How to Spend Money on Student Centered Classroom Libraries In a Meaningful Way Before the End of the Year

This is a special time of year. We’re more aware than ever that meaningful decisions can make a difference that last longer than a holiday season. Meaningful purchases at this time of year can make a difference - especially for your students, classrooms, and teams.

If you have a grant or a budget that will allow you to make some meaningful purchases for your classroom before the end of the year, here's my push to get you to spend that money on classroom libraries. I am including my 7 favorite recommendations for getting the most out of your money and making meaningful changes.

Order as many titles as you can versus multiple copies of one or two titles

When you order as many titles as you can, students can experience many different types of books within a genre or text type.

Here’s a great example: Instead of ordering 35 copies of Come on, Rain, order one or two copies of many different titles of realistic fiction books so that students can enjoy many different texts within the realistic fiction genre. You spend the same amount of money, but multiply the exposure to great texts.

Order as a GRADE level

Many grade levels make the mistakes of ordering the same books for each classroom within the grade. When this happens - libraries quickly grow stale. Order different titles and then swap them among the classrooms.

Here’s an idea: As a grade level, think about the genres and text types you'll be teaching, and then order many titles for the entire grade. When the books arrive, split them up among the grades. Then engineer a "swap system" so that each classroom has "fresh" books on a consistent basis within the genre study.

Look ahead in your curriculum mapping and order accordingly

Look ahead and plan! If you are studying mystery next month, make sure there are plenty of accessible mystery books so that students can grow their stamina and independence during the study.

Try this: Many teams connect their second round of NF teaching to a specific content area study in social studies or science - look ahead to that and order trade books to support that study. Here’s a good example: For Grade 3 Science Study of Weather order as many books connected to weather as you can to support this study.

Audit your current library for relevance AND balance

This might mean looking at the publishing dates and being willing to part with books that are outdated, antiquated, and quite honestly - do not represent who we are or our thinking today.

This might be a close look at a beloved favorite or two, but I recommend keeping books that have been published since 2000 and more recently. Anything published prior to that doesn't mean you are automatically tossing it -- it just means it needs to be looked at closely. That may mean taking a closer look at those classic, beloved titles and deciding if it's time to 'retire' them.

I also recommend keeping libraries balanced. Classroom libraries tend to be fiction dominant - do we need more nonfiction titles? What topics are interesting and (again) relevant to students this year?

Cross check your order with your school lending library

On a recent walk and talk, I was able to look at the lending library on a school’s campus. There are a lot of TERRIFIC titles there - including current and relevant NF. You might cross check your list to make sure there are no redundancies with what the students already have access to with their school library.

Involve the students!

Ask students what topics they are curious about and want to learn more about as NF readers. What authors do they love, or who/what topics do they want to explore? What fiction series do they want to read this year?

Ask kids how to organize the library. Invite and involve them in sorting what is currently in the library. Give them catalogs such as Scholastic, ask them which titles should be in the class library. When you involve them, you’re teaching engagement on a whole new level.

Have your wish list ready to go

I spoke with a school leader recently who talked me through a "ghost budget" and an actual budget. She explained that some schools are working within the parameters of a "ghost budget" which is why they often have money to spend with a very short clock at various times throughout the year. Whenever I speak about classroom libraries - or curriculum calendars - I highly recommend having a "wish list" ready to go at a moment’s notice - at any time of year - ready to go.

Classroom libraries and access to books, in general, will always be in a constant state of evolution. The landscape of books for children changes drastically every year and more and more authors write incredible texts for our readers. AND the interests of our students change every year. Investing this year doesn’t mean that you’ll never have to invest again, so please hang onto these considerations for next year.

TWO POST SCRIPTS

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: I recently spoke to a group of teachers and reminded them the importance of preparing students for time off from school, such as the holidays. In other words, how can they support the idea of students taking home a backpack full of books to read over the holiday break. That led us to a conversation about perhaps co-authoring a letter to the caregiver community to ask gently for books or supplies for the classroom instead of the gobs of (unwanted) candy for the holiday season.

A SHOUT-OUT: Kaeden Publishing is a mom-and-pop shop based in Ohio. Read Write Think with Renee has worked with them in the past, and we’re happy to connect you with them if any of their titles look interesting. PSST: Their NF series on animals is a popular one with many kids.