Hi Laurie. I had to jump in on this thread about having kids help organize the classroom library.
I have done this for the past 7 years or so. Here's how I do it in my third grade classroom. Like you, I have all my books boxed up from the year before. The kids actually box them up as part of "undoing" our classroom. (We set up the classroom physically as a group each fall. But that's another LONG email and not on topic for the Mosaic list.) I do box them up by genre but the kids don't know that. After I explain here doing it with the genre's already boxed up, I'll share how I've done it one year with several classes when the boxes were not sorted by genre. To have something for the kids to read for independent reading from day one before our classroom library is set up I pull a variety of books and place them in ice cube bins on each table. I rotate the bins every day so the kids have more to read from. This is just for the first 4-5 days of school- while we are making the decisions on the classroom stuff that they decide and do together. Once we are at the place in creating our classroom environment where we are ready to make decisions on our books, I bring out the boxes of one genre. Say it could be fiction picture books. Before we start, I teach the kids what it will look like and sound like as we get to know our books over the next few days. LOOKS LIKE: hands holding ONE book at a time turning the pages to skim the book eyes on the covers eyes reading the blurbs putting ONE book down and picking up another book taking turns with the books choosing 2 books by the end of the rotation for their book boxes table groups rotating at the signal to the next table carrying their chosen books from table to table and placing them under the chair SOUNDS LIKE: books being picked up pages turning quiet whispers of excitement considerate words for handing the book to someone interested books being set down carefully feet excitedly walking to the next table at the signal I use LOOKS LIKE/SOUNDS LIKE talk with them from the beginning and even make charts for crucial routines depending on the group. Then before we begin the activity/event, I have them say back to me what I should SEE and HEAR when we start. ALL YEAR! Back to the books. I don't tell them what the genre is. But I do tell them that once we are done rotating they will be turning and talking at their table to decide what the genre is and what are the qualities of that genre. We will make an anchor chart for the wall at that point. I have 6 student tables in my room. I call up one student from each table to carry a pile of those books to their table. The books are not stacked neatly, but spread all out on each table. I keep handing them the books for their tables until those boxes are empty. Then once all the books are passed out from that genre the SILENT preview starts. They get about 3 minutes at their table to get their hands on those books. I give a signal for them to rotate to the next table. By the end of the 6 table rotation they should have 2 books they want to place in their individual book boxes. And yes, they can change their minds along the way and just put the book on that table and pick a new one. Once they have rotated back to their own seat, I give them 2 minutes to begin reading the two books they have picked out for their book box. Then it's time to turn and talk about what they noticed about the books and we decide on the genre and create an anchor chart to hang up in the room. They LOVE THIS!!! And YES it does take several days. Depending on the group (and how well you have structured the behaviors) you can do two genres in the morning and one or two in the afternoon. All of this beginning of the year work is SO CRUCIAL to creating the literacy community for the rest of the year so I do not rush it. Not only do my children determine the genre (many have done work on genre before coming to third grade) and discuss the characteristics of that genre, but they work together to place the books into the book baskets. I have had years where the kids make the book basket labels or I have done it on the computer. They then decide as a class where in the classroom that genre of book baskets should "live" for the year. I spread my classroom library out based on genre across my room. I find it helps with the traffic flow when kids are switching out their book box books each week. So.... nonfiction (broken up by topic) are in one location, fiction chapter books in another location, poetry, math, jokes/riddles, song books in another location, historical fiction in its own area, (fiction picture books are usually placed on the top of my free standing book cases just because of the flower boxes I arrange them in- for size), etc. Now... if your books are all boxed up in random groupings and not by genre you can still do this process. It will just be a bit messier but VERY doable. When I worked that year coaching teachers, I helped several classrooms organize their classroom libraries. We did several mini lessons on the different genres and read aloud some examples. We made the anchor charts as part of the mini lessons before we sorted the books so the children could refer to the charts while they were sorting the books. Then you simply assign a genre to each table and also find some spaces around the room so that all the possible genre are covered. (You get to decide the categories you want for your room based on what you know about the books you have.) We made a sign for each location that was easy to see. Then open one box (or if you don't have your books boxed, you can do one shelf at a time) and call children up in a line to get 4-6 books at a time to begin passing. If you do a LOOKS LIKE/SOUNDS LIKE chart on this activity it will help with behavior. If your group can't handle this structure, you can have half the class reading independently from the ice cube bin books and then the other half can begin sorting books. Then switch. Or if that is still too many kids up and about, just call one table at a time. It's up to you to know what your kids can handle. And if you think they can handle it and you discover they can not, then STOP and pull them together for a class meeting and have them tell you what they are noticing about the behavior. Review the LOOKS LIKE/SOUNDS LIKE chart and then together make some decisions on how to make the activity more successful. Don't abandon the process if your kids aren't handling it. Work with them in a discussion about how can it be changed so it WILL work. I have found that when I stop and reflect with them on the spot when it "isn't working", I usually can help them be part of the improved process. To me, it's all about student ownership. Rather than teacher control. Have some fun with this. I know you will see the power and the value in inviting your children to help you set up your classroom library. And Laurie.... and others...... if you do try this (in any degree you are comfortable with....) let us know how it goes when your school year starts up. Ginger Weincek grade 3 _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
