A Better Classroom Library in Three Simple Steps
So you’ve gone to all the trouble of building a classroom library. Now, how do you get students more excited about using it? It’s not as hard as you think!
Feature a Book of the Week
You’ve probably got heaps of fantastic books in your class library that students don’t know exist. It’s time to find your favorites and give them a little time in the limelight!
Every Monday, take five minutes to introduce a “book of the week.” Show students the cover, give them a synopsis, and leave it displayed in a special place. If you keep up this tradition throughout the year, you’ll be building a treasure-trove of ideas for book reports, independent reading assignments, and summer reading.
Organize Books into Fun Categories
The way we organize and present books to students tends to be a little…boring. Make your library a place worth exploring by creating exciting thematic sections!
Use your insider knowledge of students’ interests, hobbies, and cultures to create more compelling categories. Here are few ideas to get your juices flowing:
Stories about Best Friends
Big Adventures
Books for Sports Fans
Awesome People (Biographies)
Stories to Make You Laugh
If You Love Computers, Machines, and Gadgets
Magic and Make Believe
All About Animals
Best Books for Fall (or any other season or holiday)
Student of the Week 's Favorite Books
Let Students Add Book Reviews
Slip a review sheet in the front of every book with room for multiple reviews. After a student reads it, let him or her give it a 1–5 star rating and write an optional short review. Then, when students are browsing books, they can use their peer’s notes and reviews to help make their choices.
Bonus: Reviews are a great way to have students analyze what they’ve read without it feeling like it 's a chore.
Double Bonus: It gets students talking to each other about literature, and who doesn’t love that?)
