Step 1: First, you must determine what books you already
have. If you do not have any, please go on to Step 2, which will prepare you
for when you do begin collecting books. If you already have a collection of
books started, what are they? Are they of one particular genre, author,
illustrator, or time period? It may be good to organize your thoughts using the
directions in Step 2.
Step 2: An electronic spreadsheet saved onto a flash drive
is efficient, convenient, and simple. Using a computer program with spreadsheet
capabilities, begin your classroom library database by organizing books by
title, author, illustrator, genre, reading level, and subject. This is a great
way to keep track of your books. If you do not have any books in your classroom
library, feel free to move on to Step 4. Otherwise, let's get things recorded
in Step 3!
Step 3: If you already have a collection of books, record
each on into your new database. This may be time consuming but you will find it
to be completely worthwhile.
Step 4: Collecting books are important and will ultimately
occur as your time progresses as a teacher but a good foundation is needed to
build off of. As you browse through the resources, think of your students,
their interests, and their needs. Do you have any interests? What would benefit
your students most?
Generate a list of 20 books you would like to
include in your classroom (or add to your current library) and be sure to include
10 multicultural books because those books are pertinent to success for English
Language Learners (ELLs). To browse the necessary resources, click here.
Step 5: Now that you have a list of book titles, check
their quality by using the resources provided here.
If any are not quality pieces of literature, swap it out for another title that
fits the criteria. As a good teacher, you need to be picky!
Step 6: Now it is time to organize your classroom library.
If you have a room designated as your library, it would be best to recreate
that space on you sheet of graph paper. If you are not a teacher yet and do not
have this luxury, assume your classroom library is 8 feet by 10 feet. Draw a
room with those dimensions onto your graph paper and use the resources provided
to plan how you will organize your
books. You can print out a piece of graph paper for free at this site.
*Note: ELLs will succeed when they engage in
multicultural texts and have explicit guides for classroom routines. Consider
having a box designated for each student, that way ELLs feel included in the
class and they know exactly which texts to read.
Step 7: What have you decided? Boxes for every student?
Books separated by genre or in alphabetical order? Whichever would work best
for your students, draw it out on your sheet of graph paper within the
classroom. For example, if you would like one wall to be dedicated to picture
books, label it "picture books" and then describe how you would like
to organize it. Be creative and know that you will be able to modify this
aspect of your classroom as your students change. (If you are a current teacher
and have furniture to organize, label those on your sheet as well.)
Step 8: Now that you have a general idea of how your
library will be organized, you must have a system that will keep itself
organized and labels that will explicitly show students where books belong. The
easiest way to do this is to color code each section of your library. Once you
use stickers or markers to color-code your books, record it onto your library
database.
Step 9: The last thing you must do is to maintain your
classroom library, which includes doing two things: creating a check-out system
for student use and extending the life of each book. Explore the resources
provided here
to get ideas for whichever system you decide to use.
Step 10: Evaluate your plans for your current or future
classroom library here.
