I just finished my final student teaching placement and am applying for jobs. Although I don't have my own classroom, I have numerous children's books overflowing on my shelves at home! I would like to organize the books somehow-at home, and when I have my own room. Just wondering what has worked well for any of you.
Organize them by Fountas and Pinnell levels. All of my books are leveled from A-Z. For instance; Junie B. Jones books are M. You can search "leveled books database" online and a great database pops up that you can enter in your book and get the level. All kids in a classroom are on different reading levels, and you will want them to read books at their individual level.
In my class my books are mostly organized by level (fiction). Some are by author. Non-fiction is by topic. My personal library is organized by topic/theme.
mine are all leveled with the F&P level by a dot sticker in the corner (used as a guide in choosing just right books), but i have them in baskets by author, title, series, topic, or F&P level. at first, i tried levels only and it was too unorganized for me. for me, this way allows books to be more easily found and matched to student interest. The picture is old (ugh...and oh so uncluttered...), but it may give you an idea: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80308590@N00/225682331/in/photostream/
Thanks so much for all of your ideas. Right now I have them (somewhat) organized by theme and author, but there are so many that could fit into different themes/topics! I suppose once I start using them on a reguar basis, I'll remember what I have. ashley57-I love the boxes. It seems like they would be very easily accessible for children. Do you have all of your books out at one time, or do you pull different ones out throughout the year?
I love books!!!! I have quite a large collection and getting more each month. I finally organzied them over Thanksgiving. I used those round stickers used for garage sale pricing and color-coded them. I stuck the cooresponding sticker to spine of the book. I also have a chart to remind me (and students) of what each color is. Then, I also have book bins with labels and the color and genre name to further organize it. Here are some examples: Yellow: general picture book Orange: science Pink: chapter books Neon green: holiday/seasonal Ect...ect... Some books have more than one sticker if they fit into more than one category. For example, Pizza Partyis both a picture book and an easy reader, so it has a yellow sticker and a pink/black striped sticker and goes in the Easy Reader bin.
I just organized my own books this year and I love my new system. I went to staples and bought packages of cardboard magazine holders. I labelled them and put the books in them. I have categories like weather, math picture books, non fiction (which I discovered I didn't have enough), Franklin, Arthur, Clifford, Christmas, etc. I then organized my own resource books into writing, spelling, art, math, etc. It's sooo much easier now to find a book. The kids don't have access to these books. I have separate buckets on the shelves for them...Author study, non fiction, easy reads, pattern books, focus books (xmas, etc).
I also do F&P with my non series books. For books that are in a series, I like to keep them together in their own basket. They are also labeled with the F&P levels, but are on a book shelf with other series type of books (i.e. Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, Boxcar Children, Clifford, etc...). I like to get complete series. For my read alouds, I'll read the 1st book of a series. I try to get my kids interested so they can go and read the rest of the series. I must admit that am sort of an addict when it comes to my classroom library. I have over 3500 different titles in my library. Currently I only have room for 40 different baskets. That means half of my library is not out right now. I try to rotate them when I can. Next year when I rearrange my room, I will pull my professional books in my closet and use that shelf. I will also bring a shelf I have in storage at my house. Hopefully that will be enough room.
as a third grade teacher I organize mine by fiction (which is the largest) non fiction science, non fiction social studies, non fiction sports, biographies. I have the chapter books on a diffrent book shelf then the picture books even though they are all fiction. I have baskets for all the other categories which all my books have stickers on the spine that correspond with the topic. I also have so of my fiction books sorted like fairytales fabels and legends in a box becuase we do a six week unit on it. Some of my series chapter books I have in smaller baskets to help the kids like the magic treehouse and goosebumps and junie b jones books are all sorted in baskets. Hope this helps!
it works GREAT. the kids look forward to book shopping. I bought big clear plastic envelopes that the students use to store 3 just right books (on level) and 2 look books (not on level, but high interest). they switch out books once a week. i have all of my books out (up to 54 baskets now- yikes!). as for returning books, i numbered each basket (and the books inside of the basket). i have 2 library helpers as part of my classroom jobs (they care about doing it right when it's their job!). they take the books out of the return basket and put them back in the correct basket. the numbers make it super easy.
I have a rather large classroom library (around 500 books at last count). I have it set up as close to a traditional library as I can. The majority are AR books. I have the fiction in alphabetical order by Author. The nonfiction are set up as close to the good old Dewey Decimal as I could. (It was really hard figuring some of those categories out!) I teach 5th and wanted to really make sure my kids understood how the library works.
