Updated: Jul 12, 2007 by: 0
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A classroom library is a collection of books for students’ independent reading and reference. Teachers will also access this collection for reading and writing models.
What Should a Classroom Library Look Like?
A classroom library should be in a prominent place in the classroom with ample space, comfortable reading areas, and shelves for organizing and displaying materials.
A classroom library should have:
- 300-600 books
- Materials that offer a wide range of reading difficulty
- A permanent core as well as regularly replenished revolving collections
- Avariety of genre
- Attractive (some new) books with appealing cover
Adapted from a collection of research.
Why are Classroom Libraries Important?
Classroom Libraries
- Support literacy instruction
- Help students learn about books
- Provide an organized, central location for referencing
- Support independent reading and extending curriculum
- Supply space for students to discuss and interact with books
Adapted from Your Classroom Library: New Ways to Give it More Teaching Power, by Reutzel and Fawson, Scholastic, 2004.
Research Supports Classroom Libraries
In a large-scale study (Neuman, 1999) involving 18,000 economically challenged children, classroom libraries increased reading time by 60%. Other gains:
- Literacy-related interactions more than doubled
- Letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, concepts of printing and writing and narrative competence rose 20% (more than control group
Classroom Libraries Recommended by the International Reading Association
The International Reading Association felt so strongly about classroom and school libraries, a position paper (2000) was written calling for an "immediate increase in funding for books in the classroom." Here’s an excerpt:
"Children who are allowed to self-select to read and have access to varied sources of print materials in their classrooms, school libraries, town libraries and at home, read more and read more widely, both for pleasure and for information…School libraries and classrooms must have an adequate amount of reading material for each child in order to create a fair balance between children who receive access to books outside of school and those who do not."
The IRA Position Statement, Providing Books and Other Print Materials for Classroom and School Libraries, 2000
Children in classrooms without collections read 50% less than children with collections! (Morrow, 1998).
To access this position paper see the IRA’s website, www.reading.org
Recommendations for an Effective Informational/Nonfiction Classroom Library
Please feel free to share this classroom checklist with fellow educators.
Minimum of 200 nonfiction, informational books*
- Single and multiple copies
- Wide array of content
- Assortment of titles
- Variety of authors
- Representation of 5 Most Common Text Structures (5 Identified by Meyer, 1985)
- Description
- Sequence
- Comparison
- Cause and Effect
- Problem and Solution
- One almanac
- One encyclopedia
- One atlas
- Six dictionaries
- Six thesauruses
- Informational magazines
- Newspapers
- Authentic publications: maps, museum brochures, etc.
- Student products from content area work
*Number based on numerous experts recommending that 40% of books in the classroom are nonfiction and Susan Neuman’s suggestion for a minimum of 500 books per classroom.
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