20 penny-pinching ways to double your classroom library: where to find great free and low-cost resources for your students

Instructor, July-August, 1994 by Beth Vhayet

How many times have you dipped into your personal funds to keep your classroom library flush with books, magazines, and other reading materials? This year you may not have to reach into your wallet as often or as deeply, thanks to these cost-saving tips from your colleagues across the country.

1. Ask restaurants if you can have old menus.

"Restaurant menus are terrific for language arts. They're full of tasty adjectives and adverbs. I also use the menus for math activities. Students can total up items ordered, add tax, calculate tips, and give change. Empty food packages such as cereal boxes are also a good thing to collect. Students can read and compare the nutritional information on the boxes."

Carol Harris, second-grade teacher, Temple Beth Am Day School, Miami, Florida

2. Make the most of discarded phone books.

"I use phone books when my class studies medieval times. We learn about how people's last names represented their trades. I have my class look through the phone books to find names that indicate what profession a person's ancestors may have practiced. I also use the phone books for math: I ask students to add five different phone numbers together, then circle those five and five others. Another student then has to figure out which of the five phone numbers the first student selected."

Kathy Lane, sixth-grade teacher, Anderson Elementary School, Reno, Nevada

3. Use travel brochures.

"I bring travel brochures into the classroom for math skills. There's information on them that can be used for graphing. The maps and geographic information are also great for social studies activities."

Wendy Waldman, third-grade teacher, Solomon Schechter Day School, Marlboro, New Jersey

4. Start a collection of user's manuals.

"Technical reading and writing are important skills for the future that we should begin teaching today. I make sure to keep on hand software guides, equipment instructions, even the manual for a VCR, all for kids to read."

Martine Wayman, sixth-grade teacher, Kenmore Elementary School, Bothell, Washington

5. Bring in clothing catalogs.

"I tell students to imagine they have $100,000 to spend. They then have to go through the catalogs and 'buy' things. Each time they select an item they have to add 10 percent sales tax to it. Students have to keep a running total and subtract from $100,000 until their total is less than $1."

Kathy Lane

6. Create a recipe book.

"Students bring in recipes and I assign a 'chef of the day' once a week to prepare one of the recipes. Throughout the year we collect the recipes in a book."

Carol Harris

7. Use the newspaper.

"Our local newspaper has an education department. Four times a year they produce a teacher and student guide that goes along with the newspaper for 20 cents a student. It helps to laminate the articles you want to keep."

Diane Iglehart, third-grade teacher, Foerster Elementary School, Houston, Texas

8. Bind student-created work.

"I keep the poems that students write throughout the years in a bound book in the classroom library. Before I begin my poetry unit I have students look through some of the previous students' poetry. I also make copies and bind some of the older grade's student books. My students love to read through them."

Carol Harris

9. Attend teacher's night at your local museum.

"Check with all the museums in your area to see if they offer an open-house night for teacher's. If so, they usually give away all sorts of handouts and teaching materials."

Diane Iglehart

10. Contact your state or local historical society.

"The historical society can put you in touch with people who can supply you with folktales and legends from your state."

Harold Tuttle, fifth/sixth-grade teacher, Lafayette Regional School, Franconia, New Hampshire

11. Check out your district warehouse.

"Some school districts have storehouses of old textbooks where you can hunt through the materials. One good find is old basal readers. I choose what I want--like the beautiful storybook sections--and take them apart."

Carol Harris

12. Call the information department of your state government.

"My state government offers wonderful curriculum guides and brochures for free or cheap. I got curriculum guides for Project Wild from the Department of Natural Resources for $12."

Charlotte Stone, teacher, Crabapple Middle School, Roswell, Georgia

13. Encourage student hand-me-downs.

"I always ask my students to donate their favorite book to the classroom library at the end of the year. I've even had students come back the next year and ask if their book is still there."

Nancy Palastrant, fourth-grade teacher, Snapper Elementary School, Miami, Florida

14. Use the School of Education library at your local university.

"Many of the materials in the Education School library can be checked out or duplicated. The resources here really help me to expand my classroom library."

Bill Palmer, fourth/fifth-grade teacher, Columbia Elementary School, Bellingham, Washington

15. Print out and bind on-line information.

"I belong to a telecommunications network. With each on-line project, I download all the information into a file, and then print out each entry. Everything is then three-hole punched and put into a binder. My 'books' are all displayed in the room until the end of the year. I then send them to the district office to have them bound into book form. Now I have the makings of an inexpensive, comprehensive library."