Labeling With Students' Names

There is something about putting students' names on things that makes back-to-school time seem more real. It is a bit early to put names up, but my school doesn't have a huge transient population, so hopefully I won't have to change anything in the upcoming weeks.

I didn't want to put nameplates on my tables, but I still wanted to have something to show each child's spot in the room. I decided to use sticky nametags. I stuck them to cardstock, laminated them, and attached them to the chairs with Velcro. This makes it easy for me to change seating throughout the year.

Here is my hallway space. It's not very cute, but it will be full of artwork and getting-to-know-you activities after the first few days of school. :)

I have been at school A LOT lately, working on my website and planning for the upcoming year. However, I'm not counting those minutes towards my cumulative hours. It would be almost impossible to figure out how much time I spend planning over the summer! The minutes below reflect how much time it is taking me just to set up the physical space for my students.

Time spent working on classroom today: 2 hours

Cumulative hours: 125

Classroom Library & Labels

Today I worked on labeling things around my classroom. I spent some time on Monday and Tuesday making labels, cutting them out, laminating, and then cutting again. I labeled my student book bins first:

A little info about how I manage book bins: every student has their own book bin, which I purchased from Really Good Stuff. They are allowed to keep up to 7 books in their bins, only one of which can be a chapter book. When they arrive in the morning, they have a few simple "jobs" to complete, and then they are free to shop for books until the bell rings. When they are finished, they read silently at their tables. They are also allowed to book shop at recess time. I used to have assigned days for students to book shop, but I found that the more control I hand over to the kids, the more smoothly my classroom runs. I also tried many different "bell work" routines throughout my first 4 years of teaching, and I finally figured out that just letting them read works the best for me.

This is the first summer that I have not re-organized my classroom library! I did do a quick weeding out of books that were not read very often, or were falling apart. My library is organized by genre, author, topic, and series. Each bin is numbered, and all books in that bin contain a sticker with the matching number. I used to organize my library with pictures printed out on address labels, or different colored stickers. I found that numbers work best, because the bins are in numerical order on the shelves, so students can find them more quickly. I have used this system for the past 3 years, and I very rarely find a book out of place (maybe 5 per year).

My bins were purchased through Discount School Supply during my first year of teaching (they have nearly doubled in price-yikes!). I decided to re-organize my library over winter break, and I spent all of my Christmas money on these sturdy bins. When looking for bins I wanted ones that were clear, and allowed the covers to be facing out. Both of these features allow students to browse books more easily.

Here is a picture of my whole library:

Picture books:

Chapter books, magazines, and dictionaries:

Here is my finished teacher toolbox:

And, finally, my baskets that contain teaching materials for every day of the week:

I am so glad to have this tedious task finished! All of the labels I used were made by Kristen Doyle (edited by myself). Visit her Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

Time spent working on room this week (including cutting, laminating, etc.): 14
Cumulative hours: 59