Classroom Booksource--a free resource

I've found another good freebie!  This one will not only be helpful for the classroom library, but I think we need to start brainstorming on how we can use this in our guided reading library as well.  It's called Classroom Booksource and it's a free, online library cataloging system.

It's very similar to what I have purchased from Intelliscanner.  But this you can use it with your smartphone (it's a free ap--just search for booksource) as well to scan in books, however it isn't necessary.  The smartphone will just save you a little bit of time so that you don't have to hand enter all of the ISBN's.  (Just a side note that I learned from intelliscanner...if you are going to scan in a barcode, you want to find one that starts with a 9.  You may have to look in the front cover as well.  An ISBN can start with any number, but you won't be able to use your smart phone to scan that in.)  I've only just begun to dig into the potential with this site, but from what I can tell, you enter all of your books into the system along with your students, and they can check books out allowing you to keep track of what they have read in your library.  It will export any of its reports to excel so you can look at student reports as well as have a print out of all the books in your library.  One of the great features is that for some of the books, it will also put the guided reading level and you can also enter what location the book should be returned to!  If you want to learn more about all of its features, click here. This is a link to the instructions (which took me a long time to dig up while I was looking around the site.)

I hope this is helpful for you.  As you learn more about it, feel free to comment below so that we can all learn about it together.

Get this freebie quickly!

I found this freebie the other day.  You should grab it too before they change their mind and want to sell it!  It's a power point with 50 different thinking maps that you can use in reading {get it here}.  But the best part it that it's free!  You can read more about it on Lisa and Beth's blog {here}.  Thinking maps are great to use to help kids get into a routine of noticing their thinking and being able to comprehend.  They are best to use with kids who are accurate and fluent readers, but all readers will benefit from them if they need help with comprehension strategies.  Enjoy!

Fluency Routine

I hear a lot of people talking about fluency and how many of their readers can read accurately and talk about the book, but it just isn't fluent.  They are anxious to move their students up in levels even if they aren't exactly fluent.  When in reality, it will be easier to teach them fluency at the level where they are having difficulties in stead of trying to teach them new words, new comprehension skills and fluency at a higher level.

Thanks to pinterest, I found this great video from a fifth grade teacher sharing her fluency routine.  I love that the students are engaged in a physical way and the reminders she gives them will stick in their heads for a long time.  Can't you just imagine yourself leaving her classroom and still saying this to yourself in a sing-songy way?

I also liked the sign that she made that I'm sure she had hanging in a prominent place in the classroom.  However, it wasn't really my style and didn't match the bright colors in my classroom.  I created my own that you are more than welcome to have it.  I can send it to you as a PDF or a publisher file if you want to tweak it for yourself.    

Nonfiction Resources

So, I'm a little late on this.  However, I just found this great article by Beth Newingham  about her top ten non-fiction resources and thought I would pass it along.  She always shares great ideas for literacy (and other content areas if you look throughout her website) on Scholastic.  This article is no different.  Because she teaches third grade, I immediately thought about the third grade curriculum and how this would fit in so well with what you do in the first non-fiction unit.  But give it a look and see what you think.  I love the free printables and graphic organizers that she shares.  These would be great for all learners, but especially your lower readers.  And I am certain that the technology component would be a big hit with some of you as well!  I'd love to hear your thoughts and how it might improve the non-fiction units that you have done.

Clutter Free

I'm going clutter free!!  Well, that's my hope at least.  This post isn't going to have anything to do with literacy, but I am convinced that students learn better in a clean and clutter free environment (even in the Lit Lab).  So, with the help of Jodi on Clutter Free Classroom, I'm going to give it a go.  Maybe some of this will even transfer to my home life as well...again, I can hope!


Jodi is doing a series on how to get a clutter free classroom.  She has some wonderful ideas to make the process manageable and also has made available some freebies to help.  Some of her materials and ideas are available in her TpT store.  But I'm going to link up with her and see how this goes.  This first blog is a description of what she hopes to do to help us all get a clutter free and organized classroom.  She has a great weekly plan designed to help us tackle it step-by-step.

Anyone interested in joining me??

Word study resources

As we being to look at which word study program we are going to be using in the future, I've spent a lot of time researching and looking for ideas.  I came across this idea a while back and it's just been sitting on my desktop.  So I'm going to share it with you.

This is something that can be done outside of the word study time, and I actually envisioned it being used during writer's workshop more than anything.  It's called "Have A Go."  From what I've researched, I think it can be traced back to Faye Bolton and Diane Snowball in their book, Teaching Spelling.  The concept behind it is that a child needs to make an attempt at spelling the word correctly before the teacher will jump in and help them.  They sound out the word and then the teacher will help them work through it until they get it correct.  Franki Sibberson talks about all the different components of word study in her article, Word Study is More Than Spelling, on the Choice Literacy website.  I can't seem to find the original source for this Have-A-Go that I've found.  It's a PDF that I've put on the Literacy Lab website.

If you use something like this, or something a little different, I'd love to see what you use or how it works in your classroom!

Great resources for great resources

There are two sites that I keep coming across as I wade my way through my day blogs.  Just like many of you, there are wonderful teachers out there doing wonderful things.  Many of them share their ideas and resources on their blogs and they are free (my favorite!!).  But many of them have put countless hours into creating their materials and they decide to sell them.  They are always a reasonable fee and an instant download to your computer.


One site that I find a lot of teachers have posted to is Teachers Pay Teachers.


The other is Teachers Notebook.

Both sites offer lots of free resources as well as resources available for a fee.  Fee range in price from a few cents to a few dollars.  I rarely see anything over $5, unless it is a really big file with lots of pages and information.

Take a few moments and check them out!  Maybe you have something you'd like to share/sell as well ;)