[jerzgirl]

Hi,
We have nine first grade teachers and $2500 to spend on books. We are looking into Rigby (I have purchased some of the Sails Literacy six-packs in the past.). Does anyone use the PM Literacy or Rigby Literacy sets? Can you tell me if you like them? Any suggestions out there for how to begin a bookroom?
Thanks,
jerz

[IloveK]

We have an amazing book room at our school. I teach at a K-2 school. I would say that all the teachers use the books from the bookroom and there is enough to go around. It's very big, and a GREAT resource! Good luck getting one started at your school.

Most of the books in our bookroom are Rigby. We also use the Rigby assessment packs. I have taught K and 1 and I like the Rigby's for both of those grades. I feel like they are appropriate vocabulary, while some other books I have seen are outdated and use hard vocabulary or words that are not common, which can be hard for ELL's. The stories are good for comprehension, and they have good pictures as well. When I taught K we actually had two different assessment packs. One of them I liked better than the other, but I don't have that information with me. If you have any other questions I can help you out.

[relax]

for my first grade classroom and I love these books. They have engaging stories and characters the kids get to know and love. (My personal favorite are the Toytown characters!) I'm the only first grade teacher at my school, so the books are housed in my room. The kindergarten, second, and third grade teachers also use the Rigby books and we all agree that they are great.

[zale]

I love Rigby. I have a lot for my classroom library. We use Scholastic for our guided reading library and I wish we had Rigby.

[Mrs.H]

Most of my leveled library is made of Rigby books. We ordered sets for first grade and split them up between the rooms. I highly recommend them.

[Mrs.Baird]

i too recommend them! i use the big books for readers workshop, the big word works poems for extra phonics practice, i use them both for shared reading, and of course the readers for guided reading. i think its easy to use, clear, and the students love it.

[AD]

I use all Rigby. That is my district's reading curriculum for elementary. I really like it!

For a bookroom...would it be used by all grade levels or just first? I would take a look at all your reading levels and get sets of books for each level. We have a pretty good book room, and it's nice to have a large choice for guided reading books.

[jerzgirl]

Thanks SO much for the input. Now, how do I decide which Rigby set to use-PM, Sails or Rigby Literacy? Is there major differences? I have some Sails, and love them, but are the others "better"?

[Mrs.H]

My books are Rigby PM.

[teach & learn]

like the PM readers especially for beginning readers. They are very systematic in the way they are designed and slowly build on what students needs as growing readers. I would love to get soem more myself!

[IloveK]

We use PM also. My favorite is the Bear family series ( Baby Bear goes fishing, Blackberries, etc)