Book Check-Out Contract

Recently, I got my EEF card from my district and was like a kid in a candy shop with so much money to spend! So, I purchased a new bookshelf for the classroom and tons of books. I am probably more excited than the kids but who cares? I am so cool right now.

Next semester we are starting WAR or DEAR (drop everything and read) and basically every day at the same time everyone in the building picks up a book and reads for 10 minutes so I think this will be good timing to have all the materials in my room, but I was really unsure about what to do if one of my kids asked to take home a book. Many of my students are really poor and even the books they get from our library end up lost. So, I decided to draw up a book contract. Basically, it says these are my books and not theirs and they should be mature enough to treat my property with respect, yada-yada-yada. The consequences for losing a book on this are kinda of relevant to my school. We don't have detention, we only do office referrals and silent lunch. Believe it or not, the kids DIE over silent lunch. It's like something out of Romeo and Juliet it's so dramatic when they get silent lunch, so I'm hoping they will take it seriously. Anyway, if any English teachers out there have a personal library in their classroom they would like to loan out, feel free to use this template I created for my check-out contract. I will keep every contract signed and placed in each students folder so that if the student's parents decide to make an ordeal about it, I can pull out the contract, show it to them and my principal, and there's very little leeway given to the child.

Book Check-Out Contract

I, ________________, have checked out a personal book of Mrs. Dorman’s from her personal book collection located on her personal bookshelf in her personal classroom. I realize that I do not have any rights to these books at any time unless Mrs. Dorman otherwise deems me fit, and if she does, it is my privilege to be able to learn to read and to read well in a classroom under a teacher who cares about my future.

I am aware that money does not grow on trees and in order to ensure that these personal books that belong to Mrs. Dorman remain intact and useable, I must not only take care of them but I must also guard them with my life. If I check out a book, I am showing Mrs. Dorman that I am a responsible eighth grader who can take care of myself and my belongings and I am mature enough to look after things that I borrow that do not belong to me. I am grateful that I can go to school every day to grow in knowledge and wisdom and Mrs. Dorman is awesome for providing a fantastic book collection for all eighth graders to utilize.

Therefore, if I borrow a book from Mrs. Dorman’s bookshelf, I will bring it back in a timely fashion—namely one week (extensions will be offered for special circumstances). If I do not bring back the book, a warning will be given and I will bring back the book the next day. If I lose the book or if I choose to ignore the warning again, I will be given silent lunch for a week and then written up and put on the “no book” list and asked to replace the book to return to the check out list. I know that checking out Mrs. Dorman’s books are privileges, not rights, and to do so will require maturity on my part.

Student Signature_____________________________________

Teacher Signature_____________________________________