Starting A Reading Program From Scratch

I just recently finished cataloging my classroom library, a job that took longer than it should have because I'm a little lazier here on my summer vacation. My school, in the past, has used Accelerated Reader to help keep kids motivated about reading. I enjoyed using AR, and my students were motivated by it. I don't necessarily focus on the quantity of books read, but at the end of the year, when some students saw that they had read 30 or even 40 books during the school year, it was a big moment.

Well, my school won't be using AR this year, so it's up to me to come up with my own program. I don't want to start throwing fragments out now, so I'm going to wait until I have it pieced together, then I'll share it here in this blog for others who want to borrow pieces of it or the entire thing. Of course, I'll also give the websites of places I borrowed ideas from as well.

For now, I am going to provide my classroom library list for anyone who wants to see it. I typed the books into a spreadsheet document, with fields for title, author name, book reading level (an AR level of grade level and grade month), my grade for that book (which will be a part of my program, which I will explain when I'm done), if it's won awards, and finally, any special topics or things to remember about that book.

If you want to see that list, you can view that document in Google (no Microsoft Excel needed) by following this link: TheBuss Classroom Library.