4 ms·

What's the difference between a classroom library and the school library? I'm German, I've never heard of classroom libraries or anything similar in Germany. We

What's the difference between a classroom library and the school library? I'm German, I've never heard of classroom libraries or anything similar in Germany. We have school libraries that provide the standard text books and most of the novels etc, but they're generally not walk-ins where you pick something to read.

thebetatester 4y ago
"Classroom libraries" are for students to pick up a small book during a break in teaching to encourage reading. Usually these books aren't long and don't have a formal checkout process because they'll stay within the classroom walls.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
"Classroom library" makes it sound a lot more formal than it is. Picture like a bookshelf in the corner that students can pick a book from of during a designated reading time if they didn't bring their own.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wolrah 4y ago
A classroom library is a bookshelf in the class set up and stocked by the teacher of that class, usually so those students who finish work early have something quiet to do to kill time. Most of the classrooms I remember fondly as a kid had a selection of magazines along the same lines as you'd find in the average dentist's waiting room plus a mix of books based on the teacher's tastes. "The Way Things Work" was a recurring favorite of mine that popped up in a lot of classrooms through my first few years of school.
yamtaddle 4y ago
Two main cases: 1) Lower grades (i.e. k-6) will often keep a bunch of books in the classroom, so the kids have a selection available if they want to (or have to) read. This way they don't have to make a trip to the library to pick out a new book, as it can often be kinda difficult for a kid to find time to visit the library outside scheduled classroom visits, and that's an extra step between a kid wanting to read and being able to, that teachers would rather not have (since it might mean less reading). Often these sorts of classroom libraries are stocked by the teacher. Such libraries may be left behind by teachers retiring or otherwise leaving teaching, and the teacher replacing them may keep part or all of the library. 2) Upper grades, where you start having dedicated English or "Language Arts" classrooms, will often keep classroom sets (that is, enough books for every kid to have one at once) of the books the classes teach. Often there will also be other individual books, plus maybe some classroom sets of books that the teacher doesn't teach (maybe they switched their program up a bit, or maybe they're left overs from a previous teacher)—a teacher may keep these around or stock such a small library themselves and let kids borrow them, because being an upper-grades English teacher tends to correspond with liking and wanting to encourage reading. Some lower grade (well, properly, middle-grade or what you might call "upper elementary", but I'm trying to keep it simple) classes may also keep a few classroom sets once the kids can read independently and full books are being taught to and read by the entire class at once (a 4th grade classroom might have a classroom set of Charlotte's Web or something like that) [EDIT] LOL, on reflection that was really three cases with some overlap (classroom sets of books; miscellaneous books intended to be read in class; miscellaneous books intended to be borrowed) so, uh, worst structure for a comment ever, I guess.
- luckylion 4y ago
  Thanks, structure or not, that helped me understand the difference between your system and ours better (or what I remember from what it used to be, it's been a while since I learned to read).
hooverd 4y ago
My English/drama teacher (small school) had one. It was mostly classics, famous theater works, and YA lit. I donated my collection of Discworld books to it after I graduated. It was really just a bookshelf. You could read in class or borrow one, she had a sign out sheet.
cwmma 4y ago
In English Library can just mean a collection of books, so you can talk about some person's "library" to mean their book collection. When people talk about a classroom library they're really meaning the collection of books in a classroom. That being said school libraries in America do tend to be walk in places where you can pick something up to read.
johntb86 4y ago
To add to the other answers, schools generally have school libraries that are similar to public libraries, in that they have a large selection of material and students may come in (either at a specific assigned time or in their free time at school) to check out books.

thebetatester 4y ago

"Classroom libraries" are for students to pick up a small book during a break in teaching to encourage reading. Usually these books aren't long and don't have a formal checkout process because they'll stay within the classroom walls.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

"Classroom library" makes it sound a lot more formal than it is. Picture like a bookshelf in the corner that students can pick a book from of during a designated reading time if they didn't bring their own.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

wolrah 4y ago

A classroom library is a bookshelf in the class set up and stocked by the teacher of that class, usually so those students who finish work early have something quiet to do to kill time. Most of the classrooms I remember fondly as a kid had a selection of magazines along the same lines as you'd find in the average dentist's waiting room plus a mix of books based on the teacher's tastes. "The Way Things Work" was a recurring favorite of mine that popped up in a lot of classrooms through my first few years of school.

yamtaddle 4y ago

Two main cases: 1) Lower grades (i.e. k-6) will often keep a bunch of books in the classroom, so the kids have a selection available if they want to (or have to) read. This way they don't have to make a trip to the library to pick out a new book, as it can often be kinda difficult for a kid to find time to visit the library outside scheduled classroom visits, and that's an extra step between a kid wanting to read and being able to, that teachers would rather not have (since it might mean less reading). Often these sorts of classroom libraries are stocked by the teacher. Such libraries may be left behind by teachers retiring or otherwise leaving teaching, and the teacher replacing them may keep part or all of the library. 2) Upper grades, where you start having dedicated English or "Language Arts" classrooms, will often keep classroom sets (that is, enough books for every kid to have one at once) of the books the classes teach. Often there will also be other individual books, plus maybe some classroom sets of books that the teacher doesn't teach (maybe they switched their program up a bit, or maybe they're left overs from a previous teacher)—a teacher may keep these around or stock such a small library themselves and let kids borrow them, because being an upper-grades English teacher tends to correspond with liking and wanting to encourage reading. Some lower grade (well, properly, middle-grade or what you might call "upper elementary", but I'm trying to keep it simple) classes may also keep a few classroom sets once the kids can read independently and full books are being taught to and read by the entire class at once (a 4th grade classroom might have a classroom set of Charlotte's Web or something like that) [EDIT] LOL, on reflection that was really three cases with some overlap (classroom sets of books; miscellaneous books intended to be read in class; miscellaneous books intended to be borrowed) so, uh, worst structure for a comment ever, I guess.

luckylion 4y ago
Thanks, structure or not, that helped me understand the difference between your system and ours better (or what I remember from what it used to be, it's been a while since I learned to read).

hooverd 4y ago

My English/drama teacher (small school) had one. It was mostly classics, famous theater works, and YA lit. I donated my collection of Discworld books to it after I graduated. It was really just a bookshelf. You could read in class or borrow one, she had a sign out sheet.

cwmma 4y ago

In English Library can just mean a collection of books, so you can talk about some person's "library" to mean their book collection. When people talk about a classroom library they're really meaning the collection of books in a classroom. That being said school libraries in America do tend to be walk in places where you can pick something up to read.

johntb86 4y ago

To add to the other answers, schools generally have school libraries that are similar to public libraries, in that they have a large selection of material and students may come in (either at a specific assigned time or in their free time at school) to check out books.