Today's post is going to be short and sweet (I know, I know...so unlike me!) Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my little "Bookshelf" door that I have put up in my room. I tried my hardest this year to instill a love of reading in my students and wanted them to have a place to record their reading. In the past I have done "What Are You Reading Now?" book rings. While I feel like they were a good place for the kids to write down their reading, they just weren't visual enough. So this year, taking inspiration from this pin, I put up some butcher paper and was on my way. This was VERY easy to put up in my classroom. I just covered one door with brown butcher paper, painted some brown lines to look like a bookshelf, and was done. I added a "plant" to the top and the READ letters, just to give it some dimension. And that was it. Using a book spine clip art I found for free on the web (I just typed in "Book Spine Clip Art" and it was the first one that popped up), I instructed my students to write any books that they finish this fifth grade year on the spine. In their reading journals, I had them copy the requirements for the spine. Basically, they put the book title and author. Then, on the little bottom portion, they wrote their own name. After that, the students just need to tape up the book spine to add to our collection. The students complete these when they walk into class each morning during silent reading time. If they have no book to add, they don't do one. It is that simple. The system worked out splendidly. The kids love seeing the bookshelf fill up and they are so proud when they can contribute a book spine to the wall. By mid year, it looked like this. I also had a place to record the exact number of books that we had read. At the end of the year, I did notice that most of the spines had come from the same few kids, so next year, I am going to have to think of a way to combat that it bit better. Not sure what yet, but something will change slightly to make sure that everyone is getting up a lot to add book spines. Personally, I use this resource here to create my interactive display. I have added a few things, such as a "What are you CURRENTLY reading?" section, as well as a personal reading record mimicking the class display. I love this resource so much, as it really keeps reading at the forefront of my students' minds. What is something you do to help foster a community of readers in your classroom?
