I get more questions about my classroom library than about any other part of my classroom. I absolutely believe that a successful Reading Workshop would not be possible without an organized, ample classroom library. But the process of collecting books, leveling the books, organizing books by genre, and labeling book baskets to make books easy to find is a huge undertaking.

My classroom library was "born" during the summer many years ago. Whenever I had free time, I would look up book levels on my computer, classify them by genre, add labels, and put them in organized baskets. I actually worked in my basement at home and took books and baskets to my classroom as I finished. Here's how I've organized my classroom library and how it is used by students.

My Top Teaching colleagues Angela Bunyi and Megan Power have also written great posts about classroom libraries: Angela about organizing an intermediate classroom library, and Megan Power about having a book leveling party.