Monday, July 18, 2011

Classroom Library Organization

Since I thought I was meant to teach primary grades forever, I had spent lots of money years collecting oodles of picture books. However, last year when I moved to fifth grade, I had to go on a chapter book buying frenzy. I visited tons of yard sales and thrift stores to fill up my classroom library. Between that and some generous donations from friends and family, I was able to fill up my classroom library pretty nicely.

I knew right away that I wanted to find some cute and sturdy containers to house my books. I found these inexpensive baskets last summer and L-O-V-E them! The dot cutouts are adorable and go well with other dotted items in my room. They are sturdy and the perfect size. I bought several of them in each color. These colors sort of developed into a theme after that. I found two rugs with the same colors and bought storage containers in the same lime green and blues. It worked to create unity in my room.

I chose to organize my books by genre or topic because it has been my personal experience {not saying this is always true. at. all.} that my students tend to choose books by interest. I stumbled across Beth Newingham's awesome website! I printed her labels (view them here), laminated them, and hot glued them to the front of the baskets to make it easy for students to find books they enjoy. I do have some picture books set out, but I don't have nearly enough room for them all. Sigh. All I know is that my future children {personal kiddos, that is} will have plenty of books to read one day! :)

Anyhow, I will try to post some pics of my library once I return to my classroom to get to work. How do you organize your classroom library?

6 comments:

  1. We use Accelerated Reader at our school, so most of my books are according to reading level. I do have special baskets for my fav authors...Sharon Creech, Andrew Clement, Avi, Beverly Cleary. And then I do have baskets of historical fiction, biographies, etc. Happy sorting.
    Pat

    A Time to Share & Create


    MY WEBSITE

    Fabulous 4th Grade

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  2. Thanks for commenting on my blog today! I am not a follower of yours! :) I have those exact same baskets in my room. So did the hot glue hold your labels? I need to try that, because I've tried basically every type of tape possible and nothing holds well.

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  3. Casey - Thanks for following me! :) How cool that we have the same baskets! I had that problem when I tried to attach the labels using tape. No matter what I did, they always fell off. Finally turned to my BFF, the hot glue gun and haven't had any problems ever since. Worked like a charm and made me wish I had tried it sooner.

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  4. I just bought those baskets yesterday and I LOVE them! they are SO SUPER sturdy. I think they are WAY better than the ones form really good stuff. I bought some from RGS, and now i am replacing them with the dollar store ones! I wish I had known before spending all that money.

    I have never been able to organize my books in a way that I like until now. I organize my picture books my theme (i also put a number on the basket and the book, so students can return them easily). I organize my chapter books by series or topic (mystery, realistic fiction, etc.) I also found a bunch of leveled readers at a yard sale, so I have a leveled section as well.

    I would love to see your pictures once you get them up :)

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  5. I reorganized my classroom library this summer. I have my baskets by genre, author, and series. Even though I teach 4th grade I still keep out a good amount of picture books too. Everyone loves picture books haha! Can't wait to see pictures!
    Once Upon A Teaching Blog

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  6. I have seen so many classrooms that use these baskets. Would you mind telling me where you got them? vtmillers@gmail.com

    :)Thanks!!

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