For the past few years I did not have my library organized by level, but rather by interest, but this year I am going to change things up. After a year of Daily 5, and students always "shopping" for books, I soon realized the importance of organizing a library. I am hoping by doing this, the book shopping process will run more smoothly and my library will stay more organized. I do not teach my students to browse only specific levels, they are allowed to choose books that interest them, but for my sanity I think organizing it by DRA/GR level will work better
Over the past 6 year I have acquired A LOT of books. The majority of them came from Scholastic, Goodwill, garage sales, and my favorite.. THE LIBRARY. Did you know libraries sell books that are taken out of circulation, or have been donated? The best part is, they are SUPER cheap. My library sells hardcover books for 1.00 and softcover for .50... (and if you tell them you're a teacher you can get them even cheaper). Here are some of my purchases from this summer... 20 books for less than $10, can't beat that!
To begin my library overhaul I had to figure out how to organize my books. If I was teaching 10 years ago this would be a daunting task, but thankfully we live in a technology age where everything you need is on your iPhone. To get started, I downloaded two apps; Level It for $3.00 (I think) and Book Wizard from Scholastic which is FEEE, they are both very user friendly.
You simply scan the bar code.
The GR, Lexile and DRA level will appear for the book. (if it is on file)
If a title is not in one app, I double check it with the other one. A lot of the times one program won't have it, but the other will.
It made leveling my books so easy!
The last step in my library overhaul was finding bins to store my books. I found a GREAT selection of bins at BigLots, aren't they beautiful?? I LOVE the bright colors and they were the perfect size for my bookshelves. The baskets ranged in price from $2.50 - $4.00. Target also has book bins in the DollarSpot, but they do not have nearly as large of a selection.
I made these labels to put on the outside of the bins.
You can get the labels FREE on our Facebook Fan Page.
Click HERE to get them!
Thanks for stopping by, be sure to stop by next week for my organizational tips.
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ReplyDeleteLove those apps! Just downloaded and they are amazing! Can't wait to use them for my my library organization!
ReplyDeleteFarrah Shipley
Mrs. Shipley's Classroom
Which app would you say is better and has more books in the system? I'm not so sure whether to buy the Level It app if I don't know if it works well.
DeleteI need to check out Big Lots! Those containers are amazing!
ReplyDeleteFarrah, They are amazing, and helped me out so much! Kelly, Big Lots had 20% off yesterday so a lot may be gone, buuut they restock their shelves on Tuesdays =)
ReplyDelete