Classroom Library: Before

Behind these shelves lives an ancient chalk board (its magnetic, which is more than I can say for my other chalk boards), I will be using it during reading mini lessons.

Here they are, the shelves I fear will crush a child. They are out! Now, where exactly they are going, I'm not quite sure (its surprisingly hard to get rid of furniture), but I don't care, I need them gone!

I have to admit, I am a little embarrassed to show this picture, not just because of the shaky shelves, but because of my lack of library. Of course I know how important it is to have a phenomenal classroom library. I read about it all throughout college, I am lectured about it at professional development, and I read up on it in education books, but I have a secret weapon....my school librarian. OK, she may not be a secret, but she's the greatest. If I shoot her an email letting her know the genre or topic we are studying, she shows up to our classroom with an entire cart full of books! Students enjoy this because they love leafing through the new books every two weeks or so.

These built in shelves are what will become my classroom library tomorrow. I invested in book baskets from Really Good Stuff, so that I can organize my library by genre.

This is a picture facing the back of the classroom. Classroom library/guided reading corner.

By Sunday afternoon, this will look completely different! I can not wait!