How to make a classroom Library? Best Ideas.

Books are the best friends of kids.

Likewise, Libraries are true gifts for the kids.

The library is the place where we can find so many books. The books on different subjects. As a teacher of the primary classes, it is difficult to make the students get interested in reading the books. And again to take them to the school library daily. The School Library has books for all the students regardless of age. So that has become very difficult for the students of primary classes. So as a teacher we can implement the classroom library concept.

The classroom library is nowadays a trendy and handy idea. I assure you your child will definitely enjoy the ideas. There are many ways of making the classroom library. Here I have provided all the easy ideas. But, Let’s first see the uses of it :

Uses of the classroom library :

Children can get a chance to explore different concepts daily.
Help to develop reading habits.
Develop creative and critical thinking.
Increase vocabulary which further helps to communicate, reading, and writing.
Helps to promote literacy.
Provide a choice to select one’s own reading materials for self-reading.
Self-reading to promote self engagement.
Reading on some digitized reading platforms may foster to development of some technology literacy skills among children.
Create an opportunity to be a good citizen of the country.
Develop Imagination skills.

There are many benefits of a classroom library. It may be physically or virtually. Classroom libraries play a key role in promoting literacy among children. The main important use of the classroom library is that it promotes inclusive classroom concepts. As it may have an audiobook, picture book, brail book, and many more books as per the learners’ need.

Things to think( Pre-planning) :

Before making a classroom library very micro-planning is needed. As a teacher of tiny tots, we should do more micro-planning than other teachers. In the following way, you can plan and make your own library.

1. A place for your classroom library :

As a teacher, your first concern should be where will your library be? Firstly you should finalize the place for your library. It should be accessible and reachable by every student in the class. As it is inside the classroom, it is important that it organizes in a way that seems a different place to the kids. And students enjoy and take benefit of the classroom inside the room only. So selection of place is very important aspects to think and plan in advance.

2. Space area:

It should have enough space. Space for arranging books. Space for children for reading. This library is inside the class only. So it’s the teacher’s prime responsibility to have enough space for the library.

3. Other required materials for classroom Library :

To create library in the classroom , many materials and things require. Such as :

Racks/shelf
Level wise books.
Boxes or trays.
Bulletin board
Library card, and many more things.

The teacher should arrange all the things before working on making the classroom library.

4. Selection books for classroom Libaray :

The main key feature of a successful classroom library is “the selection of the book.” So you may think about how to select the book? Let’s see how do you select the book?

The book should be according to the level of the students.
The book has Big fonts
Prefer more Picture books
Animal books with big size pictures.
You can arrange Audiobook.
Even your library must have some braille books.
Fairy tales.
Favorite character
Science fiction book
Jokes and poetry
Mysteries
Quick read
Newspaper
Kid magazines
Maths book etc.

5. Labeling and leveling of the books. :

Labeling is a very important part of arranging a classroom library. You should choose the book under a particular head or label.

Classroom Library- Labeling of the books.

You can arrange and label your books as shown above. If the classes are offline you may take the help of students. It becomes a more interesting activity for them.

Labeling with bold letters is very important to make it easy to choose the books for the kids. It makes your library more organize and systematic.

We have discussed some preplanning things to do. Now let’s see how do you make your classroom? Here I am going to share some interesting as well as some easy ideas to make the library in the classroom. Using these ideas you can create your library in one or two days. Your classroom library has become a very interesting place for your kids. Let’s see :

Ideas for a creative Library :

You can use the following ideas to make your classroom Library creative :

Box library
Rope-Hanging Library
Shelf Library
Classroom library Corner
To create a reading spot
Use of bright-colored background
Theme based Library

Now let’s see each one in detail how to make this type of library in your own classroom.

1. Box library:

You can use different empty cardboard boxes for this purpose. Different kinds of wooden or cardboard boxes can be used to store many books. You may use your creativity to make these boxes more attractive and interesting. You can color these boxes or you can paste different color papers or cartoon characters on them. And finally, you can store books in it. As I said labeling the books is very essential. You can label the box according to the books you stored in it. Or you can apply color code here to store or organize the books.

2. Rope hanging library-

Rope hanging library is one of the creative use of classroom space to make the classroom library.

To make the rope hanging classroom library you need ropes to tie at the two ends. You can hang different kinds of books on it.

As I said you can label the books and separate them so that students can easily choose the book for reading.

3. Shelf library –

The shelf library is a very old and traditional way of keeping books. You can use an old shelf or cupboard to make this kind of shelf classroom library. You can easily label the shelf and easily keep the books as per alphabetical order or as per the uses of the books. Indeed it is a very old method of the library but at the same time very e useful and low-cost option of creating classroom library.

4. Classroom library corner –

You can make a library corner for the kids. There you can paste or hang the work by the student. Students are not only encouraged to read but also learn to make their own articles. And try to show their own creativity to all. Using this way of library students explore more knowledge and create their own knowledge. To Develop this kind of corner you can divide the class Into four groups. And assign them different articles to write.

You can assign one group can write poetry or poem. The second group can write prose. The third group can write different stories or fairytales. and The last group can write some fictional facts.

In a way, you can monthly change your library layout with the help of children and make your library corner more fruitful and interesting. At the same time, students also enjoy doing the same. I think it is the best way to make library in the classroom.

5. To create a spot for reading:

If your school has a large size of the classroom then you can arrange a creative place to sit and read for the kids. Even you can encourage the parents to create such a cozy and creative place at home also. Such types of extra efforts make the students attracted to reading and can help to develop reading habits.

So to create a reading spot at the classroom or at home is an innovative way of encouraging the kids to use the library maximum.

6. Use of bright-colored background :

We the teachers are dealing with the kids-primary level students. Kids get more attraction towards colorful things. Keep in this mind you can choose various bright-colored them for your library. You can use big and colorful fonts and pictures to decorate your library. Which can make your library more beautiful. And students also can access it more.

The use of bright-colored background or other themed background is another practical way of making a classroom library.

7. Theme based Classroom Library:

The classroom library is in the classroom only. It accesses by the teacher only not by the librarian. So you can plan some themes for your library. You can plan quarterly or monthly changing themes. Further, you can use these themes as teaching-learning tools also. You can plan themes such as :

Animal kingdom
The world of poets or authors.
Fairyland
Who invents these?
My best friend books.
biographies and autobiographies of the month

There are many themes you can plan according to your kids’ level. These ideas are innovative. At the same time, students involve more in such activities. So theme-based Classroom library is an innovative way of making it.

Further, it helps to develop reading skills among the students. Here I share a link to How to develop reading skills ?. Click on the link. You can definitely get plenty of creative ideas for your kids to develop reading skills.

I think you get a brief idea about developing a classroom library. Now, let us discuss some library behavior that children must have to develop. Some rules of the library to make it more effectively functioning.

Library Behaviour :

One or two children at a time at the library corner.
To follow the proper way of issuing books .
Timely submission of books.
Do not tare the library book.
Do not write anything on the book.
To keep the magazine or back to place if the child takes for reading.

Rules to make the classroom library more effective functioning.

Just to make a classroom library that much only not needed. But most importantly how systematically you can manage it. And most importantly all the students are getting the benefit of it. So as a teacher :

Arrange rotational methods to visit the classroom library.
Teach them how to issue and submit the books.
Teach the kids to use and handle the book with care.
Practice book review.
You can allow students to make a notebook of the library. And motivate them to write the name books and other brief descriptions about the book.
Encourage to read a book weekly and submit the book back timely.

All these efforts if you do for your library. It will definitely help you to develop the proper functioning classroom library.

Conclusion :

Now, I hope you all have an idea that what is classroom library? Using these ideas you definitely can make a creative classroom library for your kids. Further, it helps the children to develop reading skills. I wish whenever you make the library you definitely will use these ideas to develop your classroom library.