Library Organization

Classroom Library Organization

Hey friends! 

I wanted to share a few tips about organizing your classroom library. The classroom library is simply one of the most important components to your classroom. In the primary grades, this is where students can fall in love with reading. I want to have a neat and inviting area so that my students WANT to go to the library. Part of the task of building your students excitement up about reading is providing them with a plethora of books to pick from. 

I have a serious problem. Like, seriously, I'm addicted to books and bookshelves. I've had my husband build four new shelves this year and he will likely add four more over the next year! I am constantly searching and sorting  through garage sales and the Goodwill for new books for the library. Don't even get me started on Scholastic Book Clubs...I seriously need an intervention :) 

(Please note, these pictures were taken in the middle of my labeling process)

I'm very blessed, because my teaching mentor shipped this system to me pretty much 100% complete. I just had to add a few additional labels and I was good to go. She also sent me so many of her own books and I'm forever grateful for her kindness!! I wish she had a blog so I could credit this idea to her, but she doesn't. Sad face! She sent me a binder and the stickers to label my books!

Here is a view from inside the binder...

Each series has a corresponding sticker. One sticker goes on the book, and another sticker goes on the  book basket label. This way, the students can match the stickers together to verify that they are putting the books back in the right place. I know this seems like a lot of work, and it is! However, after using this system, I have had about a 85% decrease in lost, misplaced and damaged books. The students see the system and understand that I take a lot of pride in my literature selection. I purchased the dots: HERE

Labels inside the binder. Like I said, this wasn't my system, so I don't have ALL of the labels yet. You can click here  to grab some of the labels  I do have. I am updating these so the file will continue to grow and updated!!

Each book gets a label inside the cover. This identifies the book as my personal property. Each book series has it's own label. You can edit these to add your name. The labels print on AVERY 5160 templates!

My next step is to label the back of each book with the sticker that corresponds to the series. All students have to do, is check the back of the book to be sure it matches with the sticker found on the book basket label.

I sort my library by book series and theme. I also have a small area in my library that I'm adding leveled books to. I do this because I want my students to have a genuine love for reading and the option to "browse" a book even if they cannot read it. Students should love to read, and having high interest books available will help that.

We also have our separate leveled books so that each student has a collection of books in their independent reading level.

This picture was taken before I added the stickers to the book baskets. I keep the leveled readers close to my guided reading area so the students can browse the boxes after our reading groups. The leveled labels are labeled by Founts and Pinnell Guided Reading levels and are printed on Astrobrights Fireball Fuchsia paper! I used these stickers to label my books. 

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Classroom Reveal 2015

Hey friends! I'm a little behind, but I wanted to share my classroom with you! We started school Tuesday, and as you can imagine, I'm so exhausted! So I figured it was a great time to relax as I share my space with you!

This year, I painted my bulletin boards and am so excited how they turned out! I leave my boards blank at the beginning of the year so that we have plenty of space for our learning materials throughout the year. 

View from the door...

This is my math area. I am using Reagan's Free Math Posters. The posters are student friendly and help out with teaching routines at the beginning of the year. 

This is my storage/listening center area. I am using my classroom labels packet. This includes the inspirational quotes.  I found the larger inspirational quotes here. 

Now on to my classroom library. I have a post coming about how I organize it but here are a few pictures...

I used pulsar pink Astrobrights paper to identify my leveled readers section. I think students should be able to browse books both on their level and by theme that they want to read, so I have both in my library. 

Table view. I am using one bucket as a classroom management tool and providing positive feedback to the tables that are working nicely together. Each time I give them a compliment, or praise, I place a pom pom in the bucket. The other bucket is the table's tidy tub. They shouldn't actually be next to each other..but my new firsties must have moved it (and I was too tired to notice ) HA! 

            I am in LOVE with my 10 drawer cart! It stores all of my math centers!

=

My writing center area with the neon fan

My bins for my sub tub and writing folders.

I hope to update our classroom pictures half way through the year so you can see how I use these areas for anchor charts. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Get the look here!

Classroom Setup and FREEBIES :)

Hey Y'all. Sorry it's been a while!! I've been knee deep in back to school fun!!! 

My classroom did not get the "perfect pinterest" set up I was looking for this year. At the end of last school year, I had to pack ALL of my things up. I was only able to move back in two days before teachers officially returned back to work. It made for an interesting week and half...of no cooking, barely eating, no laundry or house cleaning! So we've spent almost *ALL* day today getting our life back in order lol. I couldn't believe how outta control the house was! Not to mention, I have no clue what we've been eating because the fridge was quite bare. I hope I'm not the only teacher out there that the first week of school really takes a toll on!!! 

Like I said, not Pinterest worthy but it's functional!!

We have a "Meet and Greet" before school starts and then "Open House" two weeks after school starts. I made these little Printable Signs and placed them in spray painted frames from the Dollar Tree.  Click the picture to download your free copy! 

View from the back

I purchased the chevron bins from the Dollar Tree this summer. I wish I would have purchased more. When I bought them, I wasn't sure how I would use them so I only got a few. 

I used my Chevron Library Labels to sort out my library.  My library is organized by theme. This is where all of my extra money goes!! My husband hunts, I'm a book hoarder :) 

This is my small group area. I left most of my bulletin boards blank this year. Last year, I ran out of room for anchor charts. This year, my goal is to  have MORE anchor charts  AND they will ALL be student created :) I plan to post about this later in the year :) 

My favorite little spot in my classroom. My rock that says "I will Take Care Of You-God", My Gift from my kiddos, and my daddy. What more could a girl ask for?

On our first day back,  our admin sent us on a little scavenger hunt. Such a blast. I was picked for "energetic". Naaah..not me ;)

Throughout my room, you will see these homemade banners I made. I used Teacher Created Resources Chevron Funtastic Letters on triangle colored paper. They turned out great and it was super cheap!!

That's the end of week one. Even though it was a short week, it felt like it was the longest one ever! Hopefully, next week will breeze by ;) Wishful thinking haha :)

More Back To School

Hey friends! I'm in full classroom setup swing! I  have only had three days in my room and feel progress and overwhelmed at the same time. My sweet colleague sent me a ton of books that were labeled and ready to go! So I've spent some time merging my existing library books into the system she created. It's a sticker system where each book has a sticker that matches the book basket. I am so excited about it and will post pictures and more about it once I'm all finished.

I haven't even glued the labels yet. You can check out the labels right here.

Classroom Library Labels

Something else I'm super excited about is the implementation of interactive notebooks. Here's a look at how we've implemented them in the past. 

I have two interactive notebooks I use.  I typically cut out the header pieces for the students at the beginning of the year, but I want them to cut and sort the words on their own. 

The first notebook includes skills over 20 activities working on sight words, blends, rhyming words, long and short vowel words and much more :)


Interactive notebooks give students a chance to practice on those important reading strategies while being engaged at the same time. Student engagement is the key to students successfully learning a concept.

Interactive Notebook

The kiddos LOVED the blend activity. You can differentiate it so easily by having the students write sentences under the flap or they could draw another picture. 

This is the story element activity. 

This is a noun and verb word sort. 

This is my mess I need to get finished up :) Still so much to do and so little time!!! This is me pretending not to freak out :)