Classroom Library

Oh my once again, I let the blog go and haven't posted anything.  I have been busy, according to my students I have been fighting the Hulk and I have rearranged my classroom library.

My classroom library was arranged between fiction and non-fiction then by grade level. Once my students started using my classroom library for their Read to Self and Read to Someone it all went down the drain. As my library was no longer arranged, I had books everywhere and students kept on pulling books from the shelf and just making stacks on top of the shelved books. It was a huge mess and it was driving me insane.

My Newly Arranged Library 

I searched and searched to find a library system that I liked. I found some great ones, but none that had everything I wanted. I am picky with specific needs. I suggest that anyone out there who is trying to arrange their classroom library to search for some ideas but at the end of it to create one for your own needs it will make life easier if you are picky like me. I will post my tub labels and the labels I used for each book but remember it was created for my library, feel free to change and modify what I have to fit your needs.

What I did was to first arrange my books into categories based on what made sense to me. I started with my non-fiction books and chapter books since I had less of those types of books. Then I moved on to arranging books by what I had multiple copies of, and so on until every book was in a pile or tub.

As you sort the books I suggest scanning each book or manually inputting each book in an online database. This will help find books and know what you have in your library. I use a free website called Classroom Organizer. This website is simple, nothing too fancy but it has everything I need. Some books can be scanned (if they are old books like most of mine they might not scan), for those books that  can't be scanned I found them on Amazon and copied the ISBN number onto the website. Once the book is inputed in the system, you can add the books grade level, Lexile, Genre, how many copies you have, and the coolest part when organizing a library the location. The best part if you allow students to check out your books you can use this website to do so.

After creating many piles I started working on the computer and creating my labels. I created a larger label, which I printed on regular paper and then put on construction paper (yellow for non-fiction and blue for fiction). I also created a replica of the larger label on a standard size label to place on the back of each individual book.

After that it is nice and easy. I placed each pile in a tub and arranged them on my shelves. Using tubs does take up more space than just placing them in a bookshelf, but the space is worth the mess that you would have otherwise.

I hope this has helped anyone out there that is trying to organize their classroom library.

Tub Labels          Book Labels
Disclaimer: When I posted the labels on my Google Drive the pictures did not quite align with the labels, but when I downloaded it from the Google Drive it was how I originally had it. If that is not the case for anyone else please let  me know.