Introducing Students to Your Classroom Library With Book Spine Activities

Getting my independent reading routine started is a priority for me in my first week of school. To introduce students to the organization of my classroom library, on those first days of school I do activities like genre circles, a book sort, and book speed dating. You can read about all three in this blog post.

But those aren't the only activities I do to have students see and put their hands on as many books in my classroom library as possible, especially ones they might not normally gravitate toward. Having students create book spine poetry is a great way to do this because students are looking at books’ titles, rather than immediately evaluating whether or not the books are ones they’d like to read or not. 

3 Activities To Expose Your Students To Books On The First Days Of School

If you are anything like me, you want each of your students to have a book in their hands by the end of that first week of school so you can jump right in to your independent reading routine. My classroom library is overflowing with amazing titles I know my students will love, but before they begin to find those amazing books, they need to understand how my classroom library is organized so they will know where to look.

Read on for the details about 3 different activities I use (and you can too!) during the first week and even on the first day of school so my students are exposed to the books in my classroom library and can explore how my classroom library is organized.

How I Organize My Middle School Classroom Library

My classroom library is the heart of my classroom, it is my pride and joy, it is what makes students and sometimes even other teachers stop and say, wow, this is where the magic happens. With close to 1500 books, my classroom library took time to build up, but is a necessity because my school was built without a library. Because of its size and because it is the only place my students can access books within the school building, the organization of my library is something I've given a lot of thought.

As you are thinking about your own classroom library, whether you are just getting it started or you are looking to overhaul your current organization system, keep in mind that you want to do what is going to work best for you and your students. The organization of your classroom library should be manageable, sustainable, and help your students find books they are interested in reading. What works for me or another teacher may not work for or be best for you or your students.

7 Things I Tried This School Year

It hasn't been easy to try new things in the classroom in the past few years related to classroom management. Because of pandemic restrictions and all of the shifts in delivering instruction, there's been things I just couldn't do or didn't have the mental space to think about. This year, with restrictions fully lifted and a return to traditional instruction, I had the ability and mental space to try out some different things related to how I run my classroom. Some were successes, but some still need work.

11 Books to Increase Disability Representation in Your Classroom Library

Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July to mark the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, landmark legislation that broke down barriers to inclusion in society. But although nearly all of us will experience some type of disability in our lives, barriers still exist and people with disabilities are often marginalized and misunderstood.

One way to acknowledge, honor, and respect disabilities and the people who identify as having a disability is during the celebration of Disability Pride Month. Below you'll find books featuring characters with disabilities, both visible and invisible, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. 

16 Titles To Spotlight During Pride Month and Beyond

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated in June each year to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. The purpose of this commemorative month is to acknowledge the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

With over half of book bans targeting books with LGBTQ themes, it is more important than ever that these books have a presence in our classroom libraries, both as windows and mirrors for our students. Below you'll find books featuring queer characters (many of them written by queer authors), recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. 

16 Books to Feature During Black History Month & All Year Long

Black History Month is a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in shaping U.S. history and a celebration of an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans —from activists and civil rights pioneers to leaders in industry, politics, science, culture and more. 

Below you'll find books by Black authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. There are stories about diversity, but most focus on Black families, friendships, joy and love.

13 Novels in Verse To Introduce The Wonder of Poetry

National Poetry Month in April is a time for celebrating the expressiveness, and pure delight of poetry. There's no better way to celebrate this month in your classroom than by introducing your students to the joy of verse novels. 

In addition to the appeal of a change of format from the typical prose novel, verse novels can seem less daunting to read and are the perfect solution to getting out of a reading rut. Just like traditional fiction, verse novels cover a range of subjects such as immigration, family, death, disabilities, imprisonment, bullying, and more.

13 Stories That Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Voices

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, also known as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 24 million people in the United States identify as Asian with 1.6 million identifying as Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander or a combination. This month is a time to honor their rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to recognize their important contributions to the United States.

Below you'll find books by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. 

17 Titles To Share During Women’s History Month & Beyond

There was a time when most books published and required for reading in schools featured a male protagonist, but that is definitely not true any longer. There are so many middle grade and young adult books featuring fierce female protagonists in both fiction and nonfiction.

Below you'll find books by and about women and girls, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. These books are perfect for featuring in March during Women's History Month and International Women's Day on March 8.