Classroom Organization with Guest Blogger Sara V.

Ahhh...another day at the beach for me!  So, I have another wonderful guest blogger post from a wonderful bloggy friend!


Hey y'all! I'm Sara and I blog over at Miss V's Busy Bees!

I haven't always been interested in technology, but I have been for quite a while. I knew that when I was deciding which Master's program I wanted to get into, it had to revolve around technology - which is why I am getting my Master's in Classroom Technology.

In keeping with Andrea's theme of reading and my passion for technology, I want to discuss something that's reading and technology related!

Cue the website/app known as Classroom Organizer by Booksource.

Classroom organizer is simply that - a classroom organizer. BUT, it's an organizer for your books. Your library books in your classroom.

And the whole thing is entirely web-based. And it's FREE. What teacher doesn't like free??

What I really enjoy about this website is that it has an app! What program doesn't have an app???

If you go into your app store, you can download the Classroom Organizer App. Again, remember that it is a FREE app! Free is fantastic!

Once you click on the application, you'll be brought to the main login screen which looks like this...

Log yourself in. You can have a teacher page for yourself and student pages for your students. What is awesome about the teacher pages are that you can do the following...

With this website, you can import your books in your current library by ISBN number or you can literally go through and manually add all your books.

BUT with the app, you can actually SCAN your books' ISBN codes. This saves a whole heck of a lot of time, trust me!

The scan page looks like this...

The red box is what you put over the ISBN number and it automatically scans it for you. Down in the corner it says Powered by RedLaser... I've gotta tell ya... at first, I thought it said, Powered by RedLobster (OH me....)

Anyways, after you've scanned in your books, you then have access to see how many copies of each book you have in your "stash" and so forth. You can ALSO check out and return books to and from your students through this app, which is a great "library" type set up.

The other great thing I love about this program is that you can see the Guided Reading Levels of each book as programmed by the program itself. Of course, you can change these as you so choose, but this is a GREAT tool when trying to watch your students and see how they progress in terms of reading ability.

As you can tell... I adore this app. I think it's a great product and to who created it, kudos to you!!

But, with all great things comes some issues - sometimes ISBN numbers are not recognized in this program, sometimes guided reading levels are mixed up, and sometimes books go missing but you don't realize it because of how many different books you have in your library (like me...).

So, to help solve this issue, I created a solution that is still done the old-fashioned way - by hand.

When students check out a book, not only do they check out the book through the app, but they also fill out a library check out card.

Then, they turn the library cards back into you & fill out a slip of paper while reflecting about their book AND have to "return" the book on the app.

This holds them accountable digitally and physically.

So, grab the freebie from my TPT or TN shop by clicking the links below!

{TPT} {TN}

So there you have it - a way to organize that ever-dreaded classroom library that is overflowing with a wealth of knowledge AND a way to hold your kiddos accountable when reading those fantastic books :)

Finally, I just want to thank Andrea for allowing me to guest blog while she's out of town. I'm so happy I was able to be here to talk about reading and technology!

So, how do you keep your library organized? How do you hold your students accountable for their readings? I'd love to hear your thoughts & ideas!

Have a good day, y'all!

I may not come back from the beach!  

Have fun with this awesome app!  I will be using it this year with my students to check out books to take home!!!  Thanks, Sara, for a great idea and freebie!

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First Day of School and a Completed Classroom

Today was Zack's first day of third grade.  This is a BIG year for him ~ the first year of the Virginia Standards of Learning Tests.  Being  a former third grade teacher, I know exactly what to expect, and we have already started to prepare.  So, this picture does not show how he really feels about going to school.

After a backpack issue and finding a tick on him

All of the kids at the bus stop!

He is actually quite excited to go back to school and see his friends.  I am so glad for that!  By the time he got on the bus, he was all smiles!  He came home from school happy as can be.  I think he is going to like third grade!!

Today I finally finished my classroom!  Since I don't really have students, my room was still a work in progress.  I got my Cat in the Hat set from Staples during Teacher Appreciation Day with my 20% off coupon.  Gotta love that!  So, now it is complete!  Here are some pics:

The entrance to my little room

My little room!

 I am so envious of those who get to have fabric on their bulletin boards.  Our fire marshal won't let us have it, period!  No curtains, nothing!  I don't quite understand.  Doesn't paper burn too?  So, here is my bulletin board with pitiful old paper!

 We are lucky to have monstrous closets.  I am supposed to share it, but no one is next door, so I spread out until they move someone in.  Then I will squeeze it all together!

Book sets galore!

Closet

Looking out from the closet

My desk

See the pencil sharpener?  I have carried that around the school for others to use because their brand new sharpeners don't work!  Even a PTA volunteer used it and decided that every teacher needs one.   She was able to get three times as many pencils sharpened in half the time as the electric sharpeners.  Go to Classroom Friendly Supplies to get your own Quietest Pencil Sharpener.  You won't regret it, until everyone else wants to use yours, and you have to hunt it down!

And, yes the candy is a must!  I actually won that during our "Handbook Jeopardy"!

I love my little room.  It is cozy and fun, and now I can't wait to get my intervention groups to work in here!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week's "Where I Teach Wednesday".  Go check it out!

Until next time!

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