On Friday, the Herons got a tour of the "brand new" 4/5 library. Volunteers Pandora, Margit and Kendra have spent many, many hours organizing and culling our "big kid" library. They organized all of the fiction which had last been in order in 2020. Then they culled books and labeled everything by genre so kids could find good books to try more easily.
Never satisfied with "just enough." Pandora also set up a spreadsheet and with Margit's help, entered in every Honors Project that we had in the upstairs library (more than 350!) You can now look for an honors project by subject or by author and all of the projects are housed in one, easy to access place. It's so exciting to see today's fourth and fifth graders eagerly reading the work of their predecessors. You can peruse the spreadsheet here .
But wait, there's more! They also went through all of our non-fiction books which had, honestly, never been too well organized to begin with. They asked thoughtful questions about how kids used the non-fiction books we have and organized them accordingly. One of my favorite new sections is the "One Day Read" which has short, well-written non-fiction books that were once very hard to find for kids. Books like The Great Stink of London are now flying off the shelves. (It's hard not to anthropomorphize them Velveteen Rabbit style. I imagine they are all so happy to finally be in kids' hands after being stuffed in a milk crate in a desperate effort to make space during the pandemic.)
And there's even more! There's a new bulletin board where kids can post reviews (9 new reviews and counting as of Friday afternoon). Margit also reached out to the Northfield Public Library and Content to see what books they would recommend as we fill in some of our newly created space. We've already started to get a few books off of those wish lists.
All of this work is in addition to Maggie Kiley's invaluable work in our downstairs library. The Herons now have a weekly library trip during which Maggie teaches a short lesson, shares a book (the latest was a non-fiction picture book about composer John Cage) and then helps connect kids to what they are looking for. It's so exciting to have a revitalized downstairs library to compliment our upstairs one.
In the Herons, we have several shelves of "best beloved" books. These are books that have brought Herons joy and wonder for years and years. I know these books so well that when a something comes up in class, I can grab a book and turn right to the information that is going to propel our conversation into a new place. Right outside (thanks to Pandora, Margit and Kendra) are the books that are just right for fourth and fifth graders -- they are never more than a step away from a new novel or a book about a new interest. I get daily requests to help kids find a new book and we head to the 4/5 library where I get to play a book sommelier and try to match a child to their new favorite. Then downstairs we have the wider collection where kids can revisit an old favorite or learn about a new acquisition.
So why is all of this so important? Books play a unique and vital role in a progressive classroom. In progressive education, we strive to make all of a students' learning relevant and important to them as an individual. There is no greater motivator to read than to have in one's hands a book that is interesting to you and right at your level. Maybe it's a book in which you see yourself; maybe it's a book that introduced you to a new world. Maybe it's a book that answers questions you have or a book that prompts questions about things you had no idea existed. There is no substitute for a school that is rich in books. Students recommend books to each other, they share favorite parts, they find a new books which spark new passions. Books are central to creating a culture in which "finding out" is what one does. Each book represents a different world. The books that surround us are a constant physical reminder that the world is full of things to learn and wonder about.