Building a Library from Scratch

All it takes is a little help from your community, perseverance and some creative thinking

I was teaching my first year of second grade in an inner city school. My classroom, Room 12, had a distinctly unpleasant smell. Graffiti covered the windows. The tile floor was crumbling and the roof leaked. Fortunately, it didn't rain much that year. The heater blasted incessantly - even when it was 80 degrees outside. Room 12 was a dreary mess. But worse than the lack of aesthetic and physical comforts, was the lack of books. In fact, there weren't any.

Cooler than Disneyland. More than anything, I wanted my seven-year-old students to love school. I wanted them to think their class was cooler than Disneyland. I desperately wanted to provide them with an inviting space that offered sanctuary from the crime-infested and trash-filled streets that encompassed this neighborhood. I was a beginning teacher with very little money, but I decided that I was going to spruce up Room 12 and build a classroom library that would tempt the most reluctant reader to curl up with a good book.

If you build it, they will read. To begin, I inspired my students to write their own stories and we bound them into books. Then I went to a local library and told them about my classroom's book dilemma. The Friends of the Library gladly donated old books and National Geographic magazines. They also took my phone number so they could contact me whenever they had leftover books from a book sale. Next, I called area newspapers to help us and they contributed daily editions for each of my students at least twice a week.

I gave empty boxes to all of my friends and asked them to collect used children's books at their offices from their coworkers. The engaging handwritten notes from my students went a long way toward encouraging generous donations. I am pleased to say we received hundreds of used and new books this way.

Creating an inviting environment. In one dismal corner of our classroom, we covered up the windows and walls with bright blue butcher paper. The kids drew, colored and cut out ocean animals and then we glued them to the butcher paper. From the ceiling I hung a banner that read "Read With Me, Under the Sea." The local carpet store donated individual carpet squares for each one of us as well as a large piece of carpet that I duct taped to the floor.

The Salvation Army and Goodwill and local thrift store provided us with old cushions, pillows and stuffed animals. We asked the cafeteria workers for old milk carton crates and pretty soon our burgeoning library collection was housed in 20 crates stacked as makeshift bookshelves. Some of my students' fathers donated some boards and cement blocks to build additional shelves. We wrote thank-you letters and invited all our benefactors to visit our brand new library.

Reading time is treasured time. Many pleasant hours were spent that year in our colorful and comfortable library corner. Every day, I read aloud stories there that the children had selected. My students lay on the carpets or sat with their buddies. They asked questions as I read aloud, and after the reading they voted on their favorite part of the story. Then I gave them time to find books to read on their own. During our free reading time, we played our favorite classical and jazz pieces on an old tape recorder or record player. Some students read alone; others read with their buddies. Still others read in small groups or next to me. Maribel liked to read under a table with Michelle; Juanita liked to read aloud to stuffed animals. All of my students told me that their favorite part of the day was reading books while hanging out in our classroom library. We usually read after recess or lunch and it helped us transition back into our lessons.

Restoring faith. Building our classroom library that year truly restored my faith in humankind. There are so many generous people in the world that we never learn about. They don't take credit for their good deeds. Stories are never written about them. Complete strangers donated materials that made a world of difference to my class. We were the recipients of countless offerings of support. I explained to my students that it's our responsibility to be kind and do good deeds for others just as good deeds had been done for us. To my fellow teachers, I encourage each and every one of you to reach out for assistance. You may feel unsupported and under appreciated, but this project taught me that we can receive the respect and support of our communities. Our children benefit when we all work together.

INTERNET CONNECTIONS

Topic: Classroom Libraries

1 Building and Maintaining a Classroom Library: www.kimsko rner4teachertalk.com/readingliterature/classroomlibrary.ht ml Web resources and ideas for collecting free and inexpensive books.

2 Five Steps for Teaching with Classroom Libraries: http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/classl ibraries.htm Best practice research, PDF files for planning and setting up your library, and resources for teaching with a class library.

3 ReadWriteThink: www.readwritethink.org/student _mat/index.asp/Online tool for printing eight page books with curriculum plans for using the tool in the content areas.

Danny Brassell is an assistant professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Jan 2005
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