Extend Your Reading Center

My classroom reading center is packed with baskets full to the brim with fiction books. I'm out of baskets and out of shelf space. It bothers me that I don't have a way to make nonfiction, poetry, and magazines accessible to my students. Today I had a brainstorm.

I have four tables in my classroom. I am heading to Lakeshore Learning to purchase four colored plastic boxes (red, blue, green, and yellow). I will place one box on each table (now my tables have color names for easy classroom management). Inside each box I will place nonfiction books, poetry books, and magazines.

In order to keep my table boxes fresh, I will rotate the boxes each week. At the end of the month I will refresh the box with new titles. I have an elaborate check out system for my reading center (library cards, pockets, card box). The books and magazines on the tables will not be available for check out (to go home), but always there for reading during class. I'm a big believer in free choice, independent reading (just right books of course). This simply adds a new layer of what students can choose to read during class. I will include magazines like Highlights, Cobblestone, and Stone Soup. I plan to print my name on address labels to quickly attach to my books and magazines that go in the boxes. My hope is that students will explore different genres on their own, and my idea is to make more books and magazines available to them.