Chelsea's Reflection (Ch.11, On Solid Ground)

Chapter 11: Matching Children with Books for Independednt Reading was a very informational chapter. Basically, the chapter talks about how a teacher should organize their classroom library and what kinds of books should be in that library. Like I probably have mentioned before, I really enjoy reading. In this case, I am very excited and anxious to start creating my own classroom library for my students. I am collecting useful information from Sharon's chapters informing me how to keep a good library. I was very surprised to read that teachers should have at least 1,500 books in the classroom library. That sounds like way too many books that can get cluttered and beaten in a classroom, but Sharon explains that having those many books can be very beneficial to the teachers as well as the students. She makes a point that those eight-page books and sets of guided reading texts simply add up over time, so I guess that number may not be too many. I like also how Sharon divides her sections into four different stages which are simple and explanatory; emeregent, early, transitional, and fluent. I am slowly learning the differences between these four terms, and what kinds of things are needed for those types of readers. I know books can get to be a little bit too pricy, but asking the parents for help, asking for donations, and raising money with bake sales, etc... is the perfect idea to create a perfect classroom library. I'm already looking around to see what kinds of books I would want in my classroom and how those books would be useful for my students and myself. Creating my own classroom library is one thing I am ecsatic about when it comes time for me to set up my classroom. Hopefully my classroom will have an easy setting to work with. I don't want my classroom to be too cluttered. The students need room to learn more.