I loved this chapter. Routman urges us to share the importance and pleasure of a personal library. Of her own home library, she admits that she loves owning the book, holding in in her hand, arranging it on a shelf, etc. I completely connect to this! I have two large bookshelves in our front room and 90% of those books belong to me. I (somewhat) recently rearranged them over New Year's (by color; I got all Pinterest-y). It is always one of the things new visiting friends comment on. I have even "checked out" books to friends over the 6 years we've had the shelves. But never have I thought to show pictures of my library to my students!. Not sure why. I always share my love of reading with them, and of certain favorite books that I read when I was younger. I love to discuss similarities/differences with kid-friendly books turned movies (Polar Express, Because of Winn-Dixie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, etc.) . But I would love to see which of my students has some sort of reading library at home. Routman points out that "well-stocked and well-used libraries in school and at home, are positively associated with reading achievement." I am going to snap photos of my library today. After I share pictures with students, we can make the connection to our classroom libraries and take an interest inventory on what other books I could provide for them.
I also want to try some of Routman's suggestions to incorporate favorite authors/favorite books. I'd love to have students bring in favorite books "on loan" to our classroom library, or even possibly make a special display where a student gets one turn each to create a book review with explanation for why that author/title is their favorite. Often kids will voluntarily bring in a related book and we'd read it aloud. It's very exciting that students make those types of connections. I'd just like to make it more of a regular practice. I also like the blank "writing notebook" activity where students can record favorite reactions/quotes to books they've read. We could definitely modify this for first graders. I have a class set of small journals from Michael's sitting in my closet right now that would be perfect for this!
I'm so glad you found a way to implement these ideas quickly into your classroom. I never thought that I should share the books I was reading with my 5th graders. It make sense though to let them see us as readers. I'd love to hear their reactions after they see your library. (I'm also interested in your color organization from Pinterest. I have several books I need to work with as well. :) )
ReplyDeleteHi Christina,
ReplyDeleteYour description of your home library makes me want to see a picture! I, too am a lover of books and have our shelves at home organized by author and genre and crates full of books by genre and topic in our play room. I am glad that you liked the idea of sharing your home library and your favorite books with your students to motivate them to share their favorite books with you. I like your idea of the special display with a book review and their writing notebook quote activity. I would love to see your journals! Sincerely, Dawn