I may have mentioned before that my classroom has a whole wall of nearly floor to ceiling shelving. This is definitely a curse and a blessing. Most of the time I keep the sheets down because it's just too much to look at but I'm pretty stoked about how nice it looks now that it's part of my library. That is my magazine rack on the top. It's got Zoo Books, Highlights and National Geographic Explorers magazines in it.
I designated one shelf to non fiction. I got the book boxes and labels from Really Good Stuff (LOVE that place!) ANYWAY!!!! We have a book box full of Health books that include books about the body, exercise, doctor visits, and cook books. I have a book about machines (I have a vehicle series: Bulldozers, etc. and some simple machines from our science unit in there). Then I have a Social Studies and History box with books about different places around the world, or about different coins, or wars, etc. I have a box filled with nature books (volcanoes, climates, earthquakes, wild weather, etc.), A "People and Jobs" box filled with famous people and popular jobs. The last pink box is one with our class books in it. I use Student Treasures to let my students have the experience of publishing our very own hardcover book. It is awesome and we always get a free one for the classroom. So the pink box has those books from past years.
I've got all of my chapter books on this wall: Nate the Great, Horrible Harry, Kung Pow Chicken (the school bought it for us last year... this is new to me and I haven't read them but they look like something 2nd, 3rd, and maybe 4th graders would enjoy. They are pretty funny from what I've seen), Junie B. Jones, Marvin Redpost, Ready Freddy, My Weirder School (if you haven't read these, they are totally entertaining and usually about a buck in the Scholastic Book Orders). In the last green box we have Bailey School Kids, Calendar Mysteries, and Flat Stanley books. I try to only have one series per box but it's not always possible so when I label it, I show which side a specific book series is supposed to be on.
Under that row I've got my Magic Tree House collection (and let me tell you I am going to have to get a new box because this one is squishy full!), Jigsaw Jones, Cam Jansen and The Littles.
I really like having all of the chapter books in one spot.
It's also the last part of the Library that I open up to kids. They practice finding books on the cart and being able to put them back in the right places on the cart before I lift this beautiful curtain.
What Cart? You ask?!!! Well... keep reading to find out!
While my real goal is to teach kids to find Good Fit Books on their own by checking:
I-Independent (I-Pick)
P- Purpose (Why do I want to read this)
I- Interest (Am I interested in this book)
C- Comprehension (Do I understand what I'm reading)
K- Know the words (Can I read most of the words)
... it doesn't usually work out that way in 2nd grade. Or if most of your students can, there are still those who struggle and want to read the harder books to fit in with their friends, get frustrated and bored because the book is too difficult, and then think that reading is boring and dumb... Or those who never challenge themselves and continue to pick out Kindergarten level books when they are really 2nd or 3rd grade level readers. SO.... I also level my extra chapter books for those kids that want to be able to find something in their level first... then look to see if it interests them. So I have a book box for level 2, 3, and 4 chapter books. Next to that I have my dinosaurs boxes (one fiction, the other non-fiction). The blue box on the end is my "Partner Books" box. If I have multiple copies of a book, I will put two of them in my book box so that partner readers can both have their own copy of the book while they read together.
Underneath those I have reference books (atlases, guiness books, fun facts, children's dictionaries, etc), Social Skills, Manners, and Friendship books ( I have a lot of those!), and Native American books and stories.
WE FINALLY COME TO THE CARTS!!!! Na... they aren't really all that cool... pretty much the same as the book case.
This cart is labeled with levels like that last picture of the book case. Our school library is Accelerated Reader Leveled, so I do that in my classroom library as well. And if you know AR at all, the preK-K books are labeled gold, the 1st grade books are blue, 2nd grade is red, 3rd grade is green, etc. So I did that with my boxes. Granted I don't have too many AR books in my library that are below first grade, so those fit in the first section of the first grade bucket. What I love about these buckets is that they are divided into 3 sections. On the top edges of the buckets, I put which levels go in which section. The idea is to keep the library as clean as possible, right!? So the front is labeled and the edges are labeled more specifically. I also have a box for stories they might like that are not AR quiz books.
There are some more of those down here. The kids love the big Disney Story Books, I have a few 4th grade level picture books on the bottom. I honestly don't get too many 2nd graders reading 4th grade books and if they do... they are so excited about reading chapter books that they barely glance at the picture books. I also have a box with Whisper Phones for easy access.
The next cart is one that the kiddos LOVE. One of my 2nd grade leveled boxes spilled over to this side but other than that, it's just a plethora of 2nd grade favortites!!! The kids adore reading about animals, so my NF animal book box is always overflowing at the beginning of the year. My Dr. Seuss books go first, though, hands down! Phew I think I was down to 5 books left in that box after they all picked their books.
I label them Front, Middle, and Back to help kids see all of the options. My next step will be to have little pictures next to the words to help as well. I try to place the easier books in the front so they are easier to find.
We've got: Black Lagoon, Franklin, Fancy Nancy, If You Give, Arthur, Magic School Bus, Little Critter, Pinky and Rex, and Amelia Bedelia.
The bottom of my last rack has Pet the Cat, Bear Stories (Little Bear and Corduroy), Skippyjon Jones, Clifford, Fox books (like Fox All Week, etc), Oliver and Amanda Pig Books, Berenstein Bears, Henry and Mudge, and the back is more Cynthia Rylant with Mr. Putter and Tabby and then a couple Annie and Snowball books.
I've only just opened up the carts... no shelves yet. The students are just starting to really practice checking out and putting away their books, so we will see if this organization will actually work this year. It's always a challenge to keep the library organized. But I think with good, clear, labeling and color coding, there is a pretty good chance we will see some positive results!
Happy Fall to all of you teachers and I hope that your library's will stay organized for the year to come!
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