The beginning of each school year brings so many wonderful firsts. The first time you meet your eager students. The first exciting read aloud. The first lesson you teach. These are things that can keep your mind busy and keep you awake to all hours of the night. However, I think the biggest first happens for students. It happens the first time they nervously step through a classroom door. The classroom is their first impression. Like the old saying goes, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.,” This aphorism proves particularly true for our classroom and our students. What first impression do we want to set for our students? What do we want to convey about the year ahead? What do we want to show our students that we value? Our students feel these things the moment they walk through our classroom door!
Nicholas Sparks, once said, “The first impression will either open the door or close it.” As educators we want to open as many opportunities for our students that is possible. We want them to feel like they can do anything or be anyone. Students need to experience success and feel confident. They need to feel valued and welcome. One key to opening any door for our students and allowing them to be successful is to give them the tools and strategies that they will need to become lifelong readers. That’s why the first impression I want my students to feel when they enter my classroom is my passion for books! Students will know that we will spend our year reading great stories and exploring new worlds through literature. They will see themselves in the pages of some books and some will open doors to worlds my students never thought to explore. My students will not be overwhelmed by the reading, but excited!
When one enters my classroom you’ll see books set up in different reading zones and will hopefully feel a sense of homeyness. This is something I spend considerable amount of time reflecting on. Our classroom doesn’t have look like it is out of a magazine or Pinterest page, but needs to make my students feel valued and safe. By utilizing flexible seating my students have the opportunity to choose a seating option that works best for them and make changes throughout the day as their needs warrant. This shows my students that I value their input on how they learn best. Numerous cubbies are filled with baskets of books, each labeled with the type of book or genre it contains. Picture books they can read are prominently displayed in bins for students to select. The nearest bulletin board is used for displaying the vocabulary words we learn, our writing goals, our read aloud chart and the poet of the month display. A bookshelf can be found under our CAFÉ board that holds some of my many autographed books. We will spend a lot of time getting to know authors and illustrators this year and my students love to hear the stories I tell of when I met them. This helps authors and illustrators become real, as we use their work to help mentor what we do in both reading and writing. In bookshelves around the room my students’ reading notebooks and individual magazine holders for the books they are reading can be found. My listening center is readily accessible too. Students have the opportunity to listen to reading via books on tape/CD, iPods and iPads. This is important so students can understand that their are many ways you can experience literature. In another section of the room, a bookshelf holds multiple sets of books for the literature discussions students will have throughout the year. Finally, by the front of the room there is a special golden bookshelf, my golden recommendation shelf. This is based on the work of Steven Layne from his book, Igniting a Passion for Reading Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers. This shelf will eventually contain books that various staff members and parents recommend to my students as well as, peer recommendations. A “Hot Read” is displayed, another idea taken from Steven Layne’s book, where I display the children’s book I am currently reading and enjoying.
Whether school is about to start or has already started, take a moment to think about your classroom environment. What does it say about you and what you value? What will be your students’ first impression?
