For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you saw that I scored (S-C-O-R-E-D!!!) at a local library when they had a sale for .25 books! My twinster and I stocked up and bought a combined 130 books!
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A BIG thanks to the twin's lovely boyfriend, who was in for a lot more than he bargained for with this one!
I have many questions this week. I'm sorry, but I am a first year teacher and I've run out of Wednesdays! Any answers would be soooo appreciated. I might also love you forever.
1) Has anyone ever tried a reading challenge with their kiddos? (The teacher challenges the students to read a set number of books off of a list)
2) Does anyone have any book 'must-reads' for middle schoolers?
3) How do you go about organizing your classroom library? Do you have a check-out policy?
4) What is the bet book score you have ever found?
I will see you back here on Friday for the Five for Friday Linky :)For those of you who haven't heard, there is a fab giveaway going on over at Mixing it Up in Middle! Go check it out!
Does your school have AR? If so, I'd be happy to send you a bunch of ideas for reading challenges. As far as book check-out...no way for me. I just chalk up the fact that I will have a few unreturned books every year, and a few that get damaged. Make sure that you take advantage of scholastic book orders. Free books through accumulated points helps replace lost or damaged books.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Mary
4th Works
I challenge my kids to read - last year I tried 40, no one did. It was a tough crew. AR points can be motivational, but only if used well. I do not make my kids sign out books, I talk to them about respect. For the most part books are returned in decent shape, a few are lost and I have learned to let it go. Scholastic is a good source, especially if you parents order. Watch for the $1 deals and don't hesitate to recommend books to parents/students, encourage them to order what you are reading in class so they can write in their books. Sorry, I don't have any books to recommend, I teach 5th.
ReplyDeleteI have been in math and science rooms so my library isn't that impressive. I do know some books that I have seen in the hands of quite a few of my students: Hunger Game Series, Divergent Series, Wimpy Kid Series, Percy Jackson Series...if you can see the trend. They seem to enjoy on going books that link back to each other. Hope that helped some :)
ReplyDeleteBagby
Get Your Science on in Room 701
As far as library organization: I use the Scholastic book wizard to organize my library! It is a god send! I don't know what I did without it! I used the book wizard (you can do it online or download the app) to create an excel spreadsheet that I update as I get new books. I then put labels on each book so that students know which bin to return it to! I'm sure you don't have the same issue with older grades, but it helped me!
ReplyDeleteTasha Emmerson
Confessions of a Tiny Teacher
My library is organized in a few different ways. Since I teach multiple age groups I have certain sections that are "just for them." So non-fiction is by subject, then books level L-P are organized by level, and the rest are organized by author/series (like Arthur, Sesame Street, Disney.)
ReplyDeleteI have a reading challenge in my store if you want to check it out! It's called Read Across the USA, and students race to get their "planes" across the country. You can use as many minutes per zone as you'd like.
The best book score I ever got was Books By the Foot- they were really popular last summer. I got a box of about 100 books for $27!
-Maria
I am just starting my first year so I don't have any "tried and true" ideas, but I can share what I've learned so far.
ReplyDeleteI've used Booksource's Classroom organizer to catalog my books. http://classroom.booksource.com/ - I can use my iphone to scan the barcodes (some don't work so you have to enter the ISBN manually) - I like it because that way I know exactly which books I have. It even converts them to an excel spreadsheet if you want to use that! There is a student checkout system that goes along with that, but I won't have students until September so I haven't tried that! Oh, and the account/app is free! :)
I have also had some great luck with ebay for books - usually no more than 50 cents to $1 for a huge set of books!
I can share some of my favorite middle school reads from the summer..
1) Wonder
2) The Revealers (this is about 7th graders and has an awesome message about bullying)
3) The Wednesday Wars (loved this!! I laughed and cried...)