Chapter+2


 * Chapter 2**

**#1** **"Building up libraries"** // The first half of this chapter speaks to the need for many high quality books to support readers. It provides examples of how others have built up adequate classroom libraries. There is a direct correlation between the amount, level and quality of our books and our students’ motivation and success as readers. In What Really Matters for Struggling Readers, Richard Allington shares research that the most effective teachers have libraries in the 1500 book range or greater. It is evident that we could all use more books each year. What did you read, either from the bullets on p. 33 or from the surrounding text that inspired you to action in growing classroom libraries? Do you have an idea regarding something you (and perhaps a colleague or two) could do in the name of the classroom library priority? //

My inspiration is putting the Grant monies to use for the ongoing literacy of my students. I have a letter to my parents prepared that will explain why I need help to create a classroom library for our children. I'm requesting help to reorganize what I have. We will call it a "Book Bee". My books are leveled, but I need to display them so they are used. I will have a meet the books seminar. A great way to include my parents in the process. Then there's my colleague, we will gather our resources. He's great at getting more information out to community. Margaret Fox

I am going to try to get a mini-grant this year in order to build my library up even more. I did try to do the Scholastic book club, but no one particiapted. I am going to try it again this year and see if I have any takers. I do think I had a hard time with getting people to order from it was because I think it was the Middle School level and they felt it was beneath them. Scholastic must no longer do a High School level club because I did not see anything for it when I requested them and that makes me sad. I am also going to see if I can have students bring in books they are done with at home and exchange for them books they haven't read yet. That way the library will continuously be changing. Tracy

One way I have grown my classroom library is to visit the Goodwill stores in various communities. I find that each store has its own "local" flavor for books and in many cases you find the quality of the condition of the books vary also. I now have yard sale experts who watch for books for me. My wife also watches the auction sites for me. It is especially important for me this year sense I am moving from 3rd grade to 5th grade. I love my school librarian, she saved several series of books for me that were going to be discarded because of leveling difficulties. Books that may be perfect for some of my students. On p.33 I really picked up on the donors idea. I am going to dedicated a bulletin board for parents, professionals, and friends that donate to our library. I'm going to ask our local Hunting dealer to save extra copied of his magazines and hunting regulations because i know how interested my students are in our great outdoors. Last year I was given a gift card for Donors.org and was able to grow my Science library. I may look into that again in the future. Mike

I often get books for my own children at home, from school book orders. When they are done reading them or seem to not read them anymore, I take them to school and put them in my classroom library. (It works out well because one of my daugthers is the same age as my students.) Also, I ask for books for Christmas or I put them on my "wish list" for my classroom. Then parents can donate books to our classroom, too. I like how Margaret and Tracy are hoping to get grant money for books. What organization are you thinking of? Is there a specific grant you had in mind? If so, I'd love to know which one. Kari

Ok I think I hit the book jack-pot this summer! I added over 350 books to my library! First, I order from a website which gives a 2 for the price of 1 special to Title I schools so that was the 200 books. They are not the highest of quality literature but they were high interest topics most of which were non-fiction. Next I got over 100 already leveled books from a teacher's yard sale for $15.00! The rest of the books were Goodwill finds--I am surprised I don't run into all of you there! My kids and I spent about 5 hours reorganizing and sorting books into baskets by levels, topics, authors, and characters. I know at Home Grown they suggest doing the book organization with the kids but I felt that I would be starting off the year in a state of chaos. I also can't imaginge doing that on a yearly basis! I am flexible with where the books go if students have ideas but sorting my whole library with 25 kids helping sent me into a panic! I also beg books from family members as their children outgrow them. I also request that parents not buy me gifts for any occasion that comes up throughout the year--but I tell them if they insist on gifts to please make them children's books that will be added to our library. I then have the child sign a label that says: "This Book Was Donated By _." There are always $1.00 books in the book orders so even struggling families can add to our library if the want to. And just how many coffee mugs does a teacher need?! :) I love Sara's idea to have the family donate a book for the child's birthday instead of spending money on expensive cupcakes or treats--I plan to suggest this in my orientation letter. --Jodee Tuttle I’m thinking of suggesting to parents to participate in a Birthday Book program. Instead of spending money on cupcakes or other birthday snacks, they would buy a book their child loves and donate it to the classroom. We would read that book for the child’s birthday and leave it in the classroom with a bookplate inside honoring the child. Like Mike, I scour Goodwill stores, other resale shops, and garage sales (with help from family members who also like to shop at second-hand stores). I’ve let parents know that if their child has outgrown any books to please consider donating them to our classroom. Last year, one of my students who was reading well-above grade level had out-grown her Dr. Seuss books. I was fortunate enough to receive half-a-dozen or so hard cover books in great condition! My colleague and I have applied for the YAC grant in Muskegon county and were able to buy books to support our reading and writing workshop units of study. I’ve heard great things about DonorsChoose.org, but haven’t applied yet. Our Parent Forum is really supportive and recently asked our grade-level teams for what they needed. We suggested having book shelves built so that we could better organize and display our libraries and make them more accessible to our students. Margaret, I’m interested in learning more about your “Meet the books seminar.” I think it’s a great idea to get parents more involved in what their children are reading and why. It makes me want to have a Parents’ Night at the beginning of the school year to better explain my approach to teaching reading. I can share only so much in a newsletter of course! Our school has a Meet, Greet, Find Your Seat night a few days before school starts, but it doesn’t give parents and teachers time to really discuss what the students will be learning that year. Sara Sabourin

I bring my favorite books from my children when they were little. I know how hard it is to build up classroom libraries because I changed grade levels last year and felt like I had to begin all over again. I also have asked at Christmas time for a gift of a book for the classroom and this is a very special way for parents and students to give to everyone. I have never written a grant but it sounds like a good way to fund part of a classroom library. Scholastic book clubs have been a saving grace for me because I have been very lucky with the number of parents and students that participate. For me, it has been worth the time to do it. Also, we have been very lucky to have a Title I person that goes to garage sales and the Goodwill stores for our teachers and brings her list of leveled books and shops for us. Ronda Morningstar Chapter 2 from Bobbi Friend #1 My classroom library is fairly large right now because it has been a priority for me since I began teaching in 1991. I was an avid reader myself, and kept every book I have ever read so my library began with my own books. I use all of my scholastic points to buy books, and like many others, take advantage of garage sales and Goodwill. As a third grade teacher for 12 years, I have students with many different reading levels so I have a good selection. I have to take the time, now, to do a better job leveling my library and adding higher level books since I am moving to sixth grade. I have been asking every colleague for unused books, and I have already spent two weeks in my new room organizing my library.

I love the Birthday Book instead of a treat idea!! I am fortunate that I have had position that allows me to accumulate quality in some cases level books. My challenge is the heart of the building—K-@ has moved 2 years in a row-which can destroy a library especially when there is no para pro, media specialist or let a lone a librarian. I am still waiting for the trend to swing back and the library is really the heart of the school! KDN (p28)

Like many others have stated, I use my Scholastic points, yard sales, and occasionally Goodwill to help boost my book supply. I started asking parents several years ago for donations of unused books from home. I do not receive large quantities of books in this manner, but typically receive books that are desirable since students are likely to have just outgrown them. I love Sara’s idea of a birthday book. I think that idea would’ve have worked great at my last placement, but am not so sure how it would work in my new one. I am also concerned about how many parents will order from Scholastic. I typically spend some time promoting various books when I sent the catalogues home and will continue the practice in hopes of boosting orders. For those of you interested in donorschoose.org, it is an amazing experience. I was awarded two different projects last year for math workshop materials and students LOVED it! If you are on Facebook, go to Horace Mann and “like” them as they will be announcing another project in conjunction with donorschoose. Last year in January they matched the first $200 of a project of up to $400. The announcement will be coming the end of August or beginning of September, with those who “like” the company getting the information first. I would even suggest you create an account and your first project so it is ready to go because the funding goes quickly. I would be happy to provide help for anyone who has questions about how it works or getting a project ready to post. Stephanie Cooper

Last year my principal let me order books. I have no idea how she found the money or what she did, but she gave me a $500 limit. It really helped add books to my library...especially since I was a 2/3 split last year and really needed them to get my Reading Workshop going. I tried to have kids help me last year also. It was very difficult and I found myself very stressed out. So, I didn't have much of my library leveled at all. Somehow we managed. This summer I spent 3 days leveling and organizing and weeding out books. I used the Book Wizard at Scholastic.com. If it wasn't in their database, I looked at the book and made an executive decision about whether to keep the book or not. If it was in their database, but there was only an interest level, I kept the book. Those two sets of books I sorted by subject area, etc. and I have them in a cupboard on a shelf so I can get to them if I need them. They are all labeled for easy reference. The books that actually were in the database with a level assigned, I wrote the level on the book. I have one tub of each of the following levels: F, G, H, and I. I have two tubs of each of the following levels: J, K, L, M, and N. Then I have a tub that is O and P and a tub that is Q, R, S, T, U...I don't have many in this tub. Finally, I have a tub of easy readers and two tubs of non-fiction books (mostly animals). This took a long time to organize, but I'm so excited. I'm not sure how it will work this year, but at least I'm one step further in the process than I was last year. I'm sure there will be adjusting to do. As far as getting new books, I love all the ideas presented and I took really good notes. Hope to run into some of you at GoodWill one of these days! :) Keri Cooper

**"Matching Books to Readers" (p. 35)**
==== //Write about your experiences matching books to readers at your grade level(s). What are some of the challenges **and** joys you have encountered matching the students you teach to books that appropriately support their accuracy and comprehension proficiencies//. ====

==== Ok, so we have been instructed to make sure that our books are **'age appropriate'**. My students are anywhere from **age 18-26** with reading abilities anywhere from pre-primary to 3rd grade. My dilemma is finding something of interest that they can read?? Some of our teachers have been asking for a library with level books, but this hadn't been a priority because **"The budget for technology drains the budget for books (pg. 32).** ==== ==== Like all teachers, I want my students to have success with their reading, but**"Perhaps the problem is that we've stocked our library shelves with the books we wish our children could read." (pg.34)** On one hand, the Unique Transition Curriculum has picture-supported reading, we can also find books on tape from the library, and get our News through 'News-2-you.' And yet, on the other hand, I have also been teaching reading at the level of my students. I love to see the success on their faces when they are beginning to see that they can make words with such simple endings as -en, an, ip, ot, ad, ank, ack, ide, etc... ==== ==== When I had my younger Autism classroom, I had built my own classroom library from scholastic book orders, yard sales, donations from friends and relatives, and book store clearence centers. However, the books I have are too young for my age group even though they need to start from the beginning. Question: How do I teach reading to adults and keep it age appropriate?? ====

==== I'm fortunate to be in a school that sees the importance of a literate community. My challenges are mine, so I've taken myself out of the equation. Redefining my classroom library in a way that my students feel success is my goal. Spending time teaching them how to get a good fit is important. My assessing in a more authentic way will be my success. Watching a child smile because they have a greater understanding of the words. My favorite is, "Thank you for making me a better reader." I have seen success in some, I now am equipt to give others the same opportunity. ====

==== I have a classroom library of books that I add to whenever I get a chance. I pick them up yard sales and thrift shops, so I have a wide age range and genres. I also have the in-zone books by Hampton Brown. These books are fabulous because they take books such as __The Outsiders__ for example and re-write them for lower level learners. They have words in bold and definitions at the bottom as well as have questions throughought the text for the students to think about before moving on the next section. My students really enjoy these books. They are able to read something they want, but at a level which more suites them without making them feel like they are poor readers. Once they really get into reading the books, they continue to read and they just get better and better. They start to take pride in it and it is fantastic for me to see this change in them. ====

==== I am fortunate to have a new Literacy Coach in my building. She helped me last year in putting together reading groups and using our leveled library to find books for my readers. It was easily the most exciting time for my readers! They enjoyed reading books together, sharing their books, and talking about them in our group meetings or one on one. Their excitement many times spilled over as other groups wanted to read the books they heard being discussed. This didn't always keep us in the "levels" we had started with, but it kept the interest up! ====

==== We are very fortunate also to have many different levels of books in our classroom. I listen to each student read starting at a first grade level and adjust from there. I am able to ask them questions about the story as we go through the pages. I write notes and adjust. I never leave my groups the same for long because as we progress through the year some children take off and need to be bumped up as well as some children who aren't making the gains I think they should need extra time and practice. I feel that reading is a lot like running, it is hard and not fun at first but as you struggle on and presist it gets easier and easier to do it ( and you can go longer and faster). One of my biggest joys was when a parent said, "Holy cow, he never quits reading!" He reads while waiting for the bus, on the bus and at night. Wow what a change from someone who used to cry when we took a book out to read. :) ====

Ronda
Chapter 2 from Bobbi Friend #2 When I read pages 34 and 35, most of the pages were covered with highlights. Matching books to readers is so essential, and it can be so difficult! I know from experience that “Children don’t get to be stronger readers by holding heavier books,” as Lucy stated on page 35. It is often our at-risk students who want to get the difficult books so that they look like they are reading better than they really are. What happens is that they do not become more confident because they are struggling so badly to read the words that they cannot make sense of the words on the page. It is so vital that we match students to their “just right” books with our help and guidance so that they can make the meaning happen.

Year and Years ago when I started at the Hts. I was scheduled to have a 1st grade room right before school started I was given 4th—It seemed bothersome at the time because I had all low material but it was a blessing since on grade level material were easy to come by but when you have the range of non-reader to 6th grade—it wound up being great! KDN

It can definitely be a challenge to match readers to books that are both appropriate and interesting. As I’ve posted on the other wikis, I give my incoming students an approximate placement based on last year’s running record and teacher’s observations. Students then select books for their bookshelves at our before school open house. Most students were very excited about doing this last year and it gave parents the opportunity to see what level their child was reading with respect to others and what books held their child’s interest. The students were excited about reading workshop on the first day because many of them were looking forward to reading the books they had selected earlier. Throughout the first month of school, I conduct running records starting with my lower readers in order to place them more accurately quickly. We have been given a half to a full day in the past to conduct these assessments so I am hoping that will be available to us once again. Finding books that are interesting to some low level readers is a challenge. I had several boys last year interested in books about the Army, Navy, submarines, and the like. These books were in our school library and my policy was one book must be appropriate for the child’s level and one was free choice for the child to take home. One little guy wanted two such books and rejected all of the books I showed him at his level. Because they were nonfiction books, I let him take both in the end with some requirements. He had to spend the first twenty minutes of workshop reading his just right book before moving on to his library book. I figured he could at least read the captions and enjoy the many pictures. By the end of the year, he was reading at an ending third grade level (she started at mid first) and could read those books on his own. I have been working hard to bolster my lower level nonfiction library to accommodate students like this young man. Stephanie Cooper

** #3 ** **  "Students Promoting Books" (pp. 38-39) ** //Book reviews, book talks, book blessings… whatever you choose to call this routine; it is one that “helps children become purposeful readers with intentions and social networks that steer their reading choices.” This final section of chapter 2 gives a few different ideas for promoting books in the classroom. Think about and plan in writing exactly what you do already or want to do to make book reviews a permanent fixture in your weekly routine.// Response:

Once a week we go to the Media Center. My children walk around, flip through books with a purpose I've given. But I also feel their frustration because their choices are not a "match". So...one thing I will incorporate is the " Book Review" wall into a minilesson. Also our Media Teacher is receptive to making Media time a learning experience. I have and will set up Minilessons to support promoting books in the classroom. Each week we will promote a book. The promotion will fit the theme of my first month's unit of study. Margaret Fox

But the quote “we’ve stocked our library shelves with the books we wish our children could read” and I would add would read (p34)—Students with guidance know what they like—my example would be a male student who always read about 70 wpm per the DIBELs measure—but when he read about superheroes—he could read 90—big difference and the comprehension was better than usual go figure. KDN

I love helping kids find just right books to read but I did find that when their peers reccommended a book they were even more likely to grab it. I give a little teaser about books quite often, just enugh information to get them excited and then show them where the books will be if they want to find out more. During shopping time they are snached up quickly! Last year after reading a good book and telling the kids about it I mentioned that I needed to tell another teacher who is a friend of mine about the book so she could read it too. The kids said I should write her a note about it (they love to deliver notes!) and that was how the idea of book reccommendations came about in my classroom. There is a standard form that the student fills out to reccommend a book to another student. They fill in the person's name, the book title, and write a brief reason why they think the other person will like the book and then they deliver this to the classmate's mailbox. Oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe the excitement on people's faces when someone reccommended a book to them. I have never had the kids so in to passing books on to a classmate. Many books became popular with many students just because it had been reccommended to someone else. Now, with Writer's Workshop I can see where this would be very helpful for book talks. Since many kids are choosing to read books of the same title it will help when forming partnerships for book talks. I am really excited to see this happen this year. --Jodee Tuttle

Everything we do in the classroom to teach children how to find good-fit books for themselves, is great, but there is NOTHING more powerful than a student promoting a book to his/her peers. It's more powerful than a teacher standing up and telling the kids what a great book it is. I will definitely refer to pages 38 and 39 this year and incorporate this with my students this year.

**In addition to the questions and thoughts above, here is a place to post other ideas and burning questions from chapter two, if any...**

**What I have noticed is that most of our students choose books or magazines for information. For example, everyone wants to know more about Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. And of course there are a few who are interested in weather facts, poetry, movies, and trivia books. Very few read simply for pleasure and the chance to put themselves into a story witten by such well known authors as Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts, Michael Crichton, or Tom Clancy.** In What Really Matters for Struggling Readers, Richard Allington shares research that the most effective teachers have libraries in the 1500 book range or greater. It is evident that we could all use more books each year. **I used to have a very large collection of books for my pre-adolescent students with Autism. However, these books are too immature for this older group.** I certainly agree with Richard Allington and **intend to write a grant for the kinds of books and magazines that really appeal to our population.** **M.J.**

**I have a question.... How do you keep your classroom library organized? I have labeled "book boxes" ( little yellow tubs, with pictures on the front), for my students to put the books back in the right box, but they often get mixed up. Is there a better way to do this? I would love to know what works for everyone else.** **Kari**

In response your question Kari, I have some tubs that are marked with a lettered level (A-Z). I have a shelf dedicated to authors (Brett, Carle, etc) and another one with characters (Froggy, Clifford, etc). Many other tubs I have labeled by themes (weather, space, dinosaurs, song books, magazines, etc.). Many books have been leveled so they sometimes wind up in a theme tub or vice-versa. I just really have to teach and re-teach how to put books away. Even at the end of the year after shopping for books, some students stuck books in random places (when they could have done better!)

Sara Sabourin

My issue is not the gathering of the books but the moving in 16 years I have moved 7 times—4 of those to a different building (once my choice—promotion or building closing)—Everytime I move I would fine a new way to organize my room—that was always interesting--KDN