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| Books, books, books... where to begin? |
One of the items on my classroom setup list is a classroom library and reading nook. Let's focus on the library today, I have some ideas brewing for my nook.
Last week, I posted a message to my teaching friends on Facebook wondering where I could get some children's books for dirt cheap. The replies were varied, but several mentioned Value Village and the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Both turned out to be pretty good, but Value Village really rocked it. I purchased 25 books for about $30 - not bad.
Today I wandered back into my new classroom after a few weeks of holiday to find crates of books from the previous teacher. After hours of sorting, I found some good finds, including a few books from the Bones series (I really want to develop a rich collection of graphic novels), and a really great trove of non-fiction.
I have started organizing the library by making piles of fiction and non-fiction books. I split non-fiction up into distinct categories including sports, science, animals, environment, ancient civilizations, trivia and humour, etc. I haven't started dividing up my fiction books yet, but I thought I would create bins of popular authors, canadian literature, and then group by genres including mystery, adventure, biographical, etc. I hope I'm doing this right, it takes a lot of work.
I know that some teachers organize their library by reading level. I reflected on that, but decided that maybe grouping by interest would be more appealing to students. I can teach students in the first few weeks about how to select an appropriate text for them.
The plan now is to keep sorting, organize into labelled bins, and see what materializes...
Questions I Have: (some of my answers in bold)
Where can I get comic books for cheap? I still don't have an answer for this.
Should students return their own books? I am going to use a "book return" bin.
Should I keep track of who has what or let it be? I'm not going to bother.
Should I rotate books to keep the library fresh? I will, a bit.
What kind of magazines could I use? Where do I get them? "The Mentor" suggests entertainment magazines that are free form the movie theatre - thanks! I have placed requests in my monthly newsletters for child-friendly magazines.
Questions I Have: (some of my answers in bold)
Where can I get comic books for cheap? I still don't have an answer for this.
Should students return their own books? I am going to use a "book return" bin.
Should I keep track of who has what or let it be? I'm not going to bother.
Should I rotate books to keep the library fresh? I will, a bit.
What kind of magazines could I use? Where do I get them? "The Mentor" suggests entertainment magazines that are free form the movie theatre - thanks! I have placed requests in my monthly newsletters for child-friendly magazines.
Ok... I already filled in this comment box once, but apparently it did not "take." Here is goes again.
ReplyDeleteI go to the dollar store and buy these white dishwashing bins there for a $1 each. They are not the prettiest, but they have worked well over the years and because I have tried the coloured ones and they break very quickly and need replacing many times. So, I have gradually invested in these and it has made a difference. I also use labels on the outside of these bins similar to what you have divided your books into. As for fiction I use titles such as mystery, teen, and often particular authors - i.e. Walters, Korman, etc.
As for keeping track of my books, I have never attempted that simply due to simplicity. It would be one more thing to track and clutter my classroom. Now that being said, I cannot say that my books have not gone missing because they are been "bought" again at Value Village and Church book sales by my friendly colleagues who recognized my name on the inside cover of the book. Note to self - use labels on the outside of the book and it becomes harder to miss.
As for rotating books, yes, I have a feature area called My Picks and rotate these through by genre - mystery in October, theme, or feature author, just depends on what we are doing at the moment.
Magazines, I get hand me downs from dad in the Wheels and Sports Illustrated and I also take (many) from the movie theatres too. Students enjoy the information in these magazines too.
I hope that helps and hopefully this comment will stay put this time.
Signed,
The Mentorist