board to save boxtops in. When I accrue a decent amount, I take them in to school!

If you stuck around to the end of this long-winded post, you're a saint! Now if you have the stamina go and read some of the other great posts in the linky!

Tunes Tuesday rocked by the way! Check out all the links in my previous post if you haven't already! It was such a success, and due to a few people requesting it, I'll be doing it again one day! Be on the look out!