Day: July 1, 2014

10 Days of ORGANIZATION! Day 1: Classroom Library!

by Hillary Kiser1 Comment on 10 Days of ORGANIZATION! Day 1: Classroom Library!

Well,  I have decided to steer my blog in a different direction! I am going back to post about fun teaching things…organization, teaching tips…etc!

First being…10 Days of Organization!! Are you excited?? I am!! lol. I love organization in the classroom. Probably too much? haha. But I believe if your class is organized, your students function better. What do you think?

So for the next 10 days, I will be posting a new topic on Organization! They won’t be long posts (as I have a toddler) haha.

First Topic: Classroom Library!

It has taken me years to get my library the way I want it…(then they make you take it down every year for cleaning lol…) but I always go right back to my trusty way of doing it! Again, these are just tips and I hope you find some of them useful!

I believe labels for your books are very important but I don’t do my levels by lexile or rigby levels. I do them by genre (really that is nothing new…) but I thought I would share it anyway! I love Beth Newingham’s labels for genres! You can find her labels HERE. Here is what they look like…she has one for every genre imaginable!

 
While we hope that this is enough for the kids (putting labels on baskets and they know where to put them) Most of our elementary kids do not know all of the genres! (That is what we are supposed to teach them!) So I also label my books with dot stickers…I call them garage sale stickers. haha. I do not think that is the technical term though!
 
These:
I buy ummm…everything through Amazon…okay well not everything but most things! So I found these here. But of course they are at Wal-Mart, Office Depot, etc. I just put numbers on these, then the same dot sticker with a number on it on Bethnewingham’s Labels…and BADABING! The kids are learning genres and can put the books back in the right place!
 
I also believe a cozy library is a welcoming library. I will do a post later on my reading corner…but my library is also cozy feeling. I couldn’t afford those crazy expensive teacher rugs for my entire library…so I went to Target and bought these little gems in neon colors!
 
 

They are bathroom mats! I bought orange, teal, pink and lime green! $7.99! (Plus I have the cartwheel app…and they were 20% off.) So around $6.40 ish? Not too bad! It really dressed up my library…I also bought my baskets from Target…teal and lime green! (I would include pictures but my room is not put together since they are waxing the floors!) I’ll put pics in later! Here is the link for the rugs!

I also make sure that my kids have bookmarks readily available…I leave those in a basket in my library! We use these FREE bookmarks from Creative Clips! The kids love them!

 
Lastly, I include my set of comprehension posters in my library area! They dress up the area a bit, but mostly, I like the refer to them when I am asking the kids questions about what they are reading!
 
 

One thing I added last year that was a lifesaver for me (and my books) was a Book Hospital! I found the sticker here!

I put it on a basket, then anytime a book was “hurt,” my kids put it in the basket and I could fix it later! It was sooo nice! I hated when the kids would come up and say…this book ripped. I know they were just being sweet, but it always interrupted what was going on that moment! Small procedure, big difference!

I hope this has helped you! Again, tune in each day for a new post on organization! I am excited about this! 🙂 Feel free to comment and let me know what you do in your library! I am always looking for new tips!