Stocking Your Classroom Library: 8 Inexpensive (Or Free!) Possibilities

Building a robust, diverse, and inviting classroom library is something I truly enjoy. Spending lots of my own money on it is not. Students interests can change from year to year, so I am always looking for books that match those, and offering new books is a great way to keep reading enthusiasm high throughout the year. 

If you are building your classroom library or just starting one, you don’t have to spend a lot of money (or any!) either. Before you spend any of your own money, ask at school to see if money from the budget can be used to purchase books. If you get a yearly stipend for your classroom spending (I do), try to save your book purchases until you receive that. If you are spending your own money, consider setting a budget for yourself for each month or the school year as a whole. Read on for 8 places to purchase inexpensive books or get them for free.

6 Things I Tried This School Year

Last year I tried a number of new things related to how I organized and managed my classroom. You can read all about the 7 things I tried here. Some of the ideas stuck and I continued to use them this year, some of the ideas I modified to see if they would work better, and some of the ideas I dropped completely. 

Different things work for different groups of students, but also if it isn’t working for me as a teacher then it isn’t worth my time and energy to continue it. Just like last year, I tried some new things in my classroom this year and some were successes, but some still need work. Here’s a review of the 6 things I tried in my classroom this year.