But, I have good excuses: my summer job requires WAY more of me than I would have liked, I've been trying to find a time to get up to my school and in my classroom, and I've been trolling the internet for ideas and cheap finds. (side note: How much do you just *love* CraigsList?! Holy-schmoley!)
But, now I'm starting to just go on ahead and get kicking on getting stuff prepped even if I'm not in yet. I bought a 30-cubby shelf unit that will be awesome for organizing materials and/or manipulatives all nice and neat in those little plastic shoebox organizers. Ohhh! I get so excited just thinking about it!
Which, got me thinking: LABELS! I am going to need so many labels! I wanted to find a theme that wouldn't be too hard to get going with, too difficult for me to make on my own, and too expensive to find matching "stuffs" for. So, I decided on colored circles/dots. I have even already started! Yay!
I don't know what you all make your beautiful items in, but I have used PowerPoint so far and it's not too bad.
I made student numbered book box labels (because I won a "door prize" at the Professional Development that I went to, which was 20 of those cardboard magazine boxes from Ikea.) and am working on supply labels for my awesome little cubbies/shoeboxes.
Then, I was thinking: LIBRARY! I am still working on finding some shelving for my classroom library, as well as baskets. (Oh...the baskets, man, just that search *alone* is cause for it's own post...sheesh!) And then I thought: organizing?
So, I want to ask, to my fantastic followers (thanks, again, you guys!) and anyone else you can gouge info from:
How do *YOU* organize your library? Alphabetically? Leveled? (which, of course, begs the question: how do you label??)
I would love to hear from *anyone*! If I knew how to make a Linky Party, I'd maybe even consider getting it started that way. I'm dying to know what works for you!
I have two posts about my classroom library.
ReplyDeletehttp://chickadeejubilee.blogspot.com/2012/04/classroom-library-book-labeling.html
http://chickadeejubilee.blogspot.com/2012/03/library-love-and-giveaway-to-check-out.html
Hope that helps,
Laurie
Chickadee Jubilee
Thank you so much! I love your library. You have *so* many books! I am hoping to build my library throughout the summer so that I have a decent starter set! With your book labeling: is that something that your district prefers to go by? Or was that a personal preference? I am thinking I should ask my team/principal what rating system we use or that I should use...
DeleteBut, thank you again! I really appreciate the help!
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have taught grades pre-K through 4th during my teaching career and how I organize my library depends on the grade.
Now that I am back in First Grade, I organize it the way I need it to be for my teaching:
Monthly bins with the books we read with our monthly themes
Theme bins for the bigger units we teach: penguins, pets, ocean, and bugs
Favorites: Clifford, Berenstain Bears, Junie B, Magic Tree House, etc.
Big bins for: animals, science (non-fiction)
Other bins for: writing (books I use for our writing time), poetry, shapes and colors, math,reference, etc.
I like to add a little fluffy to the bins that I have a matching fluffy for: Arthur, Junie B., Clifford, Piggy and Gerald, Olivia, Henry and Mudge, Franklin, etc.
My mom bought my shelving and bins years ago and they have held up great.
I am adding more bins this year as I finally have my library organized with labels on the books and bins. I have seen cute bins but I am not purchasing any until I know exactly how many I need. I have clutter issues that I am working on. ;)
Hope this helps!
Kelly