The Big Fresh May 7, 2016 Gradual Release of the Library

To build up a library is to create a life. It’s never just a random collection of books.

Carlos María Domínguez

When I visited Bitsy Parks’ first-grade classroom last October, I admired a bookshelf full of tubs, all organized by series. I was delighted to learn Bitsy had been inspired to do a series unit with her first graders after reading an article by Katie DiCesare at Choice Literacy. “Those tubs aren’t open to students yet,” Bitsy explained. “I’ll introduce them for browsing in November, when we begin the series books unit.”

I was intrigued by the idea of “gradually releasing” the library to students in sections, so I asked Bitsy to tell me more.  “I introduce and open different parts of the library throughout the fall.” She gestured to the full wall of books in tubs near the meeting area, on the other side of the room. “That’s the main classroom library, which is opened from the start of the fall. As children learn to make choices and browse independently, I open up other parts of the library. We’ll do our first author study soon, and I’ll create and open a bin to students celebrating that author. Every few weeks as we launch another author study, I’ll launch a new bin.” Other tubs and bins still to be introduced to students included leveled books and some small books not easy to categorize.

Teachers love to share ways they’ve reorganized their classroom libraries over the summer — sometimes introducing more nonfiction genres, or sorting books in ways designed to pique student interest. We’ve posted many articles about library organization at the site, as well as minilessons teachers present to introduce students to book-browsing skills. But chatting with Bitsy, I realized that the concept of rolling out the library over time in the primary grades is such a smart way to scaffold young readers as they are becoming independent. Many teachers are avid readers, and they have hundreds and hundreds of books in their classrooms. How exciting for a child to have a chance to browse all of those books . . . and how overwhelming. When children are learning to read, teachers naturally note what skills they have acquired and what skills should be introduced next.  Learning to browse books and make wise selections for independent reading doesn’t happen overnight — it’s a lifelong process for most of us. Gradually introducing more books, organized in different ways, is a great way to build book-browsing skills and independence in young readers.

This week we look at how teachers might gradually release their libraries to students and think about organizing their book collections in new ways. Plus more as always — enjoy!

Brenda Power

Founder, Choice Literacy

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