K-2 libraries

Looking at tomorrow night's Board Agenda there was this Action item:

K-2 Independent Reading Classroom Libraries (Student Learning) – the Student Learning Committee recommends approval of this item which would authorize expenditures of $1,388,432 for K-2 independent reading libraries in every K-2 classroom in Seattle Schools.

Okay, I know from going through many buildings that not all libraries are created equal. I've seen some really underdeveloped libraries and it puzzles me because I'm not sure why one school would have substantially more books than another. (I know some schools encourage parents to donate a new book in honor of their child's birthday but that can't supply that many more books. I also know that some librarians are more proactive in getting grants to buy books.)

I believe that every school has a library time for each class. Are kids going to read more books if they get them from in their classroom? I know some teachers have reading libraries but usually only for in-class reading.

Since every school already has a library, would it make more sense to find out which ones are underdeveloped and put the money there rather than spread it out?

Comments

Brita said…
Hi,

These funds are to stock every single classroom with a wide variety of books at various reading levels so that individual students will have plenty of reading material at their level (fiction and nonfiction) and can progress at their own rate, whether or not they have books at home. Teachers selected the list of books and each classroom gets the same set.
5/15/07, 4:54 PM
Anonymous said…
But why couldn't that happen in the library?
5/15/07, 5:14 PM
Anonymous said…
Can we get a list of the books? Did all teachers work together to select them or a committee? If a committee, can we know who was on it? If the whole population of teachers, can we find out how they selected the books?

Do you mean that every classroom K-2 gets the same set or that every K classroom gets identical sets, first and second grades getting their own identical sets?

Are these the sorts of questions that the board asks for such expenditures?
5/15/07, 5:52 PM
Anonymous said…
I think this is a great idea! Kids need to be reading everyday and I imagine a library such as this would provide the ability for daily choices of books and potentially a daily take home check-out system. As opposed to weekly library visits.

Our Kindergarten program for next year has a library like this that was funded by a community grant (Rotary?).
5/16/07, 6:14 AM
Anonymous said…
Do classrooms that already have decent libraries get books too? What if a teacher has already spent their own money to get many of the same books the District offers, could they buy different books and get reimbursed? What if the K-2 classroom is special ed or APP or Spectrum (or just has alot of kids reading at a high or low level) do they have to accept the standard grade package or is there some flexibility?

Maureen
5/16/07, 10:37 PM
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