Building Classroom Libraries: Classroom Bookshelf Tips for the Start to the School Year

Filed under: Classroom & Curricular Ideas

About Katie Cunningham
Katie is a Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College. There she is also the Director of the Advanced Certificate Program in Social and Emotional Learning and Whole Child Education. Her work focuses on children’s literature, joyful literacy methods, and literacy leadership. Katie is the author of Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning and co-author of Literacy Leadership in Changing Schools. Her book Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness will be released September 2019. She is passionate about the power of stories to transform lives.
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Just fantastic. This is full of wisdom and I will be sharing it widely. I find that people are always thinking about and questioning aspects of their classroom libraries and this post is a great place to check in and do some reflecting.
These suggestions are also great for the school librarian to follow. I'd add one more tip–become friendly with the school librarian. The librarian can provide a variety of books on a rotating basis for curriculum connections. Also, remember the public library possibilities to expand the collection for a project. Many libraries allow for holds, and some even collect the books for easy pick-up. By communicating with the librarians, whether school or public, the teacher also helps develop the library collection because the librarians know what the literature demands might be.It's a two-way street, beneficial to teacher and librarian.
Fantastic article! Another idea is to use a site like Bookopolis.com, a social network and book discovery tool for K-8th graders, to let kids share book reviews.
Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful article. With school starting tomorrow, I spent the last few days organizing my classroom library. As a Reading Specialist, I do have to use
an improvised level system (dot stickers), but also have bins with books by genre. Your article gave me a lot to think about! Thanks, again!