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Library Connections is not only for individual students. It can be useful for the entire school community. It can be applied and adapted at the classroom level, subject focus or program, depending upon the purpose, need and book content. A teacher could choose one of the “connection books” for a read aloud, for intensive class study or as a springboard to student writing. Whatever the use, larger puzzle pieces are used to acknowledge the class choice and reading on the giant “Library Connections Puzzle”. |
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Library Connections can be useful for teaching assistants and for parents to have examples of quality book choices for their children which support curriculum content. If parents choose to become involved in reading a “connection book” with their child, the same puzzle piece considerations are extended and applied. This is not merely a home reading program, it is a collaborative literacy project. Those who read with children can set examples and discover new connections through different books. |
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Tracking
is important as it gives purpose and direction for all involved and all
involved are interested in the tracking. The giant “library connections
puzzle” being formed as the students read “connection books” and “book
talk” is for tracking purposes. A bulletin board in the library is the
most suitable location to hold the puzzle display. For informal tracking
purposes each division would have its own color of puzzle pieces, in both
of the sizes. For more formal measurements, school librarians have their
unique ways of keeping track of students’ selections by grade and tallies
can easily be counted by grade, book, class or division. Future directions
become more informative as comparative “library connection” years occur.
Growth and optimism occur in reading with purposes and having quality
literature choices.