Host a Classroom Book Exchange on Earth Day
Grow Green G&T Readers with Recycled, Peer-Approved Books
Apr 17, 2009
Earth Day is not just for science classes. Libraries, language arts, English, and reading classes can get in on the celebration by encouraging students to recycle books through a book exchange. Gifted and talented classes are the perfect classes for book exchanges, because most gifted and talented students come from households with lots of books. Not only will the students have books they are willing to donate, they will be open to trying new literature.
Setting Up a Classroom Book Exchange
For students, a book exchange can feel as simple as everyone bringing a book and trading, but there is some background work that needs to be done by the teacher.
- Notify parents about the date and purpose of the book exchange. It is important that parents and students understand that book exchanges are not shared reading. Students may not ever see a book again. Sometimes parents have sentimental attachments to books that students are not aware of, such as the book being a gift from a parents' friend, or the book being a childhood favorite of the parent.
- Get extra books for students who will not have books to donate. Some students will not have books that they are allowed to bring. Libraries often have discard books that they will allow teachers to have for a book exchange.
- Make sure students are aware of the procedure and rules for the book exchange before they choose which books to bring. Not only do they need to know that they are not going to see the books they brought again, they need to understand that a book exchange is for current reading levels. A middle school gifted reader should not bring Magic School Bus books to the classroom book exchange.
Putting an Earth Day Spin on Green Book Exchanges
Although a book exchange can be done by just bringing books, setting them on the floor, and having a free-for-all, teachers can put special emphasis on the Earth Day benefits of recycling books by sharing them instead of just letting unwanted books grow dusty on a shelf.
Upstart (a division of Highsmith) has great Earth Day supplies for teachers. Creating a Green Book Exchange is much more fun with the Read, Return, Repeat product line. The line includes:
- 100% recycled plastic book bags
- bookmarks
- notepads
Teachers can put the bookmarks in the book bags, so everyone gets a bookmark as well as a book.
Upstart also has other Earth Day items for bulletin boards and classrooms. Using a recycling theme for the bulletin boards, teachers can outline the steps of the book exchange:
- Bring a chapter book that you don't want anymore, but you think a friend would like
- Get a read, return, recycle bag from the teacher.
- Put it in the read, return, recycle bag
- Label the bag with the genre (such as "adventure" or "horses")
- Put the bag in the book exchange box
To get a book, students follow these instructions:
- Choose a book based on the information on the bag (don't look at the book until you go back to your desk)
- Try the book.
- If you like it, keep it. Give the empty bag back to the teacher.
- If you want to re-exchange it, put it back in the bag and put the bag back in the box.
Book Exchange Tips
- Get sturdy bag that easily fit several chapter books.
- Give students permanent markers to label the genre (not the title, otherwise it will be hard to reuse the bag). If students change genres, just use masking or duct tape to go over the genre and write a new one.
- Help students understand that people have different tastes. This will avoid hurt feelings when a recommended book gets rejected.
- Allow students time to read when they get the book. It is frustrating to have a new-to-you book and not be able to start reading right away.
Most people do not throw away books; instead, books become clutter. Books are sentimental objects for many people, but an unopened book isn't helping anyone. An Earth Day book exchange helps students see other people enjoying their unwanted books, and they get to enjoy someone else's unwanted books. Teachers can encourage students to donate their outgrown and unwanted books to Goodwill, public libraries, and disaster-relief collections that ask for books.
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