A library is an essential part of any elementary classroom. To run an effective Reading Workshop, it is necessary to stock your classroom library with books of a variety of genres, topics, and levels.

A library is an essential part of any elementary classroom. To run an effective Reading Workshop, it is necessary to stock your classroom library with books of a variety of genres, topics, and levels. Teachers who use the workshop method know that readers need lots of books in a single year, as they are given time to read self-selected texts independently on a daily basis. For this reason, it's important to organize your classroom library in a way that allows students to easily find "just right" books that they are interested in reading.

Read on to watch a video about how I organize my classroom library and how I use it as a tool to help my students evaluate their own reading progress throughout the year.  You will also find ideas for collecting more books for your own classroom library, links to download book labels, and additional photos of the library.

Take a Virtual Tour of My Classroom Library!

Using Colored Baskets to Organize My Books

 
Fiction picture books are stored in red baskets.

Chapter book series are kept in blue baskets.

 
Chapter books that are not part of a series are kept in yellow baskets.

 
Nonfiction texts are stored in green baskets.

Learn more about how I organize the books in my library.

Basket Labels

All baskets have a unique label that tells a reader what type of books they can find inside.  The basket labels vary based on the section of the library in which the basket is located.

 
Nonfiction basket labels reveal the topic students will find inside.

 
Fiction picture book and chapter book labels reveal the basket's genre.

 
  Chapter book series baskets reveal the name of the different series a reader will find inside.

 
Download my pre-made labels and a label template you can use to create your own.

How I Level My Books

I do not level my books just so that I can assign students a color code (level) and then make them read only at that level.  I make certain that my students are involved in the process in every way.  They read books from the classroom library and try to determine what levels seem "just right" for them.  I meet with each student individually to decide upon a comfortable "just right" level so that students can start choosing appropriate books that they can read independently.  (Watch my library video for more information about how this process works.)  Once a student's JR level is determined, he or she can refer to the basket labels as a guide for finding books that are "just right" for them.  As the school year progresses, students are constantly reevaluating what levels feel "just right" for them and reading trial books at a higher level before deciding to regularly read books at that level independently.

 
A color code sticker can be found on the back of every book.

 
Basket labels also indicate what color codes can be found inside.

 
The color codes in my library correspond to Fountas and Pinnell's guided reading levels.

I use Scholastic's Teacher Book Wizard to level my books.  It provides a variety of levels including guided reading level, grade level equivalent, DRA level, lexile level, and interest level.  A description of each book is also provided along with its genre, common themes, and topics you will find in the book.  Teacher Book Wizard also allows teachers to create, print, and even exchange book lists with other teachers.  You can also use Teacher Book Wizard to help you find "just right" books for your students using the "Book Alike" feature.

Check out Teacher Book Wizard

Collecting More Books for Your Classroom Library

It's common knowledge that an effective classroom library has a large variety of books at many different levels, about many different topics, and of many different genres.  That sounds great, but where can you get more books?

One of my favorite ways to collect additional library books is to ask my current students to donate books from home that they have already read.  To provide them with an incentive, the donated books are given a special label with the child's name and the date that the book was donated.  Students like to know that their book will forever be part of the Newingham library.

 
Another idea to consider is a read-a-thon.  Students can collect pledges from family and friends for each book they read in a month (or a certain period of time).  Students can count the books they read in class and at home.  Not only are students motivated to read lots of books, but the money raised can go to the purchasing of new books for your classroom library.  The kids then get to enjoy reading the books they earned for the class.

Find more ideas about how to collect books for your classroom library without breaking the bank!

Keeping Track of Your Books

Once I began collecting a good number of books, it became important to me that I had some sort of inventory of the books I own.  This is helpful when choosing books to read aloud, when suggesting "just right" books for students, and for keeping track of all my books. Since I was using the computer to look up the levels of my books, it made sense to also add the book title, author, level, and library location to an Excel file that I could access when searching for a book.

I chose to print out my Excel library collection file as a sort of "card catalog" for students to use when looking for specific books or books by a specific author.

In the past couple of years, I have been transferring my book collection to Media Collector, a software used with IntelliScanner.  An IntelliScanner is a device used to scan the barcodes on your classroom library books.  The information is collected and stored on your computer.  You can choose to add your own categories to the collected information as well.  For example, once a book is added to my collection, I add categories for book level and library location.

Evaluate Your Classroom Library!

"Jumpstart the process of building a better classroom library with the Scholastic Classroom Books “Mini” Evaluation Protocol. Use this research-based, quick, and easy-to-use audit tool to assess your current classroom books and give you the knowledge to build on them to ensure you have the right books for your students."

Use Scholastic's Classroom Library Evaluation Tool

I'd love to hear your ideas about classroom library organization!!  Feel free to share!