Yurko #5 post

Chapter 5 Organize an Outstanding classroom Library

                My classroom library took a whole year to purchase it and to get it close to the way I wanted it to look.  Now, I add books every time I order from scholastic books.  I love buying book for the classroom library.  I also love seeing the student’s eyes when I get a book basket and they know that I got books for them in it and that our library will keep growing.  I have a check in and out system and the students can keep them in their desks and soon I will start letting them take it home so they can enjoy the books there too.  At first I do not allow the students to bring the books home because we have not developed trust in the classroom.  We are all to one  to each other but by about Halloween I know I can trust them and they can trust me and I let them take the books home that they have checked out.

                I really enjoy having a very diverse classroom library because it also opens my eyes to what the students are reading today.  When you walk to my desk, my library is the first thing you see.  All the basket with book genres on them and how they can be categorized.  Students take their time looking for the genre that they like and once they do they keep going back to that basket.  It is very nice to see since I was not a “reader” growing up. I love seeing my student go and get book from “Ms. Yurko favorites” and we can have discussions about them.  Nothing warms my heart more then to share the love for a book with my students.  Since I never had that growing up.