1,000 Books

I have to say that my heart sunk when I read that Regie Routman believes that a great library contains 1,000 books. In my current classroom there are two libraries and the number of books does not even reach 100. The first library is located on the right hand side of the room and is in colorful buckets. These are currently on loan from the curriculum room and are leveled books. The book levels are on placards that stick out of the bucket and are written in black marker. During independent reading time if the students do not have a book in their desks then they have to take the books from the buckets. The books in the buckets vary but they are usually thin paperbacks with just a few chapters in them.


The second library is a single shelf that is located below the mailboxes. The books in this section are not labeled, leveled or in any particular order. There is a check out book, but the students do not use it because they do not keep any of the books for longer than a day. There are a lot of classic books in the collection such as Charlotte’s Web, Little House on the Prairie and others. However, what is missing are books that the students are really enjoying right now and that the library has a limited supply of. Such books include the Perseus Jackson series, Baby Mouse, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the Twighlight series, the 39 clues series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, books by Jerry Spinelli, and others like this. The students often bring books from home but there are some who do not have a personal library.
As a result, the Half Price Books in Crossroads Mall and I have become good friends. I stop at the Starbucks right outside its doors, order my drink, grab said drink and then head off in search of what the students have been requesting. When my mother found out I was doing this she bought me a personalized stamp to use in the books. I created a spread sheet to check out books without students knowing and I make sure I have check-in dates for them. I also verbally have discussions with them if I am familiar with the book. I have to admit I have not ready every book I have bought yet. I lent out Jumper and ended up trading the book back and forth with the student at the beginning and end of each day so that we could read it together because I only found one copy that day at Half Price books. We used a sticky not system. His were orange and mine were pink . I would leave questions and comments for him and he would leave some for me as we read. Some notes were as simple as three letters: OMG for revealing moments that blew us away; LOL for parts that made us laugh; or ITGT (I totally guessed that) for parts where we thought we knew they were going to happen. At one point I found myself reading three different books at once with three different students. It was so much fun!


I just recreated Routman’s worksheet on page 76. I can’t create a library right now or go over my MT to do it. That, I believe, would not end well. However, I want my current students to answer it anyway. I want to know what they would like to see in a library if they could design it. I have been going to the library and helping some students pick out books, but there are 34 of them and one of me. Not only that but they usually only have 15 minutes to find a book. I need more information about what they like to read. I also want to use Routman’s idea regarding rain gutters. I walked over to home depot with my husband (it is across the street from where I live) to see how feasible this was for a teacher. Also known as, what is this going to cost me? If you are looking at the cost of shelving installed onto your classroom wall or rain gutters, the rain gutters are the most cost effective. A single set of shelving and hardware that will last would cost over $200. A 10ft, white rain gutter is approximately $23 for the cheapest model and on top of that if you know a friend who is a licensed builder they can purchase it for you at a discount. You could also ask parents if they are licensed and would be willing to help your classroom.


This blog is long. Sorry about that. I loved these chapters. I have so many ideas running through my head!