Classroom Makeover: Reading

The next parts of our room that I'm sharing are all about reading. When I think about reading, the library is the first thing that comes to mind. It's truly the heart of our classroom and is essential for reading workshop. I just love how cozy it is! 





I wrote about our library organization and shared some of my free library files when I first started blogging. You can find those here.








Another important reading area of our room is our meeting area. We have our mini-lessons, read alouds, and sharing time here. We also use it for writing workshop. We use our spinning wire rack to hold book recommendations for students from students.





I use our "Books We've Shared" board to track our classroom read alouds. Any book that we've shared together (just for fun or for lessons) is written on a small cut out book and stapled to this board. It's a great way to track genres or authors we've previously read. Students can also use the board as reference when they're having trouble picking out a good book.

Finally, we have our reading reference boards. Free reading genre posters from both Beth Newingham and Dots-N-Spots hang above our reading and writing boards. We refer to these often and it's a big goal of mine that my third graders head into fourth grade having read a variety of genres. The posters' backgrounds are color-coded to match the basket labels in our classroom library.

I use our main reading board to hold reading strategies, themes, and other important ideas. I love having this board right behind our classroom meeting area for easy reference. I made the reading strategy posters based on Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction. I'm not sure if copyright restrictions will let me share them, so I have to check into that first. The other posters are free from Beth Newingham.

I still have writing resources to share, but until then let's talk about reading. What are some of your favorite reading pieces?