CLASSROOM LIBRARIES Sandi Novak. IMPORTANCE Students are likely to spend more time reading when they are in classrooms with adequate classroom libraries.

CLASSROOCLASSROOM M

LIBRARIESLIBRARIESSandi Novak

IMPORTANCEIMPORTANCEStudents are likely to spend more time reading when they are in classrooms with adequate classroom libraries

▪▪▪Allington & Cunningham, 2007; Krashen,

1998

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RESEARCHRESEARCH• Large school and classroom libraries and access

were strong predictors of high scoring countries• High income areas have 4,000 times High income areas have 4,000 times the number of

books available to them• Rich literacy environments Rich literacy environments and a teacher’s use of

instructional strategies and materials that go beyond the basics of teaching reading can compensate for less than ideal home environments

CONCLUSION: CONCLUSION: Because more and more students today do not have access to books at home, it is paramount to level the playing field by providing books in classrooms

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BASALSBASALS

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No basal reading series basal reading series contains enough reading material to develop high levels of reading proficiency in

children Allington 2006

WHERE TO WHERE TO BEGINBEGIN

INVENTORYINVENTORY•Size of library•Variety of genre•Range of reading titles•Current titles added regularly

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NUMBER OF BOOKS NUMBER OF BOOKS MATTERSMATTERS

• Guthrie (2000) – many trade books in classrooms predicted gains on statewide reading, writing, and science tests

• Krashen (2004) – having more books in the classroom leads to more voluntary reading and higher achievement

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DIVERSE GENRESDIVERSE GENRES• Range of nonfiction text with

a variety of informational text and text structures

• Contains an assortment of magazines, electronic texts, newspapers, graphic novels and other text formats

• Balance of nonfiction/fiction• Range of reading levels &

complexity

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TEACHER SURVEYTEACHER SURVEYUnderstanding & UseUnderstanding & Use

• 97% have good or expert understanding of having students read self-selected bookso 77% have students read DAILY using self-selected books

• 88% have students select books from a wide, diverse collection of books at least 2 times per weeko 41% have a minimum of 300 bookso 59% have a range of reading levels & complexityo 40% have a balance of fiction & nonfictiono 11% contains assortment of magazines, graphic novels…

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CLASSROOM CLASSROOM LIBRARY ACTIVITYLIBRARY ACTIVITY

Classroom Library Checklist (work with partner)

o Complete Classroom Library Survey during the scheduled time for your table

Individual Student Needs addressed (Work individually)

o Choose a name of a fourth grade student from table

o Read student’s IR history and Lexile Level

o Find 1-3 books and bring them back to your table

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DATA ACTIVITYDATA ACTIVITY

o What is the status of your school’s classroom library collection?

o What areas may you need to address?

o What is your first priority?

o What additional information do you need?

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Review the data and think about the Review the data and think about the school’s needsschool’s needs

EEQUALIQUALITYTY means

everyone has access to a

rich, diverse collection of books in the

classroom library.

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EEQUITYQUITY

means everyone has access to

just rightjust rightbooks contained within a rich, diverse collection of books in the classroom library.

Sandi Novak. February 2014.

FLUID JUST RIGHTJUST RIGHTCould a book… •that’s easy to read be just right for a child working on fluency?•above a child’s level be just right if he has extensive background and/or is highly motivated to read it?•be just right for a child working on comprehension if the words are easy to read, but the content is challenging?•that’s easy to read be just right for the child who needs to build background knowledge on a specific topic?

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NEXT STEPSNEXT STEPS

• How will this information be used at your school?

• How can Scholastic help address the needs within your school?

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