Her name is Molly Malloy from Lessons with Laughter. How did I marry the two needs for pretty AND purposeful and functional organization? Well, thankfully there are some brilliant teachers out there, and I found one who solved all of my problems. Now, I didn’t quite know I wanted to do this, because I needed something that would still fit my need for our space to be visually appealing (It’s just something I need- Don’t judge!) However, what can’t happen is that my need for pretty interferes with what’s best for my students. I thought that by putting my books in a display that mirrored other experiences that they would have with navigating books, that I could be supporting them with their future browsing needs.
CLASSROOM LIBRARY BOOKS HOW TO
I had noticed that my students struggled to identify authors and how to browse for books in a more traditional library system. I decided that I wanted my students to access our library in a way that would help them better navigate our school library, town libraries, and bookstores.
So, as much as it broke my heart, I took out all of the neon bins. I also want to make it really clear that I made these changes to find out what was right for my students. It might completely fail, but I need to try it so that I know that what I’m choosing is not for ME, but it is for my STUDENTS. I truly couldn’t answer it, so I took the plunge and I said “I am going to try something different. But at the end of the day, I needed to ask myself why? Why did I choose THIS method over something else, and was it because I liked the way it looked, or because it was what would be best for my kids? I share because I need you to know how hard it was for me to even contemplate changing things up. I had laminated all of the bin labels, and I had so much time and effort invested in this. I wish I didn’t have this problem, but I do.Īdditionally, all of my books had labels that matched the labels on the bins. So many of you know the struggle! I had spent weeks of my summers trying to head to different Targets, Ocean State Job Lots, and Walmarts to find these matching bins that would all fit perfectly on my shelves and be color-coordinated, because my head explodes when one bin is a different shade of blue than the one next to it. Now, the idea of getting rid of these bins made me want to break out in hives. After a while, I started to wonder if I was keeping these bins because I liked the way they looked in my space and how they brighten my room, or because of their functionality? I had these cute labels, and I beautiful neon bins and they were GORGEOUS! I loved the look of my space.
CLASSROOM LIBRARY BOOKS SERIES
I used to have bins for all of the different series and genres in my classroom library. The first change I made is hard to bring up, because I know it polarizes groups of teachers, and that’s TOTALLY OKAY! You don’t have to agree with me on this one, but I just want to share my experience and how it has shifted the engagement level in my classroom.
I want to share a few of those changes that I’ve made over the years, and why I think they’re working. From Bins to Spines OutĪfter I shifted the location of my library space, and I saw the effect that it had on my students, I started to think about other parts of the library itself, and how I could continue to increase engagement with the space by making little changes. It does sound like a very small change, but from my experience, the level of interest in my library space increased dramatically JUST by moving its location to a place in my classroom that got more foot traffic. They are constantly having books pushed in their face covers of beautiful books that might attract them and say, “Hey! Read me next!” They’re always there, front and center, to get my students excited about reading. Books are there when they have to go get their work. Books are there every time they need to go to the bathroom. They see all of the books out on display. It is the very first thing my students see when they walk in.
When I chose to put my classroom library at the center of my classroom, so that when you walk into my room, the library is RIGHT THERE. I know it might sound silly, but I’m only speaking from experience with making the shift myself and seeing the difference it has made in my classroom space. It wasn’t doing any HARM back there, but what I realized over time was that by placing it in the back corner, I was subtly removing it from the rest of my room. For a long time, I put my library in the back corner of my room, because I wanted it to be a nice, quiet space for my students. Where you choose to house your classroom library speaks to the emphasis we put on literacy in our classrooms.
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