I have all kinds of love for Donalyn Miller and her Status of the Class idea, as well as her 40-Book Challenge idea, which are both presented in The Book Whisperer, and if you haven’t read that yet, you should go do that now. All good? Didn’t you love it? Me, too. I also love Goodreads, and I wish they had a young readers feature so my fifth graders could use their reading recommendations and statistics, but I’m still waiting on that. These tools all help readers keep track of what they’re reading. The 40-Book Challenge asks students to read 40 books during the school year. In ten months of school, that’s about a book a week.
The Goodreads challenge goes during the calendar year, allowing you to set a goal for how many books you want to complete, and showing a progress bar as you get closer to your target. It also shows you interesting stats, like your most-read authors, average book ratings, and number of pages read. Status of the Class involves a collection of data over time to see what students are reading – today I’m on this page of this book, last Thursday I was on this page of this book, last Tuesday I was on this page of this book, and so on. All of these give readers a pattern to observe about their reading habits and choices, which can help them use their reading time more constructively. Plus, the tracking is highly motivating for many students, especially if the writing piece is not too cumbersome. So how do we track our reading during the school year without Goodreads?
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I’m not sure how many middle grade and YA books I own. I’m sort of afraid to count. I’ve sorted them in lots of ways over the years, for my personal use and for my classroom. I've tried book-scanning apps, rainbow-fication, and assorted shelving configurations. Here’s the system that has worked best for me for the past several years: The short version – I classify my books into (mostly) genre-based tubs, code the book spines with patterned washi tape, and match the tub label card with the same washi tape pattern. I teach my students what types of books they can find in each category, and how to take care of the books as they search and return them. The long version, below, may help address details if you want to try this system. |
Jamie Wright
I've had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and families in IA, CT, NC, MO, TX, and Canada. I love being a teacher-librarian! Categories
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