Enjoying Books Together: A guide for teachers on the use of books in the classroom

This guide has been produced by the Rwandan Children’s Book Initiative, a project of Save the Children.

The aim of the guide is to introduce Rwandan teachers to the importance of written material and books and to share some ideas for how they can be used in the classroom to improve student’s learning. It begins with suggestions about how teachers and students can increase the amount of written material in their classrooms.

It then looks at books in particular, with the aim of helping teachers understand the types of books available and to begin thinking about what makes a good book for children.

The guide then looks at two approaches for using written material with students in the classroom:

• teacher reads aloud
• independent reading

The introductions to both of these approaches have been designed to encourage teachers to think about new ways in which books can be used, to test these out with their students and to discuss these approaches with their fellow teachers.

Finally, the guide includes some suggestions for how to manage a classroom book collection, including organising, displaying and caring for books.