I spent a week in my classroom this summer trying to organize my classroom library to make it easier for my students to use and easier for me to let them use it. I had many books that I have never let my students read because I called them my books. I was afraid that the students would tear them up or take them. That worked for me until last year when I had a class full of readers. Those students never had enough books to read, no matter how many books I made available to them. That experience was new for me and I learned then that I was being selfish with my books. This summer when I was labeling my books, I realized how many books I was keeping for myself that were actually on my students reading level. It was exciting and a little scary to get my library organized for my students to have access to all of my books.
I like that the author talks about paying attention to the students' interests and not their reading level. Prior to the reorganization to my library, I had books labeled and organized by reading level. This summer I decided to label the books with reading level, but then organize them by topic. This makes all books available to all readers. I would like to do more book talk with students this year. Another feature that I would like to include in my classroom library is some more comfortable seating options for my students and maybe some lamps and varied lighting options. I think that making my library "outstanding" with my students' input will help them care for my books and grow their love of reading.
I felt the same way once about my books Ashley! Until Amazon.com became popular and cheap, I kept a couple of out-of-print books far from the hands of my readers. It's hard to think about all the time and money we give to acquire these books. I think that's why its so important for schools, district, and grants to help fund classroom libraries and school libraries. If we know that we will always have enough books for our classes and that we will get new ones bought for us along the way, we won't fear kids using our classroom libraries and losing or wearing out books.
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