Make the Library an Inviting Place

Hello,
When you step into your library space, what do you see? Is this a place that draws students? Is it a place that looks inviting to your kids? What kind of space do you have? No matter where your library is, whether a corner of the classroom or a wall or a separate room, you can make it an inviting place to be. Do you have a theme in your classroom for the year? Decorate the library area with that theme, too. Pull out books on the theme and display them attractively.

One idea for a decorating theme might be the ocean. Make a list of items that fit the theme and see if you can incorporate them into your space. Items for ocean might include sand, water, beach umbrella, surfboard, dunes, waves, beach balls, picnic basket, beach chairs, pail and shovel, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, sand castles, swimming, fishing, blanket or towels, shells and coral. Obviously all these items would not fit in the average classroom, but you could have a paper mural of a beach on the wall and use beach towels on the floor. Put some shells or coral around and have books on shells beside them. Your seating could be a couple of low beach chairs. Put a pail and shovel nearby and maybe an umbrella.

If you use a camping theme, make a list of items that fit the theme. Tent, campfire, backpack, marshmallows, hot dogs, picnic basket, picnic table, camp chairs, woods hiking, hiking boots, trees, orienteering, sleeping bag, flashlight, s’mores, canoeing, fishing, etc. Then decide what – if any – of these items would work in your classroom. Again, a wall mural would be great and not take up too much room. Put up the beginnings of a mural and let students add items to it as they create them. This will give them input and ownership and they will be more likely to use the space they helped to create.

For those that are lucky enough to have a separate library, you can do the same thing with the library. Think of a theme and decorate around the theme. It may be that you don’t have much room for decorating or don’t want to decorate both a classroom AND a library! You don’t have to do much. We set up displays to supplement a unit that a teacher is using or to complement the time of year or holiday or other interests. We put out a display in February to highlight Black History Month. A number of teachers require book reports on African Americans during February and we can direct students to that display. Think of other short term themes you can display. Put out books on space for a couple of weeks, books on disasters, books on Lewis and Clark or exploration, sports heroes, ancient cities, pets, languages, etc. You get the idea. Include in these displays books on all levels and genres as much as possible. That is another way of decorating in the library.

When you think of decorating, also think of cleaning. Dusty, dirty books are not fun to handle nor are they attractive to others.

I hope you got some good ideas this week. Do what you can to make your space inviting for students.
Have a good week,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com