All literature, and literacy, is born from
the human need to tell stories, to tell stories about one self or about others,
to tell stories about the world to better understand our existence, the others
and the universe we live in. All the stories, the myths, the fables and the
novels, including those addressed to children are, in fact, the result of this
wish and this basic need: they help us to live, to survive; they help children
to grow up and develop.
I honestly believe that create a library in
the classroom is a great idea to encourage children to read books, but we have
to be careful because children in Primary Education are in a critical age in
which they might love reading book or they might hate it. That is why I am
going to share some ideas of how to create a library in the classroom. At the beginning
of the course, we should collect a small amount of money (1 or 2 Euros) from
the parents or ask them to bring a few English books appropriate for the age.
In the classroom we have to create an
adequate space for the library where the children feel comfortable and relax
while choosing a book or reading. It is easy for instance, we can cover some
boxes with colourful papers to differentiate the classification of the books and
place them in a corner on the floor level as the children can reach the books
without the help of an adult. Then we should put some blankets and cushions in
the corner around the boxes with the books, in this way the children feel as
being in a different space of the classroom where instead of sitting in a chair
you are sitting on a cushion on the floor and it should be decorated as the
special place it is, with images of fairy tales, cultural things, daily
situations, etc. All this is focused on how motivate children to read because without
their motivation we cannot help them to read, first somehow we need to motivate
them to read anything that they are interested in and once we can see they
already enjoy with the reading, then it is time to guide them through some
adequate books but always suggesting and never enforcing.
Hi Edu,
ResponderEliminarFirstly, I would like to congratulate you for your post because it provides a clear and succinct approach about the idea of creating a library in class. I think the same as you about the power of literature in order to understand the world that surround us, and also as a tool to develop the interpersonal skills leaving aside the shyness and telling the others the story that you like most, for example.
In the same way, I would like to add that as far as I am concerned, the fact of having a library class is absolutely necessary in order to encourage reading in a more direct way among the children. On top of that, and as Raquel has proven over this first term, this resource can be used for different purposes and for all the subjects in a crosscurricular way, the only thing that the teacher need is to have a bit of imagination in order to include it into their classes correctly. Therefore, I consider it essential in the classroom.
Equally important is that, the parents should be involved in the project in order to have the budget and resources needed to create it. They can cooperate with books, money or their labour. Because since some time now, the high positions are cutting the grants for what should be one of the mainstays, like education.
To conclude, I must say that your post has a number of powerful arguments in favor of class libraries, with which I completely agree, and also includes a good sequencing of ideas to create it.
Great job Edu!!
Alberto. Z
Thank you Albert, I decide to write about it even though the point of creating a library in classroom seems to be obvious for a teacher but I wanted to go into this topic any depth and high light the importance of reading for the children besides the fact that if the teacher has to motivate correctly the children. Thanks for the comment!
EliminarEdu, in my opinion it's very good topic for the post! We had talked about it in the class, but I can see new ideas in your blog! I'm absolutely agree with you that for children in Primary School is the period of the studing when they can love reading or hate it! So, I think, teachers should be very careful with choosing the books, with tasks and of course with organizing the place for reading! You have the good idea about organising the classroom library in special place with blankets and cushions. It's comfortable for children and also when we will create special place for reading it will be good memories connect with reading and of course additional way for motivation. We can organise books not only in genres but also in authors and similar heroes. I like the idea to organise the classroom library and your own interpretation of it!
ResponderEliminarHello.
ResponderEliminarEdu, is not necessary that you collect a small amount of money from the parents because all the schools (or the most of them) have a “coopera-tive” in which the parents of the students give money at the beginning of the term. So you can use this to buy the materials that you need. In the case that the money of the cooperative is not enough, you can tell to the parents to collaborate more.
Also, to buy some books, you can find them on internet, in a good webpage called “Amazon”. There are books that are cheaper than in a library or book shop.
Then, the idea of “place the books in a corner on the floor level as the children can reach the books without the help of an adult” is so important because the students can be more independent and do things alone, without help.
The idea of make different colour boxes is so interesting but I suppose that you explain everything before because can be confusing for them.
On the other hand, I think that is a very good idea if the students create their own materials, I mean, in the class of arts, they can make the boxes, the draws of the fairy tales and all of these things. It could be fun. (Always with the teacher’s help)
Of course, the most important is the motivation of the children to read, but if they have a good environment, this motivation increases more.
Another important thing is to have an appropriate environment for them. It can be with relaxing music, or some type of music that they like, as nursery rhythms.
Something that I would add to your project is for example, a table with the name of the students and their photos in which you can add infor-mation about them, as the behaviour, the extra books they read (in the case that they read more)…
As a conclusion, create a library for the classroom can be an interesting and entertaining activity in which the students can have good time reading.
Regards.
Inma.
Hello Inma, I think that the coopera-tive is a good idea that every school should have in order to help the teacher developing small classroom projects like the library.
ResponderEliminarThanks for comment!