For this blog, I chose to read Routman's Chpt. 5-Organize and Outstanding Classroom Library. I have quite a large classroom library as a result of teaching for thirteen years, so numbers of books is not a problem. I have always kept my books in bins leveled by AR so that once my kids had a reading range, it would be easier for them to find books that are just right for them. This is how our book room in my first school in VA was organized, so maybe that's why it stuck with me. I hoped that reading this chapter would give me some insight into ways I could make my classroom library even better.
I thought it was interesting that the point was made that "it really doesn't matter much what kids read as long as they read and enjoy what they're reading." While I think that's true for the most part, I do believe that as children are building their reading abilities, there should be somewhat of a balance. I feel that improvement in vocabulary and reading ability is helped by challenges. I liked the checklist on pages 66 and 67. Overall, I check out pretty well. One thing that I questioned, though, was the rotation of books. I have to admit, my library is pretty static, with the exception of adding new titles the students suggest every once in a while. I might think about rotating my book baskets so that at least there are new things every now and then, which might create excitement. It might also help it be less overwhelming for students when trying to choose a book to read. I do a good job of paying attention to what my kids like to read and then ordering from Scholastic. I do include lots of nonfiction texts as the text suggests. My students over the years have always seemed to love these, particularly texts about animals (sharks are always a big hit). I thought the personal book basket for each student was a really interesting idea, as was interviewing students at the beginning of the year to gauge interests.
I guess this is something I need to think about. I'm not sure I'm totally ready to organize everything by genre and student interests just yet...but maybe I can look to find a happy medium for the time being.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you taking the strategies and suggestions Routman offers us through this chapter for increasing the effectiveness of our classroom libraries. I am glad you will consider organizing your books by student topics of interests and genre and author in order to promote easy access to texts students want to read.