Giving Students Voice in Your Classroom Library

There’s nothing so beautiful as seeing your students happily reading, am I right? 

I’ve been working really hard this year to convert some of my not-big-fans-of-reading into voracious readers…and I am starting to see them take off now!

One of my favorite tools to help with this has been our Book Request Form.

The book request process is very simple.

I leave the form on a shelf in the classroom library. My students fill it out with any new books they are anxious to read…or the next book in a series (can you tell we read the Lemonade War together this year?).

I order all the books I am able to with our Scholastic bonus points. And some books I order on Amazon (if they are a reasonable price and my students are dying to get their hands on a particular title…because, well, Amazon Prime!).

Once I order a book, I pencil in the date the books are expected to arrive…to avoid the endless “are the books here yet?” questions each day!

There are two things I love about all of this.

First, it keeps my hungry readers well-fed.

I don’t want any lapse between books and this helps nicely if we don’t currently have a title available in our library. Or if my students are really taken with a new genre or author.

Second, and most importantly, I LOVE that it gives my students a voice in our classroom library.

They choose the books they want to enhance OUR library.

And their opinions matter.

Seeing a classmate ask for and enjoy a new book instantly engages other readers. They all want to try that book as well!

Would you like to use the Book Request Form in your class?

Please see below…