Prompts

Class Library: Yes! There is a class library. There were so many books in the classroom and they were sorted by different categories (like animals, space, sports etc) into bins all throughout the room and there were some on the shelves as well. Students also had “book bins” that had the books they had chosen from the class and school ( I presume) libraries. Tons of books in the room!

Alphabet: There was surprisingly not an alphabet displayed in the room. I haven’t seen very many rooms without one and was curious why there wasn’t one in the room. I asked the teacher about this later and she said she was just making a few changes to the room and had not yet put the alphabet back up.

Instructional Posters: There weren’t really any instructional posters on the walls in the room, nor was there a word wall. She did have the days of the week and months displayed by the calendar and a few little things like that, some words written on the board as well. However, each student did have a “dictionary.” Each letter had a few common words and then a blank, lined page where you could add words each student asked about. I love the idea of each student having their own personal dictionary, I think it would encourage students to ask for help and to help themselves by referring to it. The dictionary would also help as a teacher, to be aware of student vocabulary and word choice throughout the year.

I think the most literacy promoting things in the room was the class library. There were tons of books around the room and many different genres and topics in the books. The students also had their own book bin which places an emphasis on reading.

In my future class, I would like to include lots of literacy elements. I am curious why there weren’t many posters or an alphabet in this particular class and if the students can get alphabet cards or something different that we just didn’t see. I also think having too much on the walls can be more distracting than helpful so I think it is important to have a balance in the room. I would like a reading nook kind of like the image on the right for older grades, if I had younger students though something similar, but more mats and cushions on the floor. I would add a rug to this image as well and have more shelves around the section.