My Classroom

The CLASSROOM Library

Ok guys! I know it’s only July but I’ve been working in my classroom a little bit each week. I know, right! Who am I? But I moved back to my old district and had to pack up my entire classroom.  You don’t realize how much you accumulate until it has to fit into boxes and tubs and be crammed into your car!

So anyway, I was lucky that my classroom in my new building was done.  Floors waxed, desks organized. Shiny-floored perfection! I was able to move right in and have been working to organize the chaos ever since.  Naturally, the first thing I did was start decorating! Did I organize cabinets? Did I throw out old junk? Sure… eventually! But I was so eager to make it mine that I couldn’t help but hang a few things on the walls!

Once it started to feel like home, I decided to tackle my library.  And that’s what I want to discuss today! Every year I feel like I try to find a different way to organize my library.  I’ve done everything from topics to AR levels.  Nothing seems to work quite right for me and I always have trouble keeping things organized.  So this year, I’m organizing by genre.  Like I said, I’m teaching 6^th grade next year and they don’t do AR.  My books are already labeled with AR points so students will know what level the book is as a guide.  But I’m going to be organizing by genre. 

Next to my library, I’ve hung the tried and true genre posters I got years ago from Scholastic blogger Beth Newingham.  If you Google “Genre posters from Beth Newingham” you can still find them.  They were free and an awesome visual representation of the different genres.  So I decided this year I would use those posters as my guide to sorting the books. 

My first step was to sort my boxes of books by the genres to figure out placement on the shelves. Once I did that, I got them all situated, grouping multiple copies together.  I labeled each shelf by the genre on bright paper to liven things up a bit.

Then, I purchased these printable labels and color-coded them (as closely as I could) to the baskets I used to sort the books.  I used the same abbreviations on the labels that are on the posters on the wall.  These labels are going on the spines of the books.  My lovely mother (God love her!) is going to handle this task for me! She’s a saint!

My final step is going to be logging the books in an app for easy check-in and check-out.  I haven’t decided which one I’m going to use yet, but these are the ones I have narrowed it down to.  Any thoughts?

I’m glad this undertaking is nearing the end… for this year at least! How do you organize your library? Leave your comments, feedback, suggestions, or best-used tools! Happy Reading!