Hey, hey…it’s Thursday! And it is day 6 of my 31 Days of Kindergarten series. I hope you are enjoying each and every blog post. Today is all about the Library Station in the Kindergarten Classroom.
There are two stations that are fairly easily to set up in your classroom and give you and your students a great educational return. Those two stations are a classroom library and writing station. Today I am sharing about implementing a library station in your classroom and tomorrow will be all about the writing station.
What You Need for a Library Station
The obvious answer is books. 🙂 But you also want to make sure that your library and books are organized for your students. It is not helpful to have the books in a jumble and not easily accessible. But how you organize your classroom library is very personal and up to you. Some teachers like to organize by author or topic, where other teachers organize by reading level. Whatever you choose, just make sure that your library is clearly labeled and students know exactly where it is and how to find the books they want!
You can read my tips for classroom library organization HERE. Here is a list of items you may want for your library station.
- Variety of Books
- Book bags or boxes for students to keep the books they plan to read (I use these rubber baskets from Dollar Tree. They have lasted 5 years!! I also tape each student’s picture to the front for easy identification)
- Pointers
- Magnifying Glasses
- Bookmarks
- Sticky Notes
- Pencils
- Clipboards
- Stuffed Animals
- Comfortable, Flexible seating options
- Book Review Printables
- Anchor charts with clear and explicit rules and procedures
I love to have my students complete book reviews and especially book recommendations! You can download your FREE copy of book reviews HERE!
What to Teach Your Students About the Library Station
As I have stressed in my other 31 Days of Kindergarten posts, you MUST teach your students every expectation and rule for each station. Use anchor charts and model, model, model. Here is a list of things you might teach.
- How to choose a book you want to read.
- How to take care of books. IE: How to turn the pages; What to do if the page rips; etc.
- Where to keep their books they are going to read
- How many books they can ‘check out’ from the classroom library
- How to Read a Book (Have you seen my 3 Ways to Read a Book anchor Chart? It’s great for helping teach this skill!)
- How to put books away correctly.
- What to do with damaged books. Try a book hospital…this one is from Teaching Maddeness.
- How to write a book review.
- How to use a bookmark.
- How to use sticky notes.
- How to use pointers with books.
- What to do when it is time to transition
What do Students Do at this Station
Well since this is the library station, that sounds silly…of course students will read. But there are other options too. Here is a list.
- Read a book independently
- Read to a stuffed animal
- Write a book review
- Write a response to a book
- Write a list of words I can read
- Make a list of favorite books
- Read books from the featured author
How to Keep this Station from Getting Boring
- Add new books
- Borrow books from the school library or from a fellow teacher
- Add new pointers
- Have students make their own pointers
- Author Study
- Class Favorites book section
Honestly, this is one of the favorite stations. Students in my classroom are almost always engaged and always have something to do at this station. I hope you got some great ideas today! Please let me know with a comment or tag me on social media when you use one of these suggestions…I love to hear from teacher friends!! Keep following along with the 31 Days of Kindergarten series to get more ideas and tips for your students and classroom!
Have you been following along with our 31 Days of Kindergarten posts?
You can check them out here:
Procedures and Rules for the Kindergarten Classroom
Music and Movement in the Kindergarten Classroom
How to Start Literacy Stations in Kindergarten
How do your students write a book review?
Did you see the link to my free printable book reviews? They are kindergarten appropriate and differentiated for beginning writers. Students can draw a picture of the main character, setting, etc.