The Classroom Library: A Catalyst for Literacy Instruction serves two purposes by first providing classroom teachers with a how-to guide in setting up and using the classroom library to support literacy. Next, it provides teachers with excerpts and stories of practicing teachers who have successfully used their classroom library to teach literacy. A wide array of photos, documents, tips, ideas, and descriptions lead teachers to create a classroom library that will scaffold students in the classroom library to establish and extend their literacy development. Several chapters specifically focus on working with under-served students, including students in urban settings, those who are learning English as a second language, and students without access to other libraries. Content in this book is easy to use to help teachers establish a library oasis in their classroom to support learners in preschool through grade eight classrooms. This book is a companion book to More Mirrors in the Classroom: Using Urban Children’s Literature to Increase Literacy. Both volumes cover the selection of culturally responsive children’s literature.

Ready to go far beyond the usual classroom book collection to make your library a dynamic support for all your literacy teaching? In this practical, one-of-a-kind book, two veteran educators show you how to use your library as: A resource for mini-lessons on book selection, author's craft, comprehension strategies and other literacy lessons. A source for interactive read-alouds. An extension of your shared-reading and guided-reading instruction. A motivating place for students' independent reading in many genres. A gallery of student book responses, recommendations, and student-authored works. And much more!

The purpose of The Library-Classroom Partnership is to assist library teachers and classroom teachers to effectively use the library and its resources as an extension of the classroom. As in the earlier edition, the lessons included in this book stress the library media skills needed by individuals for lifelong learning. Long after adults have forgotten a particular fact of history or the techniques of balancing an equation, they continue to use library skills to answer their questions and to meet the demands of an ever-changing society. It has been well documented that the skills taught in a library are most effectively learned within the context of classroom work. To this end, the librarian and the teacher must form a working team to take each other's ideas and develop them into effective learning experiences for students. The authors have incorporated the teaching of those library media skills with every discipline taught in the school. Through these lessons, students will realize that research and reference are a vital part of the learning process, complementing and enriching every subject. The eleven disciplines (English, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, home and careers, technology, physical education, health, and foreign language) normally taught in the junior high and middle schools are addressed in this work. To be included, a lesson must be a learning experience in both the library skills and the subject areas. Each unit has been cooperatively developed using the expertise of the school library media specialist and the subject teacher. All lessons have been implemented successfully in the junior high and middle school environment. This revised and expanded edition of The Library Classroom- Partnership also deals with technology and the changing economic and social conditions affecting public schools. It includes a new section on reading enrichment as well as instruction in accessing information electronically.