Jennifer Campbell Blog Post # 1 Routman Chapter 5:  Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

            Routman states on page 64 that “…children read a great deal more when they have easy access to books, and well-designed, organized, ample classroom libraries provide the easiest access for students.”  When I came into my first year classroom, I had a pile of random books that had just been left.  How in the world do you provide an ample or organized library from that?  How do you organize it to make it appealing?  Then I read “An adequate classroom library will have at least two hundred books, but an excellent library will have more than a thousand.”  That’s even more daunting. 

            Fortunately, several of my books in the pile were about diverse families, going to school, or students on field trips.  I’ve supplemented the library by using books provided in our curriculum, class books, borrowing from the library, and bringing in books from my own children’s collections. 

            As far as organizing the books, I put out seasonal materials, books about friendships, and books related to our current unit.  I have them arranged on a double sided bookcase so that the covers face out.  I know when I'm choosing a book when time is limited, I look at the cover first.  Several of the books are ones we’ve read as a class over and over.  My library isn’t fancy and certainly isn’t ample, but my kids love looking at our books.  Whenever my students finish their work early, they can pick out a book to read.  On Tuesdays we have a scheduled 25 minutes to just sit and look at books.  Each week kids are assigned to our library center for 25 minutes to look at books or play with our felt pieces that go along with our stories. 

            Even though I do not have the 2000 book library, they certainly have easy access to our books. My students have shown me through their enthusiasm to browse the books and argue over our read-aloud books that it’s definitely working for them.