Student‐Involved Classroom Libraries

A well‐organized, thoughtfully prepared library is an important part of the classroom. But teachers often spend untold hours organizing and reorganizing classroom libraries, and become discouraged when students do not use the available books. This article describes how to involve students in the organizational process and in book choice. The author describes how to facilitate conversations about the books, the categorization system, and daily maintenance issues. The emphasis on student involvement and the explicit teaching of how to choose a just‐right book provide a natural springboard to the world of literacy. Teachers who have used this procedure have discovered that children become acutely aware of available books and of the book‐choice process, begin analyzing literature by leading and engaging in book discussions, gain confidence about book choice and the library organizational system, gain respect for books, and read more and try new genres.