Classroom libraries

When I first met my master teacher last spring, one thing I noticed when I walked into her classroom was the variety of books on her shelves for her students to read when they were done with all of their work, or for students to borrow and to take home. She took a lot of pride into this classroom library, which had at least 500+ books that took her 30+ years to slowly build up. She had books separated by reading levels and genres. Sadly majority of her books were ruined in December due to a classroom flood. Because the principal feared that the books could contain mold or mildew she was forced to throw away all her book, including the ones that were more than half way decent. As I came back this year to work in her classroom, she had some books that were donated by parents and staff, however it wasn’t enough. Some students either had to share with a partner or read their textbook.

In the late half of last month, my master teacher’s friend donated all the books that she used in her classroom. It was a great gift and now students won’t have to wait in line or share books. The only concern that my teacher had was the quality of reading it was. For example there was a Barbie book in the pile in which most girls find interest in. Although she did not find it as intellectual challenging book, it was a great “light read” for her students that she decided to keep it. As Routman stated in chapter 5, it’s important to have these types of book for struggling readers. One of the girls is an ELL student and loves reading that book because it’s simple and helps her with her with learning her site words.

My dyad teacher did not have as many books in his library compared to my master teacher, however he did have a list that Routman discusses. Next to his book shelf were two lists; type of books or genres they like and what their interests are. One student wanted to know more about skateboarding so he bought a book about skateboarding.

One idea that Routman suggests is including lot of nonfiction. Although I have seen many nonfiction books in both my dyad and main placement, they are mainly books about MLK or presidents. I can honestly say that I neve thought of having books about animals or kid magazines in the classroom, nor do I see them as intellectually stimulating, but after reading this chapter I can understand how the importance of nonfiction material no matter what type of form, books or magazines, they come in.