I'm determined to have an awesome classroom library and I'm ALWAYS on the look-out for a bargain. Just wondering how many books some of you have. Call me nosey.
lucky!!! I probably have more like 50-75. . . in my last classroom the parents bought us a lot of books, so I had to leave them with the class. . . started partway over this year. . . . . .As far as bargains go, it's yardsale season!! My favorite place to buy books. B/c yes, they are often "gently used," but seriously, once my students get ahold of them, they are used more than gently!! Also, check some of the book catalogues like Scholastic will sell "gently used" books at a bargain price--I've gotten 20 books for $25, it's kind of a mystery set you get, whatever they have that they couldn't sell wholesale (bent cover, small rip, etc). Love it!
I believe I read on Beth Newingham's site that it is recommended you have 27 appropriate books for each student in your classroom.
About 5,000-6,000. They range from picture books to various chapter books. Odds are that if I have a series, I have all the books in the series (plus multiple copies). I also collect books by certain authors that are appropriate for my grade level.
5-6k!?? Holy smokes. I have about ...32. hee Not my fault though. Haven't started teaching yet and I can't seem to win any of the lot bids on Ebay.
I have about 200 books in my classroom library. Not completely sure though- just a guess. I have to pack things up this year, so I'm planning on getting a formal count then!
Well, buying books is kind of my addiction. I can't walk out of a book store without at least 5 books.
I should say that I frequent two flea markets in the town next to us. There are booths that are owned by teachers, and they're constantly cycling out their classroom books. I also do garage sales. That's how I accumulated about 400 books to start my classroom off during the summer before I began to teach. Now I continue frequenting those, but I also buy/order from B&N and Borders. I will order from Amazon if I'm looking for a specific book that can't be found. I swear, each of those companies should give me frequent buyer miles ( ).
Wow, yeah Miss W, you're the only person I know that would actually benefit from that 10% off members only club at B&N! I have this image of your classroom in my head and there are books covering an entire wall. Am I far off? I'll start teaching in the fall and so far I've got 94 books. Going to the library discard sale in a couple of weeks and will get more there. Will also keep looking on Ebay for decent lots (I won a couple today!) and seriously hit the yard sales this summer.
Close! I actually have them spread out around the room on 4 different sets of shelves. We were given two sets of shelves to put out in the classroom. I pulled out my tall metal ones that are supposed to be in the closet for teacher use, and brought another one from home. I still don't have room to fit them all on the shelves. Oh, and the discount from B&N and Borders is 20% for teachers. Let's just say it's much used.
I have at least 500 books now not including my Zoobooks or National Geo. Kids Want to Know. About 85 of these books are teacher books that I will use for lessons or good books that will not go in my classroom library. I have two children of my own so I have collected a lot through scholastic over the years. Look for any kind of book sale. I went to one that an elementary school was having and I got 83 books, great ones, for only $10. That's about 12 cents a book. Resale shops. We have one in town that sells books for 40 cents. I hit it about a month or so ago and the books were half off of that so just 20 cents each. As far as garage sales, look online or in your paper and find the ones where there is one giant garage sale. Like Boyscouts or a church and go to those. Books are usually between 10 cent and one dollar. You don't have to run all over town and there is a huge selection. You can take a stack up to the seller and say you will give them $3.00 or $5.00 for the whole stack. Half-Price Books (the store). I find that their books are priced much higher than what you pay at the above sources, but of course their selection is good. I recommend this if you are going to be looking for specific books. I don't like paying $2.98 for a used paperback from Scholastic but I have if it is hard to find and we use it in our curriculum. Lemon
Good tips, Lemon. Thanks! Miss W - I had no idea we got 20% off! I went online and didn't see anything. I order a lot from Amazon.com and looked around there for teacher discounts and didn't see anything either. Is it store-only?
