Blair Wright Blog #4 - Organize an Outstanding Library

Having a well stocked and organized classroom library is a "literacy necessity" according to Chapter 4 in Routman's book and I happen to agree. When it says well stocked, this means having different genres, authors, and even types of books available in your classroom library. The most difficult part about making this a reality is how do you make this happen? Books are expensive, so if you want to create a literacy rich classroom with children who love to read, you need to have a library that encourages them to do so. I, personally, faced this challenge with changing grade levels this year. I had books mostly ranging from 4th to 6th grade, with very few picture books. I knew that I needed to find books to help fill up my new 3rd grade library. Here are some ways I went about find books for my new classroom:
1) Ask other teachers - sometimes people had multiple copies of a title and would let me have one of their extras, or even books they didn't need anymore.
2) Check out discarded books - these might have a few cosmetic flaws, but the words were there!
3) Scholastic - I used most of my saved points to try to buy books that were on lower levels and also I always checked out the $1 and $2 books available each month
4) Retiring teachers - I bought books from Mrs. James when she had her classroom sale
5) The Really Big, Really Cheap, Really Good Book Sale - this book sale is amazing and benefits the Greenville Literacy Association
6) Asked friends and family - I mentioned to friends and family that I was changing grade levels and I was on the look out for younger books

After all of this, I still feel like my classroom library is not as full as it needs to be for my students, but continue to try and add new books as often as I can.

I love how our district is supporting literacy, which was evident a couple of years ago when we all got a classroom set of books to help boost our libraries. I really saw an excitement in my students when we got these new books. I think it would be nice if each year money was set aside for books so we could have new titles to add to our libraries. This way they keep current and encourage students to read new authors and books. Keeping this excitement for reading can be a big struggle in lower income schools such as Woodland Heights. In this chapter, Routman also discusses the importance of outstanding and organized classroom libraries in lower income schools with struggling readers. She claims that giving these students more access to books and other types of literature can give them a more even playing field in life. It is fueling the fire of reading in one way or another that helps to boost a student academically and creates more opportunities for them to be successful. Is that what we all want for our students....and having a great classroom library could be the start of it all.