How Classroom Libraries Improve Student Literacy Skills

Let's Talk Classroom Libraries

Let’s Talk Classroom Libraries. We have all seen the beautiful Instagram or Pinterest worthy looking classroom libraries. You know the ones - they are color coded perfection. You may have even drooled over the pretty plastic book bins that each book is housed in. A majority of those libraries most likely are even leveled by Lexile number. We hear ya! Those libraries look amazing! But, in our experience, those libraries just do not work for our students. Our libraries are lived in, the shelves are close to bursting with books, and we have a lot of books. I mean a lot-a lot!

Below is a list of our lowdown dirty truths about classroom libraries and why you should be making time for your students to read.

Here at The Teaching Distillery, we do not level our classroom libraries. While many people level their libraries, or may even be required to level their libraries, we feel that by doing so we are restricting our ability to get quality books into the hands of our students.  Leveling a classroom library can lead to self doubt within a child. In their Note About Reading Levels post on the Fountas and Pinnell website, the company that helps many teachers find reading levels for students, states this, “When children select books from a classroom library, they should be guided by interest and enjoyment, not by level.” We, at The Teaching Distillery, believe that a reading level is a valuable resource for instruction. However, we do not feel that restricting our students to specific books at their level is beneficial to their learning. Our number one goal as educators it to create lifelong readers and writers. If we ourselves do not restrict ourselves to certain books at our reading levels, why would we require as much from our students? 

By not leveling our libraries, we are allowing our students to explore multiple interests that they may have. Students read books at all levels, some books are easier reads, while others are more challenging, and some are just right. The key here is that students are reading. 

Your classroom library should be the heart of your classroom, a place for your students to explore who they are today, as well as who they want to be in the future. Therefore, you should buy classroom novels that reflect your student body. The novels that you house on your bookshelves should be as diverse as your students. And, if your classroom is not diverse, your bookshelves should be.Kids want to picture themselves in the pages that they read. They want their identities affirmed. They want to feel welcome and connected in the classroom in which they spend a majority of their time. Your classroom library should be as welcoming as you are. 

In the blog post, Note About Reading Levels, the Fountas and Pinnell company also states, “We feel strongly that cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and ethnic diversity vitally enriches our classrooms and our lives, and that this should be reflected in and resonate throughout what we teach our students, how we teach them, and the books that they read in our classrooms. Our collective responsibility as a community of parents and educators is to ensure literacy success for every student. We can only do this by creating and maintaining inclusive environments that recognize, honor, and leverage the strengths of all students.”  For a list of diverse books that you can add to your middle or high school classroom, check out this page on Goodreads.

Reading builds empathy. Author David Foster Wallace states, “Fiction is about what it means to be human.” Wallace wasn’t wrong. According to a study conducted by researchers at The New School in New York City, reading literary fiction can build empathy. By adding a variety of genres and diverse books into your classroom library, you can help your students to explore worlds, situations, and events outside of their community. The world is a scary place for some students right now. In order for all of your students to connect, empathize and realize the plight of many young children right now in America, they should have access to novels, articles, and informational texts that are current. 

Make time for independent reading. We get it. You only have so much time to get “X” number of standards taught in a day/week/year. However, one of the very best ways to get your students prepared for the rigors of standardized testing, high school, college, and life, is to provide a block of time for your students to read. During this time, your students should be allowed to read anything they want. Yup, that means kids can be kicking back with comic books or delving deep into the Grapes of Wrath. You do not get to decide what your students are reading during independent reading time. 

Here at The Teaching Distillery, we like to provide the first 20 minutes of our class for silent reading. We do this at least three to four days a week, but we try to have them reading independently five days a week if we can. During this time we are conferencing with our students individually. Conferences differ from student to student. For a more detailed post about our reading conferences check back soon! 

So, dear readers, what resonated with you? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a comment below, and share, share away!

Until next time!

Bottoms Up!

For more great tips and tricks on how to set up your classroom library and how to update your classroom library, check back soon! We got you covered!