If you’re like many educators, you might consider classroom libraries to be primarily for independent reading. And it’s true that classroom libraries are one of the best ways to provide the book choice and access students need to discover the joy of exploring the world through a favorite, self-selected title.
But a classroom library is ALSO an exceptional teaching tool that teachers can draw from in many different ways: modeling fluency through read alouds, teaching strategies during reading and writing workshop, scaffolding lessons for intervention, demonstrating how to use books for research and so much more. Students can (and should) be interacting and engaging with books in your classroom library in a variety of ways throughout the school day!
We know that finding more time to incorporate books and reading into an already jam-packed schedule of daily lessons can be a challenge, so we’ve developed the Classroom Library Continuum above to help you visualize all your classroom library can do. If you’re a classroom library veteran, you may be using your books for these reading activities already! If not, you can now see at a glance all the opportunities to create rich literacy experiences for your students and use your classroom library in new and exciting ways!
We’ve developed the Classroom Library Continuum to help you visualize all your classroom library can do. If you’re a classroom library veteran, you may be using your books for these reading activities already! If not, you can now see at a glance all the opportunities to create rich literacy experiences for your students and use your classroom library in new and exciting ways!
Components of the Classroom Library Continuum
Independent Reading
When you surround students with a wide range of books that appeal to their individual interests and abilities, they read more, becoming better readers in the process.
Read Alouds
Model fluency and strategies and demonstrate your enthusiasm for reading with picture books! Read alouds can be used for middle and upper grades, too.
Guided Reading
With multiple copies of a single leveled book, you can provide small group instruction to 4-6 students. Guided reading groups foster reading confidence and proficiency.
Comprehension Strategies
Use your books to model and illustrate these six comprehension strategies: Connecting, Inferring, Predicting, Questioning, Summarizing and Visualizing/Imaging.
Book Clubs and Literature Circles
Enrich critical thinking skills with small group discussions guided by students’ responses to their reading. You’ll need to have multiple copies of single titles for these groups.
Writing Workshop
Books are ideal for illustrating different writing formats! “Mentor texts” are central to lessons on opinion writing, narrative writing, memoir writing and more.
Author & Genre Studies
Introduce students to different literary voices and styles through author studies and genres they might not otherwise choose through genre studies.
Intervention
High-interest books at a low reading level (high/low books) can help striving readers build both skills and confidence. Select books with appealing covers and topics!
Content Areas
Provide depth to lessons in subjects like science, social studies and math with engaging, informational texts that are more appealing and less intimidating than textbooks.