I went through most of the kids' books today (something that's been on my mind for months). My intention was to cull as much as I could and donate to the library. I was surprised to discover that most of the books were still useful (these are not the books that are or have been beloved for one reason or another...those books have a permanent place in our hearts and lives).
I pulled a bunch of these 'worker' books out and sorted them in baskets: Science, Social Studies and Caldecott/Newbery Award winners/honorees. The Science and Social Studies themed books I plan to use to see what topics excite the kids. They can then follow their bliss to deeper study and learning.
I'm going to give the kids lists of the award winning books and have them begin to check off the books they've read. I'm anticipating some interesting conversations around what 'makes' an award-winning book/story/illustration, as well as, discussions on the cultural zeitgeist-y elements which may have helped a particular book win at a particular time in history.
Once the baskets were refilled with 'new' books, it didn't take long for the kids to find them and begin reading. Tickles me every time.
3 comments:
We just culled a LOT here. I realized that we never use our science books. If the kids want a subject, we just go to the library. We never think to go to the science books or thumb through them or anything and they were just collecting dust. And I mean collecting big time. Man, I had to wipe so much dust off of them, lol! I wore a mask and wiped with a wet cloth :-D
Did you see this? http://africanlibraryproject.org/book-drives/book-drives-in-action?alpdetail=134 The mom is on GECHO. We're bringing our culled science books for them at the Craft Fair.
Every so often I do the same thing. The bookshelf in Cam's room is none-too-large and the books he likes are getting shorter and fatter. I take a lot to the BookBarn in Niantic, but there are some that make their way into my permanent picture book collection.
I've brought my own culled books to a used bookstore in town and gotten store credit, which is great.
We still have so many books...I really, really love books. But yeah, as I was vacuuming the tops of books yesterday while organizing, I wished there was some other way :-)
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