Organizing your Classroom Library

It's that time of year! Time for teachers to return to class to prepare for the new school year.  As we all know, it is very important for our little learners to pick up a book as often as possible and that is why a classroom library is an essential component in the classroom. So, what is the best way to organize your reading selection?  There are many great ways to organize your class library. Just make sure you pick a systems that works for you.  Some ideas are:

-using a stamp/sticker with your name "proper of ______" that you can place inside the book, maybe even add the type of book as well.  Here is an example from the Science Penguin:

-ways to sort the books: by genre, author, title, reading level, and themes

-divide books into categories. A fellow educator, Mandy Gregory, makes a few suggestions on categories:

• Animals
• Biographies and Autobiographies
• Caldecott Awards and Honors

• Cars and transportation

• Chapter Books by Authors Whose Last Names Begin with A-L

• Chapter Books by Authors Whose Last Names Begin with M-Z
• Class-Made Books
• Beverly Cleary

• Fairy Tales and Legends

• Favorite Characters
• Jokes and Poetry
• Junie B. Jones

• Mysteries

• Science
• Quick Reads

Now, how do you keep track of how many books you have, which are being read, and which are missing?  There are a couple apps and websites out there to help with this issue.  One website is called Library Thing. On this site you can catalog your books, place tags and comments on them.  Another neat tool that you can use to organize your library is an App called My Library.  Here you can catalog your books and even keep track of when the books are out on loan. Another free website resource that you can choose is Classroom Orgnizer.  Check out another bloggers review (Explore the Possibilities) on this tool here.

I haven't had the chance to create my own library yet, but lucky for me Pinterest has given me many great ideas on inspiring library looks!  Check out these great classroom libraries!

In addition to organizing your library, you may want to establish some rules for your students.  Here is a creative idea to use at Vistaprint by Eberopolis:

What ideas would you like to share about your classroom library?  If you would like to share your library pics on this post, send me an email at mviteri2201@msn.com.