Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Giving My Classroom Library Some Much-Needed Organization

 
I took quite a bit of time out recently to re-organize my classroom library. After the kiddos left in May, I was left with a bit of a mess book-wise. To tackle this project, I sprawled all of my books out on the floor and got to work placing each book in its' appropriate bin. After all books were finally put back in their bins, I pulled out some Sharpies and labeled every single book with a code. As you can see from the picture, this bin of Chapter Books has been labeled with a red triangle. That way, when a student takes a book from this bin and goes to return it, he or she can easily spot where it goes. Other codes that I used include: squares, happy faces, *, circles, etc... I am hoping that this will be a much better system than just having the bins labeled "Chapter Books, 3rd Grade Chapter Books, Animal Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Animal Character Fiction, Fiction, Series, etc..."

Another tweak to my system will be to have students use their designated clothespin (with class number on it) in the library. The system is simple:
1. Find a book you like
2. Place your clothespin on the tub you borrowed the book from
 3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 as needed.

Hopefully these tips will help you with your own classroom library. I'm looking forward to having a much more organized library this year! Bring on the book-borrowers! :)

1 comment:

  1. Hello! I'm a first year teacher and will teach third grade in September. I'm both excited and nervous about finally having my own classroom. My new hobby is searching for teacher blogs in an effort to gain more ideas. I've also gained an addiction to Pinterest. I'm planning to visit my classroom tomorrow and organizing my library is the first thing on my list. I'm not exactly sure what the last teacher left behind but I have my own box of books that I'm going to add to the classroom.
    By the way, I'm your newest follower so please visit my blog and join. I'm a newbie and still learning.....

    http://thirdgradediaries.blogspot.com/

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