Classroom Libraries

When I first started teaching I did not have any books for a classroom library but I was lucky enough to have a mentor who let me borrow a few crates of her books to start off. At that point I was on a mission to start building a library. My mom and I hit up garage sales, thrift stores, and scholastic.com to buy anything and everything we could. I was definitely looking for quantity over quality and I achieved that goal. 

It was important for me to have a variety of texts for my students to look at. I have learned since that time that having too many books slightly overwhelmed my students but they loved to explore and look at all of the different types of books, pictures, and contents available to them. 

I have since moved out of the classroom and have given away most of my "filler" books to new teachers but I have kept all of the books my students always loved the most including the ones we have created together. 

Classroom libraries are very important. Students need resources available at their fingertips. Having a library in your classroom provides this opportunity while giving you control over the content and levels of the books. With this control, you can provide texts that are reliable, high quality and appropriate for the students in your classroom. There are also students who will never step foot in the school or community library but might be tempted to grab one off the shelf if its right there for them.  Students can also use the classroom library to deepen their understanding of a topic they are studying or research new topics. 

As a literacy interventionist I try to keep my bookshelves filled with books from all content areas. I use these for modeling, and training purposes but I also allow the students I pull for interventions to explore. As I am pushing into more classrooms and more content areas I definitely want to expand my library to more grade levels and continue with all content areas so I can provide my teachers with these resources whenever they might need it. My role is considered the reading expert on campus so it is my job to show all teachers (no matter the content) the importance, feasibility, and benefit of a library in the classroom.