Classroom Library Introduction

Do you need a fun and engaging way to teach your classroom library introduction?

Well, as of right now it looks like we will be back to school in person starting in August. That means it’s time to start thinking about my mini-lessons I will teach to implement reading workshop in my classroom. This post is ALL about a creative idea to introduce your classroom library!

I love to use caution tape, the kind that you find at your local hardware store, for a creative and fun way to introduce my classroom library to my readers.

Believe it or not, caution tape is one of the props I use to build excitement, curiosity, and engagement towards my classroom library at the start of a new school year. While my students walk into my classroom on the first day of school, I have this caution tape all over the bookshelves. I also put the caution tape over my couch that is housed in my classroom library. As my students come in, we have our morning meeting, go through our school supplies, ect. I don’t make any specific mention to the caution tape. Some students look and wonder about it, don’t ask about it, but you can see that they are wondering what it is all about. Its only during the afternoon, when I have my students on a classroom hunt, that they really begin to walk over the bookshelves and talk with their partners about “What is this” and “What does this say?” and “Why is this here?” Many students even write about this on the classroom hunt printable. (More on that FREEBIE down below!) Now that I have their curiosity around the library built, I briefly explain the purpose of it during our first official mini-lesson for reading workshop, which I do start on literally the first day of school.

During our ML, I gather the students over to the classroom library and I explain that it is closed. It is closed until this caution tape is removed at our grand opening. That means they are not allowed to check out books, sit on the carpet, sit on the comfy couch, nope, this area is completely closed. I explain how we, as a community of readers, first have to learn about the proper procedures for finding books, shopping for books on our assigned shopping days, etc.

Now you might be wondering what do you have them read during independent or partner reading time if they are not able to shop for books and the classroom library is closed? That is a great question. That this actually going to the focus of my next video on implementing Reading Workshop at the beginning of the school year.

In the meantime, if you are inspired by this idea, go to home depot and pick up a roll of this caution tape. You can also purchase it on Amazon (like I did for 8 dollars). Get your caution tape and begin to hang it over your bookshelves! Be sure to also snag the classroom hunt freebie!