I am a primary teacher who is passionate about books and reading. I frequently purchase new books for our classroom library, selecting titles based on current student interests, new offerings by our favorite authors, or treasures I find at garage sales. These new titles are carefully placed in our classroom library where they can be hard to find, quickly forgotten about, or sometimes, as in the case of Chicken Butt by Erica S. Perl, never make it to a classroom library tub because Jacob has hogged it, reading it every day for months and never letting it stray from his book box.

A New-Book Tub was created to give everyone equal access to our most recent additions before they get swallowed up in our classroom library or permanently adopted by a child. The most recent 12-15 books are now in one place and that tub is one of the literacy choices available to children during our Daily 5 time. Students may not put items from this tub into their own book boxes, but may visit and revisit this tub as often as they like. I renew the tub with new purchases every six weeks or so, which keeps student interest high.

Now everyone knows where to find a new favorite that I've read aloud and everyone can read and reread them as often as they like.