5 Reasons Why I Won't Be Leveling My Library This Year

Say what??? I know this will be highly controversial and I hope it will spark some interesting debate! (Not too harsh though.) It's something I have struggled with for a few years and have decided that I will not even entertain the idea this year.

Shouldn't I provide appropriate reading materials for my students? Shouldn't I boost their confidence by making sure that they never "pick" a book that is not "just right?" We have been under the mindset recently that we need to level our books so that students only have access to and may choose from books on "their level."

While I don't want to discourage students with books that are too hard, I believe there is a lot of value to them looking at, browsing, and reading (even if it is pretend reading) books that are challenging. I believe that if they enjoy the more challenging book, they have found purpose to work a little harder at reading... and WOW what a difference having a purpose can make. 

This is the beginning of my library project. Using my bin labels with coordinating book labels, I hope that it will stay looking like this. Students can help keep books sorted by matching the book labels to the bin labels. Also, I can see what themes and genres are plentiful and which are scarce... I definitely need more sports and biography books. Halloween and fall book purchases are off limits for a while! 

Here are the reasons why I won't be leveling my library this year: 

1. My students need access to challenging books. I want my students to pick up the more difficult book, give it a try, use their strategies for decoding, and if nothing else just enjoy the pictures. They will be able to understand some of it, and may come back to it later when they become a better reader. 

2. My students need to find new genres and topics to interest them. My beginning readers may already have a favorite genre or topic... but I want them to experience many different genres and topics. They might just find a new favorite and even more reason to love reading. 

3. My students need to build background knowledge in a wide variety of genres and topics.  We live in a rural area where most of my class is in poverty. Due to the remoteness of our area, they may not appear to be in poverty but the reality is that we don't have a lot of upper class families and white collar workers. That means my students don't have the language background and experiences of many students in suburbs and cities. Books and online resources are my way of bringing those experiences and more vocabulary to them. Choosing books by topic and genre can further their background experience much more-so than choosing by level. 

4. My students need to be able to choose appropriate books on their own. Let's say they get to go to the library or a bookstore... can their parents help them choose a book on their level? That is not likely. Furthermore, do we want our students to equate themselves with a book level? I don't think so, they are so much more than a level! They need to be able to choose a book that is good fit... not perfect, but a close range. Hopefully it will be something that will challenge them a little bit and help instill a love of reading because it is their book and they chose it! 

5. My students want to "read" the books that I read to them. I keep my read-alouds right in the tubs that students are choosing from. The books I have read-aloud are always a favorite choice. And guess what??? Even my struggling readers can recognize words, mimic the reading, make sense out of the book, learn about story structure, and enjoy the book!

I know it may be difficult, but a love of reading and a purpose for reading is what we are all after. I believe the best way to do it is to stop belittling our students by limiting their choices to a level. Use levels in guided reading for instructional purposes. My main focus is on the love of reading and I believe this is best achieved by giving access to our best and most challenging read-alouds.

If you want to give it a try, make sure you purchase my labels by clicking on the pic below.