What Can a Wall Do for Learning?

 "Mrs. Essenburg," a shy 5th grader whispered to me, standing next to the poster of book recommendations I'd put up before summer break. When I bent over to see what she had to say, she pointed to Brindabella by Ursula Durbosarsky and grinned at me, "I read this one!" 

"Oh, that was a fun one for learning about kangaroos and about Australia!" I responded. She nodded vigorously.

The first week of fall term is under our belts--only 3 days, but that's the perfect amount of time to get reoriented to what goes on in English class and build back a bit of academic stamina, and then step back for a weekend before plunging in for a full 5-day week.

In the run-up to the start of school, teacher social media spaces have blossomed with photos of themed classrooms. Never having been much of a decorator myself, I focus on using the walls to support what goes on inside the room and gradually curate student learning. So here's some things that have gone up this first week:

1. Mrs. Essenburg's list of books read this summer from the online library our school has a membership in. Looking for recommendations, anyone? 

2. Student summer reading reflections from the first day back--we shared interesting characters we met, big ideas we thought about, and reading benefits we gained from titles we read. More resources for recommendations!

3. Review of the reading strategies we practiced spring term. (This particular format--drawings are my own--is taken from The ELL Teacher's Toolbox by Larry Ferlazzo.)

4. New learning we launched into this term (from Reading Nonfiction: Notice and Note Stances, Signposts, and Strategies--see my blog post on it here). 

5. And a world map so we can locate the places we read about! 

Coming next week: a word wall!

What role do your walls play in your class room?