Dr. Seuss and more!

These past two weeks we have been celebrating the works of one of my favorite authors, Theodor Geisel... better known as DR. SEUSS! What an inspiration he is and so much fun to learn from! 

We created our own "Seussy" characters and wrote about them.
4/8/12 ** Update: Some Suessy writing examples: **
(Sorry I didn't post them all, there were so many wonderful works!)


Dr. Snoop:

Dr. Jarumin:

Bridley:

Pinksilverous:

Eggs E:

Sareo:

Med the Bed:

 I was so proud of the kiddos for their hard work on these! We also read numerous silly Dr. Suess books and enjoyed dressing silly each day for Dress Up Days.

We also learned about cause and effect with another one of my favorite authors, Laura Numeroff. We created our own cause and effect stories mirroring her classic, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

We learned about homophones (words that sound the same but look different) and chose our own to  write about.

This little lady chose TWO homophones! (see and sea, moose and mouse)

Just enjoying out newest pillow addition in the library. 

I'm so excited for the passion the children have for reading!

Classroom Library

Well my little obsession of a classroom library finally found its permanent home, hooray! I was so excited to finally put all of my preparation and hard work into my very own classroom! Here is a little taste of what I have going so far... of course, things are likely to change by Monday. :)

A cozy reading area for the kiddos. I heard from parents that the pillows were a big hit. ;)

All of my books are leveled. On the outside corner, there is a colored sticker indicating the level. Written on the sticker, I have the specific letter (i.e. a book would have a green sticker with D written on it). I have given all of my children a notecard with their sticker level. So, the children know to only look for books with a "Green E" on it. So far, it has worked well. The kiddos even like to correct me when I give them different level books, hehe. :)

I organized my books into four sections: Nonfiction (red bins), Fiction (blue bins), Chapter Books (tall bookcase in the purple and blue bins), and Favorite Authors/Caldecott (yellow bins).

Fiction and Nonfiction

Favorite Author and Caldecotts

Chapter Books

Each book bin has a label with the category name and a picture. As you can see, I have several "Animal" bins. I leveled categories that had many books (like, "Animals" and "Kids Like You"). For example, the Animals bin with the cat will have books with only levels A-D.

 To help children locate books of their level, I placed small stickers on the labels to indicate what levels are in the bin. Children who are on a "Green" sticker level, will find bins with green stickers on it. For some bins which only contain one level, I write the letter on the sticker.

Also, I have begun training "Librarians" to help me in my classroom. Inside each book, I have placed a label which indicates which bin it belongs in. If the children have trouble reading the words, they can simply look at the picture on the label and match it to the bin. I will add pictures of this soon.

Yes, I realize this is a complicated system, but it is working fairly well so far. My main intention is that children are able to find those Just Right books, which are not only on their level but that they have a desire to read. My library still needs a lot of tweaking, but I am learning all the time and taking it day by day. :)

My not so small obsession...

Well if I am going to be blogging about becoming a teacher, I may as well admit to my little... not so little obsession... of collecting books. I began collecting when I was accepted into the Education program at Auburn. Yes, I realize that is early. And yes, I also realize I still have no classroom nor any idea of what grade I will be teaching. But my rationale was that children can be such a wide range of levels that I can have a wide range in my library. Also I told myself that I would save the extra unused books for when I have kids (which who knows when that will be, hehe).

So, I have been buying books for my book collection for the past two years. I have limited myself to only buying books from the thrift store that are in great condition or favorites from Second and Charles. I have found that after shopping for thrift store books I have become a BIG cheapo!! Yes... $1.00 is a SPLURGE. It's AMAZING the wonderful finds there are though!

I am embarrassed to admit that I now have almost 900 books. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. :)

Since I began collecting, I began recording the books I have in a template on my computer. I have organized them into genres as well as reading level. It makes it easier to keep track of which books I already own when they are stuffed away in whatever nooks and crannies I can find in my closet!

So long story short: I love books and reading! I can't WAIT to share this love (cough, cough obsession) with my students one day! It is my hope that I can ignite a passion for reading in every child in my classroom by helping them find the perfect reading material to suit their style! If children don't have the opportunity to read something they love how will they ever love reading??