Hi everyone! As you know, I’m an islander (and it’s great to be living in paradise) but that means that I have a very limited access to classroom resources. For example, books – my school uses the same primary reader that I used when I was little. This has caused my students to hate reading time over the years. I adopted a few strategies over the years that I’ll share with you. Some worked and some didn’t work. The trick is to always keep trying new things until you find what works.

Ever since I’ve started teaching, I would visit used book stores for bargains on old books that are more interesting to read. I would collect anything from crossword puzzle books to kids Bible books (the Bible books are usually free). Anyway, I’ve built up a classroom library of shabby old books but at  least it was better than nothing. The students would gladly read at reading time. After one term however, the older books started to fall apart (beyond the point of repair) and these old books were affected my allergies! So I had to get rid of them.

I decided to have a meeting with the parents to explain the need for interesting books that their children would want to read. Each parent was to donate a book to the classroom library. While some parents obliged I’m still waiting on donations from other parents who happen to be in the majority.

Over the years, I got more and more books and now I have a new source for getting books – online! I am able to afford it by using my TpT sales money – you can read more about that here. Anyway, buying books for my students is now a habit. I see it as being part of one of my God-given duties. Now, even the children from the other classes come pouring into my classroom at lunch time to read books!