In writing The Commonsense Guide to Your Classroom Library with Donalyn Miller, we wanted to make it very clear that we didn’t have all of the answers when it comes to classroom libraries, and the work of a classroom library is never complete. As we read more children’s books, get to know more readers, and learn from other educators, we will be able to tweak our collection to better meet the needs of the readers we serve.
One area of my fifth grade classroom library that I have struggled with over the years is nonfiction. Many of my readers are obsessed with fiction, and rarely show any desire to pick up a nonfiction book. Each year I try different things to make our classroom library more intriguing to all of my readers. A couple of years ago, I reorganized how the nonfiction section was organized AND the location of the nonfiction books within our classroom library. Those changes had a positive impact, but I still found myself frustrated with this section of the classroom library.
At the end of the last school year, all of the teachers in my district were sent an email about a grant for teachers in our district created by the family of a former district teacher. I immediately wrote a grant that I titled “Falling back in love with nonfiction”. A few weeks later, I was excited to receive and email informing me that I would have $650 to purchase nonfiction books for my classroom library.
Fast forward to the beginning of this school year…
I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which books to purchase. Nonfiction author Melissa Stewart’s blog was very helpful in assisting me in learning about the latest and greatest in nonfiction books for kids. I also asked my readers to share with me topics that I should try to find books about. I talk about the books that I ended up purchasing in the video below.
It was very exciting to see all of the books arrive in my classroom. Adding a bunch of books at one time to the classroom library can be tricky. You don’t want to just shelf the new books in the library without introducing them to kids. If you do that, they might not even notice the books. If I did some quick book talks like the in the video above, the kids might find a title or two that they want to read, but I would worry that they would quickly forget about the books within a couple of days.
I decided to do a book pass. I divided the books into five different stations around the room. Kids spent 6-8 minutes at a station. When the time was up, they moved as a group to the next station. This was so much fun, and I think the kids got a ton out of it. I ramble on about it for a few minutes in the video below.
Not only did the kids have a blast during the book talk, but I also learned a ton about them as readers as I walked around the room from station to station.
Some of the things I learned:
Kids love nonfiction series and authors
Nonfiction reading is contagious
Kids need time to browse books
Kids need time to talk to each other about books
Exploring nonfiction books helps kids get to know themselves better as readers
I know that these $650 worth of books and the book pass are not going to result in me being satisfied in the nonfiction sections of our classroom library, but they are a step in the right direction. During the coming weeks and months, I’ll continue to learn more about the impact of this project, and what I learn from that, will help me continue to make the tweaks needed to help move our classroom library in the right directions. The work is never done.
BONUS VIDEO! On Friday, I made a video about the books that my fifth graders are currently reading. I was so excited to see that a bunch of them were reading nonfiction. LET’S GO!!!!!!!!
Colby Sharp is a husband and father of five. He teaches fifth grade in Parma, Michigan. Colby is the co-founder of Nerdy Book Club. He co-hosts The Yarn podcast with Travis Jonker. Colby co-authored Game Changer! Book Access for All Kid with Donalyn Miller, and he is the editor of The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection. His latest book, with Donalyn Miller, A Commonsense Guide to Classroom Libraries is now available.