Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Cant Avoid
I must pack and Ranganathans store our classroom library Five Laws of books, so our custodians can Library Science shampoo the classroom carpet. Sorting, evaluating, and clean1. Books are for use. ing over three thousand books 2. Every reader his book. is a massive undertaking. While 3. Every book its reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. I could begin this task over the 5. A library is a growing last few weeks of school, enlistorganism. ing my students help, I dont Source: Ranganathan (1963). want to imply to my students that we are nished reading by limiting their book access or choices. Stalling until the last possible moment, I typically spend a few days after school ends going through our booksand as I do, I wonder if we have too many books. Recognizing the importance of a well-tended classroom library to my students and me, I shrug off my misgivings and start cleaning.
VERY YEAR,
80
81
82
After the children have selected books, we discuss the ner points of using the library. Over the next few days, we work as a class to determine classroom library procedures and explore how our books are organized. Consider the following discussion points when introducing your students to your class library.
Unhappy with every paper and computerized checkout system I have ever used, I was thrilled to discover Booksources Classroom Organizer (http://classroom.booksource.com), an online library organizer and free app. Using the barcode scanner feature, my class librarians (students who volunteer for this classroom job) and I scanned every book in our classroom library. Booksources website searches the cloud using each books unique International Standard Book Number (ISBN), autolling the authors name, title, reading level, and copy blurb. After adding my class lists into my private Classroom Organizer account, my students and I use a Netbook or iPod to check out and return books. Readers can record
83
As a class, I ask students to develop rules for taking care of our books. Working in table groups, students brainstorm a list of guidelines for protecting our books, and we use their ideas to create an anchor chart displayed in our classroom. I keep a few damaged books from past years as examples and show these to students, so they can see what happens to books when we dont take care of them. I reinforce to students that readers will not have access to all of our books if we destroy the ones we have. Last year my students developed these rules: Our Classroom Library Rules
Use a bookmark. Keep your book away from liquids, small siblings, and pets. Keep your book away from markers and pens. Carefully slide your book into your backpack or locker. Shelve your books in the correct bins. Do not pick off the plastic or stickers. Return books in a timely manner. Report any damaged or lost books to Mrs. Miller.
My sixth graders already knew how to care for books, but creating our rules together helped build our classroom community and publicly commit to taking care of our classroom library.
84
I organize our classroom library by genre. For two weeks, I read a different picture book, short story, poem, or article to my students and ask them to determine what the genre of the text is. We create a class set of notes on the characteristics of each genre and determine what types of characters, plot lines, and settings we commonly nd in each ction genre. For poetry and nonction texts, we look at the text structure and text features, too. After students have been exposed to every genre and discussed genre characteristics, I give them several book tubs from our library and ask them to determine the genre of their tubs using their notes and their reading experiences. Previewing the selections in the tubs, students identify the genre of each book. I give each group a genre label for their tubs, and students stick the label on the front of the tub. This activity helps students locate books by their individual interests and reading goals and reinforces how books are categorized by their commonalities. During these activities, students have examined and discussed scores of book titles and familiarized themselves with the types of books available to read. Our ultimate goal for building and maintaining our classroom library is to promote and encourage reading by providing students with access to lots of books. Teaching our students how to select and care for our classroom library books fosters ownership and condence and reinforces that these books are an important resource for our reading community.
85
MUSTIE in Short
M Misleading U Ugly S Superseded T Trivial I Irrelevant E Elsewhere
U = Ugly. Books with stains, torn pages, split bindings, or funny smells turn off readers. Heavily circulated books eventually wear out, too. If a book is yellow with age or depends on tape to remain in one piece, throw it away. Regularly dust books, shelves, and book bins, and repair minor damage like small page tears. The physical condition of the library says a lot about its currency and how much we value readers. Unless you can work a Reparo spell, that copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (swathed in packing tape) has to go. S = Superseded. Replace books continually updated like The Guinness Book of World Records, almanacs, sports records, and Best of . . . lists when new editions appear. Be mindful of nonction books that suggest outdated websites or technology. When examining several copies of the same ction title, remove books with dated, unappealing covers in favor of more inviting editions. Mass market paperbacks, while inexpensive to purchase, often contain print that is too small for children to read comfortably. When reducing how many copies of the same title you keep, eliminate books with tiny print over copies with more accessible text size. T = Trivial. In my never-ending quest to entice kids to read, I occasionally purchase books that tap into particular students niche interests. While these books may engage one or two readers for a single school year, titles that lack wide appeal, literary merit, or research value dont warrant long-term residency in a classroom library. Similarly, I dont keep more than the rst three to ve books in extensive, ongoing series like Warriors, Midnight Library, Star
86