Starting a Classroom Library...

I was so excited to publish the first post that I completely forgot to share the MOST AWESOMEFANTABULOUS things with you guys

(YES, I said awesomefantabulous), so here goes…

After 4 years of buying every cute teaching item I just HAD TO HAVE - I have decided this summer NOT to buy any more teaching “stuff.”  When I told my husband this I think he did an internal happy dance. For example: no more unnecessary cutouts, bulletin borders, counters,

dry-erase books, composition notebooks, stickers, NOTHING!...*sniffle & tear*

Every time I am in the supply/teaching aisle of any store I have to remind myself that I already have TONS of this stuff and should focus on m my goal…Organization!

Now let me set the record straight, I am already EXTREMELY organized! Due to it being summer I am obviously not in my classroom, but I can’t wait to get in there and start making it come to life!  I will be sure to upload LOTS of pictures when I am done.  I am often complimented on my classroom, which I am so thankful for!  Some people call me organized, some people call me OCD, some people call me crazy!  I call it a WAY OF LIFE!!!

If my classroom is not organized, I’m not organized.  If I’m not organized, my students are not organized.  If my students are not organized, how can I expect parents be organized? AHHHH!  I’m getting sweaty just thinking about it!  DEEP BREATH!

Ok, so…in addition to the organization I already have in place, my BIG summer project this year was to organize my classroom library.

DUN, DUN, DUNNNNN (sound of DOOM)!!!

My first 3 years of teaching I was in first grade at the same school and then last summer I moved to first grade at another school.  My first school already had a large classroom library and at my new school I had to start pretty much from scratch.

 I was nervous about finding enough books to build a library in time, but a co-worker saved the day!  She informed me that at the 4-H County Fair they gave away used books for free.  Wait…let me put more emphasis on that.  FREE!  FREE people!  FOR FREEEEEE!  I went with the expectation to find (fingers crossed) maybe 20 books.  But good grief!  When I got their the woman at the table politely said, “I don’t care what you do.  Take as much as you want.”  After I woke up from fainting my husband and I dug through each box of books.  I had a hard time not feeling greedy, but the woman at the table assured me the books would do more good in my classroom than they would forgotten in these boxes.  I left the fair with close to 200 books!  GASP!

So with the new school year ahead of me I was so thrilled to have any books that I sorted them the best I could and dealt with the chaos for a year.  But now the time has come for BEAUTIFUL LEVELED BOOKS!  WAHOO!

I did some research on sorting techniques and decided to go with Grade Level Equivalent.  Simple and easy!  I don’t often buy apps but I decided to purchase Level It Books on my iPad for $3.99….I should have listened to the reviews.  While this app is tech friendly and pretty cool, it hardly has any books in its inventory.  Half way through leveling my books, I decided I was wasting time and just used Book Wizard by Scholastic.  This is a website rather than an app but it is FAST, EASY, and it has WAY more of my books’ grade levels. 

So, after I looked up the book on Book Wizard I placed a color coded sticker on the front of each book.  This lets me and my students know which level they are currently reading, but also helps them put the book away in the correct basket.  Due to my baskets holding more than 1 level (1.0-1.4) I also wrote the precise grade level in the back of each book for future reference.

After labeling each book, I placed them in these baskets from…you guessed it DOLLAR TREE!  I LOVE looking at everyone’s blogs and often see really nice baskets from ReallyGoodStuff.  They are BEAUTIFUL, but so EXPENSIVE.  I don’t know how all these teachers can afford such fancy baskets!  Maybe in the next few years when I become rich I can afford them too…*crickets*…so for now I will stick with the amazing, the marvelous, the affordable,

DOLLAR TREE!

I’m not finished yet.  I need to add a few more labels and paint/do something to spruce up the bookshelf.  I found it at a yard sale for $5!  I’ll be sure to post pictures when I’m done.