First Day Ready: Setting Up a Structured Literacy Classroom

By Stacey Masliansky
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Every August, my countdown begins: how many weeks until school starts? While summer is still in full swing, teachers everywhere start facing the reality that a new school year is just around the corner.

As a child, I looked forward to August, eager to shop for new shoes and a first-day-of-school outfit. I still remember the anticipation and wonder bubbling inside me the night before the first day of school: What would my new teacher be like? Would I have any friends in my class? What would the classroom look like? What would I learn that year?

As a teacher, August is no different. It's a busy month of balancing the "lasts" of summer with the "firsts" of the upcoming school year. For many teachers, it can be an overwhelming time of solidifying the instructional roadmap, ensuring all curricular materials and plans are in place before young, eager minds step foot into the classroom.

Since the final days before the start of the school year are packed with last-minute tasks, it's essential to have a plan in place. To help ease the transition and ensure you're ready for your students, here are some tips and materials for organizing a structured literacy classroom, suitable for any grade or content area. By incorporating these strategies, you can create an effective and engaging learning environment from day one.

1. Create a Literacy-Rich Environment with Plenty of Decodable Text that follows a dedicated Scope and Sequence. Don’t have one? Check out ours here.

A literacy-rich environment immerses students in text, promoting literacy development at every turn. Allowing students to access decodable texts with sound patterns that have been explicitly taught, you can create an atmosphere where students are constantly engaged with reading material that supports their learning. 

• Anchor Charts to Support Your Lessons: Display anchor charts that reinforce key literacy concepts. These visual tools can be downloaded and printed, providing ongoing support for your lessons. 
• Vocabulary Walls with Content-Rich Vocabulary: Dedicate a space for a vocabulary wall that showcases essential words. Leave room for it to grow as you introduce new vocabulary throughout the year.
• Sound Walls: Set up a sound wall that students can refer to during phonics lessons. Like the vocabulary wall, this should evolve over time, adding new sounds as they are introduced. Short on time? Check out these great sound wall resources from Hand2Mind.
  
  

2. Keep Instructional Materials Organized and Easy to Reach
An organized classroom allows for efficient teaching and learning. Having a clear system for storing and accessing materials saves time and reduces stress. 

• Label Everything: Clear a section on a bookshelf or counter for instructional materials and label each area. This not only helps you stay organized but also teaches students where to find and return materials. 
• Organizational System: Establish a home for all your teaching and resources. This will ensure you’re prepared when students arrive and make daily routines run smoothly. 

 
3. Create Engaging Learning Stations for Literacy Practice Learning stations offer valuable opportunities for differentiated instruction by allowing students to engage in literacy tasks that cater to their individual learning needs and abilities. Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, in their book Shifting the Balance,  highlight the importance of incorporating multisensory approaches in literacy instruction. They note that “literacy instruction benefits from engaging multiple senses,” and that the use of hands-on tools and manipulatives in literacy stations not only supports differentiated instruction but also deepens students’ understanding through active, multimodal engagement.

• Include Manipulatives for Multimodal Instruction: Equip each station with tools like chips, magnets, or tactile objects that support hands-on learning. These manipulatives help reinforce literacy concepts through multimodal engagement.
• Provide Essential Materials: Ensure every student has access to a dry erase board, markers, pens and an eraser. These are versatile tools for practicing writing, spelling, and error-correction in real-time.

 
4. Build a Classroom Library A well-curated classroom library encourages a love for reading by offering a wide range of books that meet the diverse needs and interests of your students. As Maryanne Wolf notes, “Books are the repository of our cultural, linguistic, and personal identities; they are the catalyst for the development of empathy, knowledge, and imagination.” By providing a diverse and well-curated collection of books, you nurture a lifelong love of reading in every child, ensuring that each student finds something that resonates with them and inspires their journey as a reader.

• Wide Variety of Genres and Topics: Stock your library with books from various genres and covering a broad range of topics. This diversity ensures that every student can find something that captures their interest. 
• Texts for Different Reading Abilities: Include books that cater to a variety of reading abilities, from beginners to more advanced readers, which ensures every student can feel successful in their reading journey.
• Decodable Texts to Support Phonics Instruction: Include decodable texts that align with your core phonics curriculum. These texts are essential for reinforcing the phonics skills students are learning. 

5. Establish Routines and Procedures Just as we emphasize explicit routines and procedures in our Slant System™ Lessons, establishing clear routines and procedures within the classroom is crucial for fostering a positive learning environment. These routines serve as the foundation of a well-managed classroom, providing the structure and consistency that students need to thrive. When students know what to expect and what is expected of them, they are more likely to feel secure, which in turn promotes focus and engagement. 

• Introduce Routines and Expectations Early: Starting on the first day of school, make sure students understand the routines and expectations for each component of your structured literacy lessons. Consistency in these routines helps students thrive and contributes to a productive classroom atmosphere.
• Incentives to Promote Positive Behaviors: Incentives like sticker charts, treasure chests, or class rewards can encourage focused and productive behaviors, contributing to a positive learning environment. By clearly defining and consistently reinforcing these routines from the start, you create a classroom atmosphere where students can concentrate on learning rather than uncertainty. Moreover, well-established procedures help streamline daily transitions and minimize disruptions, allowing more time for effective instruction. As Anita Archer wisely advises, “If you expect it, pre-correct it” – this means anticipating potential challenges and addressing them proactively, reinforcing the idea that clear expectations are key to classroom success. 

References:
Archer, A. (n.d.). Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching.  
Ancora Publishing. Retrieved from Ancora Publishing​ (Ancora Publishing).

Burkins, J., & Yates, K. (2021). Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. Stenhouse Publishers.

The Access Center, (2007). Literacy-Rich Environments. Retrieved February 1, 2008, from The Access Center website: http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/literacy-richenvironments.asp

Wolf, Maryanne. Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Harper Perennial, 2008.