Books on Books on Books

I absolutely LOVE children's books. I love to travel with Jack and Annie, share in Chrysanthemums uniqueness, and fall asleep in The Napping House. I try to fill the school day with books whenever I can squeeze them in...the more the merrier! Creating a community of readers is one of my favorite parts of first grade. I love to spread the magic and inspire students to see themselves as readers. To be able to provide this adventure diving experience to students requires a lot of books. I remember in graduate school that my professor recommended having about 100 books per student in your class... that would be about 2,500 books! So, over the last two years I have embarked on the challenge of building an extensive classroom library that gives every student a reason to read...without breaking the bank. I search yard sales on craigslist, raid thrift store sales, and salvage any hand-me-down books I can find. I may have a slight obsession with a good deal on books. You can never have too many titles! Just this past weekend I was able to purchase over 450 books for about $50.00...what a steal! As school is about to start, I am realizing that my piles of books are growing, which means my library organization needs to grow as well.

To keep my library organized, each book is labeled with my name. This has been so useful in keeping track of my books...anytime they are misplaced they typically find their way home. After each book is labeled, I sort them into categories. My library consists of two sections: leveled books and category baskets. In the leveled book section, I have two buckets of each color books that I rotate from a stash in my cupboards throughout the year to keep the selection fresh. Each book is labeled with a colored dot that matches its basket. This makes it super simple for students to return books to their homes. Students are assigned a secret color with a corresponding color dot sticker at the bottom of their book box. At the beginning of the year we talk about the seriousness of keeping our colors secret because every color is special! Students take this oath very seriously, and keep their peers in check if they are trying to break the secrecy. Students shop at different times to protect that privacy a little further. I also do not have my levels in rainbow order; this way there is no pattern to follow. Why is this so important to me? Labels can destroy a student's confidence so quickly. If students feel like they are behind their peers they may lose their motivation to keep moving.

The second part of my library is filled with categorized baskets. I absolutely love to change and add these baskets throughout the year depending on student interests. For example, last year students absolutely fell in love with books about space. We pulled all of the books about space and created a new basket for them. Students were also begging to re-read stories from read alouds. We created a basket of Books We Read Together for students to reference those mentor texts. This part of my library is my favorite because it is stress free and based on interest. Students explore any books that pull their attention. Some examples of baskets in this section of our library include: Fancy Nancy, Arthur, Franklin, Clifford, Fly Guy, Animals, Math, Science, Spiders, Tutus and Tiaras, and Disney.

Read to self is one of the best parts of our day. Seeing students all over the classroom enjoying literature paints the perfect picture. Students keep 7 color books and 3 choice books in their book boxes at all time, and each night they can take home 1 color book and 1 choice book. I want my students to practice "just right reading" but also have the opportunity to explore books
without restrictions!


I am looking forward to re-setting my library for the fall, and continue to add new titles to my collection. Next stop...scholastic warehouse sale!