Classroom Library Linky Party and Freebies for You!

This is a long post...if you stick around, there are freebies at the bottom:).

I am still in the process of setting up my classroom for this school year, but I've been doing some major "renovations" in my library.  I'm very excited! My books are organized by genre and level, so I have actually have six library areas in my classroom, which really helps with the traffic jams that used to happen when I had all of my books in one area.  The six library areas include the following types of books: Fiction, Nonfiction, Browsing Books, Early Readers, Fun Favorites, and mixed Leveled Texts.  Some day, I dream of getting the colored baskets from Really Good Stuff.  Since I'm not ready to invest in those beauties yet, I painted my fiction and nonfiction baskets (from Dollar General) with Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastics.  They aren't perfect, but they do the job.  Since I haven't painted my other baskets, the labels have the color-coding around the label.  Here are some photos...
Fiction (Blue).
Nonfiction(Green) and Fun Favorites(white baskets with red border on labels)
along with student book boxes.
Mixed Leveled Fiction 
Early Reading

Most of my books have three labels on them (I need to buy stock in Avery). The front lower right corner has my name, and the front top corner has a color-coded Guided Reading Level Label (unless the book isn't leveled). The back top right corner has a label that matches the label on the front of the book bin so the students can easily figure out where each book goes.  Here is a close-up of my books (this one doesn't have a guided reading level sticker on the front).

My students check out one book at a time at the beginning of the year and we work up to checking out more books as the year goes on.  Last year, I had my students use clothespins with their class number on them to check out books.  They simply put their clothespin on the front label of the basket their book was checked out of.  When they did not have a book checked out, their clothespin would be clipped to their book box.  This worked well, but now that I have the labels on the backs of the books that match the basket label, I'm hoping my kiddos won't need clothespins to remember where their books go.  

Okay, here are some freebies for you...just click the pics to download from google docs.

Genre Signs:
Book Bin Labels with color-coding for genre.
Book Bin Labels for Leveled Texts...Just put a matching color and letter label on the front corner of your books.
 This is the leveling chart I use to keep track of my students' guided reading levels. If they have trouble finding a just right book on their own, I can easily remind them to just get a book out of their leveled book basket. 

Phew! That was a lot! Thanks for visiting my class library! Looking forward to seeing all of yours at the linky party!

20 comments:

  1. WOW!! All I can say is WOW! You are super organized! I love your system. I hadn't thought of spray painting my bins. I was really upset that I had to use black baskets because I couldn't find them in colors. Thank you for sharing and thank you for linking!!
    ~Audrey
    The Sweet Life of Third Grade

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  2. I love your library! Curious, What do you use the pocket charts for that are hanging over each chair in the fiction section??
    Life's a Teach!!

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  3. Thanks for visiting! Melissa, the little blue pocket charts are what I use for my I-Can Charts to go along with each of the Daily Five workstations in my classroom. The card in the picture is just the header with the icon I use for each station, and as I introduce choices within the station, I'll add those cards to the chart. For example, the listening center chart will have cards such as "follow along with a book on cd," "fill out a listening response sheet," "read a story on raz-kids.com," or "practice reading on starfall.com" since those are my listening center choices.

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  4. Thank you for sharing! The leveled chart will be very helpful; we use a curriculum that does not correspond to typical leveled systems. I spent quite a bit of time last year, leveling the readers from our series!

    ReadWriteSing

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    Replies
    1. I would like to level some of my books. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks

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  5. I love your labels! How do you get them on to Avery labels to match up with the books?

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  6. Thanks ladies!
    Ms. Rachel- Glad you like the labels! I use the small labels on the back of the books(Avery 5167, I believe). I just copy/paste the picture I use for the book bin label, and resize it to fit the teeny tiny label. If you want, send me your email, and I'll send you the small book labels that match the ones I posted above.

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  7. Love the individual book boxes for your students. Where did you find them?

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  8. Thank you so much for linking up! I love all of your books- there are SO MANY... the children will know how much you value reading! Thanks for the labels!! : )

    Amy

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  9. Where did you get those colorful, transparent magazine holders? Those are pretty sweet and I've been looking for something like that for my classroom. I teach middle school. I found just plain white cardboard ones at Ikea, but would love the plasticy transparent ones!

    Thanks!

    Randy
    themiddleschoolmouth.blogspot.com

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  10. Randy,
    Thanks for checking out my blog! I have been really happy with the transparent magazine holders the past three years as they are much sturdier than my old cardboard book boxes. I have had a few crack on the bottom, but I've been using them for three years, so I cannot complain. I am pretty sure I got them from Really Good Stuff, but for some reason I was unable to find them on their website. I did find them on Amazon, though, and I think the price is similar to what I paid for them. Here is the link...

    http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-6754-372-5-Magazine-Organizers-Assorted/dp/B0038JATAG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338771321&sr=8-1-fkmr0

    Have a great summer!
    -Brooke

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  11. This looks like a great summer project for me! What size binders did you use?

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  12. I used one inch binders. Some subjects (like math) have several one inch binders dedicated to them. My Customizable Binder-ize Kit has one inch and two inch spines included, though, because several other people have preferred those. :)

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  13. I love the categories you used for your books. I wish you could come help me go through my books! What a huge accomplishment!

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  14. Love your classroom! Super organized and beautiful.
    Carol
    Missiontoteach.blogspot.com

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  15. How do you attach your labels onto your baskets? Thanks

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