Classroom Libraries

I have collected a lot of books over the years.  I have tried many ways of putting the books out for the children to check out.  I used to have a small space for my books.  Since I had more books for the space, I would change out the books based on the level as the year has gone on.

Since then, I have decided that wasn't good enough for me.  I had way too many books and I didn't want to limit the grade levels that I put out.  I bought a bunch of bookshelves from Walmart.  They are a nice size and price - only $15 a shelf.  I think they look nice, better than metal bookshelves.  I then put the books out.  Still, I thought improvement was needed.

Last year, I decided to put the books in bins based on genre, author, and theme.  In all, I have about 30 different bins.  Students can go to the bin of their interest and find books of all ability levels.  I can also steer students that have special reading needs to appropriate bins.

The final step I have taken is to catalogue all of my books on http://classroom.booksource.com/.  I highly recommend this free website for your books.  I put all of my books on this site.  Students can then check out books.  Teachers have a record of who is reading what book and how long they have the books.  Due to my book obsession, I am up to 1400 books that the students can check out on a daily basis!  I am still on the lookout for more books.  I am a bit obsessed with books.  There can never be too many in my classroom!

 

While you can see some book bins, there are a bunch that don't seem to fit in any category.  Now to think how I can put them together.  The students don't really look at these books at all.  They want the ones that are easier to view.