The Independent Reading Center will contain various paperback books, comic books, picture books, theme-based literature, baskets of books for Sports, History, Geography, Animals, Seasons, Weather, Magnets, Health, Food & Nutrition, Families, Holidays, Adventures, Mysteries, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Multiculturalism, Fairy Tales, Mother Goose, Newbery and Caldecott winners, Bibliotherapy, Dance/Theater,  and so on. Children can take turns being the librarian, making sure books are in their proper baskets. Other ideas follow: beanbag chairs, a shower curtain on a circular rod for children to relax behind, a large decorated box with pillows inside, a rug, student-made “sit-upons”. These are made from newspapers and garbage bags, covered with heavy material and sewn together with yarn or string.
Also, in the Reading Center we could have a small table and chairs, a picnic table, drinking water and dixie cups or a water cooler, various magazines for children, various newspapers: ethnic, neighborhood, school, city, and national, inflatable furniture, a loft, a museum of posters to read underneath the loft, chart stories (teacher-made, student-made, LEA) on a rack, Big Books, a “student made book library”,  poetry books and posters, and student-written and illustrated poetry.

            Next, bulletin boards for children to post articles, announcements, stories, poetry, and other information, and an “interest table” to be programmed with environmental reading materials, such as travel brochures, playbills, restaurant guides and menus, amusement park guides, video game directions, maps, catalogs, and so on. Along with the reading material, students in charge of this weekly table can bring objects with labels, personal pictures with labels, and any other group of theme related objects and reading materials. The student or small group of students must also create a theme poster, explaining what the table is all about. If a student’ interest is her trip to Disney World, she could include her Park Hopper Pass, souvenirs with labels, family pictures with labels or captions, brochures from the Theme Parks, maps, and postcards. The poster would have a “persuasive” paragraph about why this theme is interesting, along with student-made illustrations and cutouts of pictures glued onto the board.