This year has been tough! My school was face-to-face with the entire class for almost the entire year. Last year, I wrote about plans for a classroom library in the face of a pandemic. Now, I'm at the happy point of looking back on the year and thinking about lessons learned.
Taking Books from Room to Room
Because I moved about this year, I couldn't have a typical classroom library. Instead, I had to take a bin of books with me from room to room. (By the end of the year, I was carting a tall table and an overhead cart with handouts and books!)
I expected this to be harder than it was. My start of year book survey helped me to do first day book assignments. Then, I could pick out follow-up books to put into my book bin to cart from place to place. I did make many trips back and forth to my classroom to get books that I'd forgotten; luckily I had a co-teacher for two classes and a lunch break in the middle of the other.
I had some tried and true books that went with me and were in almost constant circulation! Because of this year's overall atmosphere, I found that kids gravitated toward quick and fun graphic novels. These were the all-time favorites from the year.
Teacher Sign-Out Book
In the past, students have been responsible for signing out books. This year, I needed to keep the sign-out book myself. Returned books went into a quarantine bin, while I checked books in and out with a sign in book.
And this worked out wonderfully! In fact, I think that I will clear the first 10 minutes of every class this year to do this again. I kept better track of books than ever before. Previously I had thought that I absolutely could not handle writing down student book checkouts, but I learned otherwise. It worked out well and helped me to have short conversations with readers every day.
No Browsing
At the start of the year, I worried about the lack of browsing in my classroom library. However, this turned out to be less of an issue than I thought. Between the book survey and my traveling book bin, I managed to get kids set up with the next book they'd like pretty easily. Each morning, I would sort the quarantined books that were ready to be returned, check my notes for what to take the next day, and get my book bin set up.
In fact, I noticed that no browsing meant that more time was spent reading. Students became more skilled at asking me for the kinds of books they'd like ("Mrs. Kissner, I want something that's sad and long") and I got better at making recommendations. I did sometimes give students three books that I'd selected for them to look through. They could choose one and return the rest to the quarantine bin.
I don't think that I will disallow browsing for the future, but I think that I will limit it. I always have a core group of students who like to avoid reading, and too much freedom to browse gives them time to do this. Finding a balance between browsing and teacher recommendation is my task for next year!
Outdoor Reading Time
In my end-of-year survey for students, independent reading time rated highly as one of the favorite activities for students. In fact, several students suggested that I give more time next year! This just goes to show that independent reading is important no matter what.
Lessons for Next Year
What will next year bring? I can't even begin to guess. But I have learned some new tricks for my classroom library and figured out how to make daily reading time work in a wide range of situations.
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