How to Run an Effective Library Center

It may seem that the library center is a place that kids go to play in Kindergarten. Here's how my library center used to go:

Student spends 5 minutes going through books.
Student gets reading buddy.
Student finds a place to sit.
Student flips through book.
Student plays with reading buddy and whoever is in center with them.
Student goes to get another book.
Starts all over again.

Now, this isn't very effective and the students aren't really reading. What I decided to do was implement some accountability into this centers. I am a big proponent of recording sheets. All my centers have some type of accountability with them now. My tubs that are full of clip cards, puzzles, and matching games have recording sheets at the beginning of the year. Later in the year, I just use blank paper and show them how to record properly. Some teachers use journals and that is good too. My suggestion is to use a guided sheet for the library center. My answer is a book report.

Book Report!

They students must turn in this sheet before they get their next book. I also do the same thing with the listening center although, they are truly engaged during that center.

As far as the talking goes, that is bane of every teachers life but I have found that if I let the responsible kids read to each other, it motivates the rest of the class to ditch their "stuffed animal" reading buddy and upgrade to "read to a friend." So this is an incentive to do well in the library center and has worked well so far!

I also mentioned that students would spend 5 minutes picking out a book and leave a huge mess on my bookshelf when putting the books back. I decided to change up my library from a bookshelf to something much more kindergarten friendly. 

First, I bought these magazine holders from Ikea.

They were fairly cheap considering the colored ones from teacher stores cost me 14.99 for a pack of like 6! RIDICULOUS. These were on sale at the time for like 4.99 a pack. I bought a ton!

Next I labeled my holders with these labels and also labeled every single book in my library. This probably took the longest of everything. Partially because I didn't realize I need to print the book labels on avery labels. I cut them out and taped them on. It took FOREVER. Lesson learned. GET AVERY LABELS if you plan on labeling your books.

I looked on the seller's TpT site and it doesn't look like these are for sale anymore. Not sure why because I've enjoyed them thoroughly! I may change it up in the future just so I have a different and  more modern theme but not for a whiiiile because this takes a HOT MINUTE!!!

The seller is Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten so if you are interested in these you may be able to contact her. Here they are in action:

I also saved space by putting these on top of my math center storage. Perfect for making the most out of my space. 

I used to dread when students went to this center and now it's wonderful. My class chooses this center often. I will be doing a post on how I manage centers in the future. My room is modeled after Greg Smedley of The Kindergarten Smorgasbord. I 100% believe in giving students choice in their centers as the primary means of engagement. 

So there it is... how to keep students accountable and your library organized. This combination makes for an effective libary center.

Any tips that you may have for keeping your library center running effectively, please comment below!

Trampolines in the Classroom

I was inspired by Greg Smedley of The Kindergarten Smorgasbord to get a trampoline for my classroom. I wasn't sure that it would be approved because... Well come on.... It's a TRAMPOLINE for Pete’s sake. 

But, there has been a very big push for Kindergarten this year and "thinking outside the box" styles of learning so I asked and well.....

Ask and you shall receive! Not only did it get approved but our whole grade level got them and I didn't have to purchase it myself.

Because we got the so late in the year, the main use for them was behavior management. We use a clip chart at our school (I know the ooooole dreaded clip chart.) Well, I rewarded my silver and gold students with 20 jumps for silver and 100 jumps for gold! It was great because all the kids would count together and watch. It was extremely positive motivation.

I would also give students 10 jumps if I just caught them doing something extra special. If they were nice, or being perfect in the all when others were pressuring them to do the wrong thing, then I would say, “Great job on staying quiet when your neighbors where trying to talk to you. You can have 10 jumps when we get back to class.”  It was a great way to give a reward to a student that may not have been a "silver" that day but certainly had moments deserving of a reward. It was fantastic!

I can't wait to think of other uses for the trampoline next year when I have more time with it.

I didn’t have very many students trying to mess with it or catapult off of it. I was a little worried that may happen but my kids were definitely more mature at the end of the year so this wasn’t an issue.

The beginning of year may be different. I will probably not take out the trampoline until we have our routines and procedures down for moving around the room so that this doesn’t become an issue.

Do you have a trampoline in your classroom? Any ideas on how to use it or how you implement it from the beginning?  I'd love to know!