I have 75% of my books leveled by Fountas and Pinnell A-Z baskets. The rest are sorted by fiction/non-fiction, but not really that organized.
For next year, I am going to use more of Beth Newingham's ideas. IF you've never seen her website, do a google search on her name and you will see a link to her classroom website. She has awesome ideas!
I was so blessed to have a retired teacher friend donate about 100 books to me for my classroom! I also took many of the chapter books I've saved from my own childhood, my kids think it is neat to see where I signed the inside of them with my terrible 10 year old cursive!
I've never even thought about organizing them in a particular manner! Thanks so much for the idea!
I currently teach second grade, next year I'll be moving to first. My library is organized by genre, author, book series (Berenstain Bears, Magic Tree House, Black Lagoon, etc.). I can't even begin to imagine how many books I have. I think I have 35 tubs of books, most of those tubs have at least 30 books in them (certain genres have many more). I have mostly picture books but I have about 10 bins of chapter books too.
I used to have them organized by F&P level and by genre and author. However, I just got very brave and let the students organize the books the way they wanted to. They made the cards and I attached them to the baskets. A few of the baskets they made are: Trabelling (transportation) Nonfixshun make it books, Monster books, frogs, etc.
I have baskets that are organized in various ways. Picture books are all in a few bins, not really organized in any way, as are non-fiction. My class doesn't really read the picture books. They are all really into fantasy, so mostly everyone reads chapter books. I have to really stretch and press kids to read books from other genres.
My chapter books are organized by author, series, or genre.
Next year when I move to 2nd, I will have more specific bins, I have decided:
animals, important people, science, history, how to, for my non-fiction bins
Then my fiction bins will be broken up into specific authors, series, and then some baskets will be leveled with books at each level. This will be harder for me, as we don't have a leveled library at all, and I will have to guess. I will level by color. My baskets are already red, yellow, blue and green. The specific series and author baskets will be blue, non fiction yellow, and then the levels will be red and green. I will just have easier and harder probably.... within the levels, maybe a letter. I'm not sure.
I have about 600 books, but when I move to second grade, will probably have about 200! Most of my books are WAY too hard for second graders!
So many that I keep 3-4 cartons full at home because they are inappropriate for my current grade level (3)... either too easy or too grown up.
My fiction books are in baskets with labels as mentioned above... some by series, author, content, genre (i.e. Girls as Main Characters, Books About School, mysteries, poetry, tall tales, historical fiction, classics, books for partners (at least 2 copies of each title), etc. My non-fiction library is by subject. I also have magazines and picture books. The picture books are mostly separated by subject (books with animals as main characters, holidays, etc.).
I spend a lot of time putting colored stickers on many of my books last year when my students just couldn't select good fit books on their own. Only a few beginning chapter books are actually separated into baskets by level. Otherwise, the leveled books are mixed in with the other baskets. That way kids can find a basket they like (by subjet or author) and find a variety of book levels within. I do level any new books I get with stickers because it's manageable. It depends on the student if I direct them to use the stickers to guide book choice (most of this year's kids don't need the stickers because they choose well on their own).
I'll attach a couple of pictures from our grand opening early in the year. This was before some labels were on baskets (the kids helped with this). I know I have pictures of the fiction books (but am not sure if I have the picture books or non-fiction as they are housed in a different area of the classroom). The main library is in a large nook in the room and you can't see our couch.
is another shot of my room. Behind the girls are some of the non-fiction baskets and maybe a few picture book baskets. Not sure... I had a friend make the long, low book shelf to fit under the whiteboard.
A couple of summers ago I spent a lot of time putting the books in baskets by genre with colored and numbered labels. The kids didn't put them back in the baskets. They took up so much space that I was going to have to get rid of some. So I put them back on the shelves. There are some that are still sorted on a special bookcase that I have. Clifford, Junie B, Bearanstain bears, Arthur are on those shelves. Very small books, like Mr. Men and Little Miss books are in baskets since they get lost easily.
I have 3 regular bookcases , a two-sided book cart, and a special odd bookcase. I wish I had the time and space to keep them in the baskets.
I use bins for chapter books and then organize all other books by poetry, non-fiction, fiction. Last time I counted (about 2 years ago) I had a little over 900 books. Not all of them are out on my shelves...maybe 100 are in a classroom closet. My books all have my stamp on the inside and cannot be taken from the classroom (unless I give permission if they choose one of mine for a book report). Lost books either have to be paid for or replaced. Once I week I have a couple of students go back and organize/straighten our library.
I have over 3000 books and still adding. I sort mine in baskets similar to Iluv3rd. I used Beth Newingham as a model to sort my books into baskets (dishpan tubs) and labeled the front. Some baskets are author baskets, others character, and others are sorted by topic (music, pets, family, friends).
At the beginning of the year the library was closed and then slowly over a 3 week period we opened it up and practiced putting books back. I teach 1st grade and they are pretty good about finding where the book belongs.
I sorted the books last spring break...and it was the best time I spent in the classroom. My students LOVE reading and finding books.
I teach fourth grade. I don't know how many books I have, it's somewhere in the hundreds. I have two bookcases in my room, and I organize the books into baskets on the shelves. One whole bookcase is chapter fiction books. On the other bookcase, the books are organized in these baskets: informational text, biographies, poetry, picture books, math books, fun books and magazines (like those Highlights puzzles books), new books (books that I just got from the Scholastic book order), and seasonal books.
This year I have subscriptions to National Geographic Kids and Sports Illustrated for Kids. I have old copies of American Girl, Kids Discover, Ranger Rick, Highlights, and some others I can't think of...
I use Beth Newingham's sticker system to level books. She has a great correlation chart you can download and print. I use red, yellow, blue and green circle stickers with numbers on them to correspond to DRA/guided reading levels. I always put some tape over the sticker so it stays put. I usually use Scholastic's Reading Counts site to level the books but sometimes I disagree and change the level on my own. I can ballpark books if they aren't listed as well. Once you start to level books, you get better at "guessing."
are the number of books we have in second grade (2 teachers). I know this because my principal recently asked us to count.
I teach Second Grade
Fiction Library: plastic tubs organized by genre, theme, or author (ex: poetry, friendship, Cynthia Rylant)
NonFiction/Reference Library: plastic tubs organized by topic (ex: sea animals, magazines, dictionaries, encyclopedias, U.S.A., Sports, etc. )
Leveled Library "Just Right/Polka Dot Books": These are just regular books, pulled right from the shelves that I have leveled myself and labeled with sticky dots. From easiest to most difficult the colors are: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Lime Green).
Multiple Copy Books: This is where I keep chapter books for partner reading and guided reading groups that I have multiple copies of.
I REORGANIZED MY LIBRARY LAST SUMMER AND WITH GROUPING AND LABELING, IT TOOK ABOUT 3 WHOLE DAYS. HAVE FUN!!!
I am a 5th grade teacher and I organized my fiction classroom library by lexile in tubs. Then I pull out the featured genre of the month into tubs. The nonfiction is organized by topic into tubs, ex- sports, early american history, ancient history, science topics, etc. I pull out books that are important to the weeks lessons and feature them for extension activities. I have lexiled each book and have gained books from scholastic book orders, public library give aways, garage sales, donated books and teacher's that have left the profession. I have over 300 books. I also get old childrens magazines from friends and the public library for the students to enjoy. It is always a work in progress and I have right next to it a bulletin board where the students put their book reviews for all to read.
I have 2 6 ft tall bookshelves jammed packed with books. I know I had more but some seem to walk away every year.
I have about half leveled. I have some sorted by theme (they go along with my curriculum) & others my holidays, seasons, etc.
I also have some in groups by series (Magic School Bus, Berenstain Bears,) & others by authors (these are the ones I do author studies on through out the year).
I put them in labeled tubs or on our classroom bookshelf.
I have over 1600 titles in my room. Most are ones I have collected over the years, maybe 1/4 provided by the school. My AR books are in dishpans by level on tables. The levels are listed on the books so kids can try and put them back. The rest are organized by topic, author or genre. I also have shelves of booksets behind my desk along with the teacher resource books that I don't leave out for kids. I just use them for lessons, leave them out a few days, and then put away.
03-30-2008, 12:01 PM
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