Reading Corners

  The first semester of my sophomore year, I took the class Children's Literature where I learned more about the importance of Children's Literature and how to bring literature in a classroom. My children's Literature teacher emphasized several times that every early childhood and elementary classroom should have a reading corner.  It was said so many times that it was imprinted on my brain. By far, reading corners are beneficial and encouraging to young readers.

The question is, how do teachers create fun, encouraging, and beneficial reading corners?  

1. Before you start decorating, you need to have a good amount of books!! Ask around to see what books are popular(co-workers, parents, students, and librarians)  

Have all kinds of genres.  Sports, non-fiction, fiction, picture books, etc. My mom is a teacher and she has always told me to keep an eye out for caldecott award books. A great website that I learned about in children's literature is readingrockets
2. Organize all the books into genres and alphabetize them within the specific genre!  This will make it very easy for students to find what they are looking for.  

3. Grab a couple of shelves and paint them or be creative with them!  You can organize the books by selecting a shelf for each genre! 

4. Don't forget to make reading comfortable! Sitting in a hard chair and reading is not so much fun! Make the reading corner a comfortable area by placing bean bag chairs or homemade pillows for children to sit on.  Before finalizing your reading corner, don't forget to get a chair for yourself when reading aloud to the students. Here are a few ideas for seating that I have found from surfing the Internet.  

These are bandana pillows! I found them at http://www.twostorycottage.com/2011/05/where-we-play.html
Have parents bring in two bandanas for each child.  Then buy the filling for the pillows.  This will make the project very cheap. :)

Crate seats are also a wonderful idea for a reading corner!  Go here and find the directions on how to make one!  http://gingersnapstreatsforteachers.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-crate-seat.html

5. The final thing you want to do is to make the reading corner inspiring and engaging! Adding quotes on the wall will help inspire kids! 

I love this idea and give credit to the teacher of the blog http://missjacobslittlelearners.blogspot.com

Another thing you can do to make your reading corner engaging is creating it as a "getaway place".  All stories start somewhere so have your kids start their reading choices somewhere exciting!! You can do this by following the theme of a certain story. My favorite reading corner theme is a forest or a camping site! 

Create a camping theme by Using a tent! I found this idea at http://abcprimary.blogspot.com/2012/04/library

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I recommend checking out this teachers blog.

Yes, it is one tent.. I know.. You are probably 

Thinking oh kids will just fight over this tent.

If you go ahead and read her post about the tent, 

You will discover that there are ways around that

Problem! What she suggests is explaining very 

Clearly that there is one tent and all students 

Must share. She carries out this instruction by

Drawing two names out of a bucket everyday. 

These two students will have the privilege to 

read silently or outloud to each other inside the

tent for the whole school day.

Another prop you can use are fake trees or real plants. A couple months ago I did my general clinical hours in a 5th grade classroom and the teachers reading corner was jungle themed! The kids loved the  plants and trees within the reading corner!

I hope you enjoyed this post and are thinking of cool ideas for your own reading corner! :D Stay posted for more ideas and thoughts on education from a college student. 

I'm a college student on a Journey...

My journey of becoming a teacher is almost half way completed.  High emotions and stress were in the air as my classmates and I had finals week just last week.  Now that I am done with the semester I can enjoy the summer air and reflect on what I have learned and gathered from school. This year has been a journey of many lessons learned out of school and in school.  One lesson that I am consistently learning is the meaning of being a teacher and the affect teachers can have on their students.  

A couple of weeks ago, my developmental reading class watched a video. This video was incredible as it showed my classmates and I how just one teacher can have an impact on one student, many students, co-workers, and even the community. As you watch you will notice that Mrs. Arredondo is very young and has accomplished a lot in her young years.  She is an urban  school teacher who grew up in an unstable household. As a young girl, she became shaken because of the things she experienced but as she grew older, she battled through it and decided to become a role model to future kids that have gone through similar situations. One of her goals that I have gathered from this video is to build a better community within the Los Angeles area where kids will have the opportunity to receive a good and safe education with teachers that care! This goal was fulfilled when she opened San Fernando Institute for Applied Media, the first pilot school established in the Los Angeles Unified School District at the middle school level.  

This teacher is an excellent example for future and current teachers of how teachers can have a huge positive impact on their students. I may not be studying urban education but through elementary and special education I will develop the mission of providing my students with the proper education and the encouragement to keep learning through Christ. I have a passion to teach those with and without disabilities. I will not be shaken but to keep learning and gathering ideas through school and in the community with the strength of Christ he gives me! 

In this video, Mrs. Pierson shows that teachers are not perfect just like any other person.   Teachers do make mistakes. If you take the time to watch the whole video, you will hear Mrs. Pierson talk about how she taught a math lesson, went back to her desk after the lesson, and realized she taught the whole lesson wrong! The next day she apologized to her kids and re-taught the lesson! I am not promising that I will not make mistakes when teaching but will promise to try my best to prevent mistakes while teaching. 

Again, these two videos are incredible examples of great teachers! Let us build ourselves up as role models who have strong missions for our students and the community! Let us not be shaken. Let us have The Lord be the rock for our classrooms.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold". (Psalm 18:2 NIV)

So, here I am a Junior now in college fulfilling the gifts God has given me to be a teacher.  The journey is still continuing... 

What does being a teacher mean to you?