Rescue Window = Wasted Space?

NOT ANYMORE!

The back of this bookshelf sits in front of our fire rescue window, so I could not put any furniture or other objects in this space since they would block the exit. This area also adjoins my small group meeting table, so I did not want to set up anything that would be noisy or distracting as I worked with reading groups. I thought this was going to be "dead space" until I came up with this solution: an added section of our "Word Factory" with room for one child at a time to build this week's sight words with magnetic letters. On the right, a baking sheet is attached with industrial strength velcro; on the left, a shoe bag is bolted on to hold the letters (sorted into labeled pockets with two letters per pocket). A star pointer in the middle encourages children to point to and read each word. The white paper pictured above the cookie sheet is the current week's sight word list tucked into a sheet protector (which is also velcroed to the shelf). This quickly became a favorite work center, and in spite of my hesitance to have a center where only one child could work at a time, the children actually think it is "cool" that they get the whole space to themselves!