You would never know it from the state of my dining room table, but I am very particular about my things. In my classroom, I train my students to empty pencil sharpeners certain ways to reduce pencil shaving spills. I expect them to wipe down desks following a specific system, so the name tags remain undisturbed. And, I have very particular requirements when it comes to borrowing books from my classroom library. Truth be told, I would prefer that we just look at the library and not touch anything, but the whole reason I have the library is to share with students.
Since I know many hands will be touching the books and jamming them into lockers and bookbags, I cover every book with clear contact paper to offer a little protection against all of the love the books receive. I have been perfecting my book covering technique for over 15 years. I wrote a POST on my collaborative teacher blog with step by step directions about covering books, and you can CLICK HERE to see my system.
What protective measures do you take to safeguard your prized possessions when little hands are involved?
Do you have any tips on how to protect picture books? I’ve quite a collection at the minute at my own expense, the thoughts of them being ripped apart come September is not something I plan on doing before I can protect them somehow!
If your picture books are paperback, you can cover with the contact paper. I don’t know what to do with hardback picture books. In my library, the few hardbacks I have, I remove the dust jackets and put them on the shelf “naked” since they are sturdier than the paperbacks. The heavy hardbacks (like a Harry Potter) do fall apart pretty easily because they do not have a perma binding on them and have cheap glue. I repair the spine with clear packing tape and then cover with the contact paper in the same way as the paperback. My school librarian wraps the dust jackets in these clear, plastic sheets then folds it around the book and tapes the covered dust jacket to the inside of the book cover. Maybe look into that kind of wrapping?
Students are very resistant to respecting the classroom once they are teens, that’s for sure! The contact paper cover is something I’ve incorporated when it’s a popular item. Hope your school year is marvelous!
I did not even attempt to have a classroom library the few years I taught HS kids! Hope you have a great year too!
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