gender specific book bins

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gender specific book bins
By Alyssa

Since a trait of kids this age is to self-segregate by gender, I agree that your method would help draw kids to good books.

I also recommend books for boys and girls. I put brightly colored slips of paper in a few display
books (Astro-brights). Across the top of the paper, which sticks out of the book, I write, "Recommended for... (girls, boys, sci-fi lovers, animal story nuts, etc.) because..." and then I explain a little about why I think that type of person would like that book. Kids love to submit recommendations, too, which means they are self-selecting mini book reports!
Maybe you could discuss

with kids how you choose books to put in each bin and have them suggest a few. Rather than being sexist or gender-stereotyping, this would make the bins and their contents an opportunity for students to explore gender differences and similarities.