Organizing Our Classroom Library

First Day of School: Neat but not Organized

Setting up your classroom library is one of those tasks most elementary teachers do over the summer.  They come in on one of their vacation days and sweat it out for a few hours in order to get books into baskets with cute tags to label them so that when the children arrive, it's all set up ready for browsing.

On the other hand, I have my students sort our library!

I do go in over the summer to make my library look very neat (just not organized).  I actually just replaced some of my baskets this year to make the library look neater.  I also have lots of book bin labels ready made at the start of the year.  So some years I might use the "C.S. Lewis" label but other years I might use the "Chronicles of Narnia" label and the author label stays filed away for another year.  But if a couple new labels need making based on their ideas once they get started I do it!

After the first day (30 minutes of sorting)

We talk about 4 ways to organize:  Series, Author, Genre, and Topic.  They come to fourth grade knowing a LOT about genres so all I do is a quick refresher on using text features like pictures, clues in the title, and skimming the back cover. 

Next I put a basket of books at each group with a packet of small Post It Notes.The kids go through the basket and make piles on their desks with the labels, and I go around taking piles and laying them on the shelf out of their way.  When a group is almost finished I drop another basket off at their desk.

After the second day

In order to ensure a higher success rate I do tend to make sure that there are some "like" books in each basket.  For example, I might have 7 A to Z Mysteries, 5 Beverly Cleary books, and 8 nonfiction in a basket along with a few "other."  After all, when they are packed up, like books are near each other anyway, so it's not much extra work just to check and make a few adjustments.

If we can't get it all finished in one day (I do this activity at the end of the day) I leave one basket at each group so they have something to browse through during their "I'm Done, Now What" time the next day.  The remaining unsorted baskets go back on the shelf with a red card inside, so they know at a glance what's left.

Before I add my colorful book bin labels I usually make a few changes once they go home in order to have the right amount of baskets and space, but it really helps the kids become familiar with what I have available to read and where to find it from the very start.  It gets kids interacting with the baskets instead of approaching them with a sense of not being sure where to start.

Taking the role of facilitator instead of provider when it comes to organizing the library also helps those kids who get stuck in a "reading rut" and visit the same old book basket again and again, hoping that another book from their favorites series will magically appear.  And for a handful of kids, it gets them excited to find a new, different book.  They'll ask me, "I know this is a fantasy book, but instead of putting it in the basket am I allowed to keep it?"  What better way to get kids reading than to make them beg for it? 

So even though our district adopted a basal program a few years ago, I still make time at the beginning of the year to let them be the ones to organize the books they'll be choosing to read.  How do you help your students take ownership over their classroom library? 

Classroom Library Setup: Uniform Book Basket Color

I'm back from visiting my husband's family in England and had an amazing time as always!  We got back last week and after unpacking and recovering from the time difference we went in on Friday to begin the classroom setup process.

Since our custodians set up our furniture for us (roughly, based on a classroom map we provide) we started by cleaning.  My husband is sweet enough to help me with this so that I can get right into organizing.  You may remember that 4 of the 6 goals I set for my summer projects included the classroom library, kids' manipulatives shelf, kids' materials shelf, and the students' paperwork table (each link brings you to a blog post).  Although I've already made good headway on these 4 goals, the first project I completed is the bookshelf. 

It looked like this mostly still packed up (left). I wasn't planning on radical changes from previous years.  I made new labels last year (the link will bring you to a blog post) which I enjoy so I'll be reusing them; I just wanted uniform colored baskets.  Since I had more black than any other color, I decided to go with it; I just bought a few more. 

 And here's how it looked at the end of Monday.

 Not.  Enough.  BASKETS!!!

From now on:  Measure twice, shop once.  Don't make my mistake, people.

That afternoon I went to 3 different stores:  Walmart, Target, then Bed Bath and Beyond.  NO ONE had black baskets or dishpans.  :(  Finally I went online and found a different Walmart in my area that had them, so here's the after photo:

Yay!  

You may be wondering, "Amber, do you really have so much time on your hands that you felt the urge to add blue trim to your bookshelf?"  And to that I say there is a PURPOSE besides beatification.  As I was cleaning on Monday I got a splinter from that shelf (not for the first time).  My students have got splinters from that shelf.  I decided that trimming out the shelves in Duck Tape would not just be a way to carry my color scheme through; it would also be a safety feature!  Although I'm sure it will look even more amazing once the aqua bordered book bin labels are attached.  :)  I'll have to wait to show that off, however, since I do a library sorting activity with my students the first week of school so I need them blank until then. 

Since I'm making good progress on my projects, I've decided to publish a BONUS post on Friday.  Not only will I have more photos to show you of the process and result of my summer projects, I also  have a special announcement that I think you'll enjoy!

In the meantime, for anyone who's interested, here are a few of my England vacation photos:

 Remember, come back Friday for a (time sensitive) bonus post!