Classroom Library Linky Party

Hi!

I'm joining in with Mrs. Rider over at Literacy and Laughter for a fun linky party! My kids LOVE when I give them the opportunity to go read in our classroom library.

It's organized a couple of different ways. There are green, yellow, and red tubs (all fiction books). The books have stickers on them coordinating with the tubs. Green are easier and this is where students choose books for their book boxes at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year, I tell them which tubs they can choose from based on their guided reading levels. We use letter levels at my school so the green tub ranges from about level A-level F, yellow ranges from level G-level I, and red is level J and up. I have a piece of paper on the bulletin board next to the library that lists which color tubs each student can choose from for their book box.

The white tubs on the far left are the non-fiction books. They are organized by category (animals, biographies, science, weather, sea life, etc). The other white & clear tubs are certain book series or holidays. For example there is a tub of Arthur books, Froggy books, Junie B books, Magic School Bus books, Thanksgiving books, Halloween books, etc.

So, there's a lot going on. But we spend quite a bit of time at the beginning of the year introducing the library so the kids are able to find what they need. All of the tubs have labels with pictures and words on them.

You can see some of our book boxes in the left corner. I have them in 2 different places in the room so when I send them for book boxes, they aren't all going to the same place.

This is an example of the chart on the bulletin board. We "5 finger test" our book box books to find just right books. In case you aren't familiar with this, the kids read the first 1-2 pages and hold up a finger for every word they do not know. If they hold up 4-5 fingers, the book is too hard and they put it back. If they hold up 1-3, we consider it a just right book.

Their book boxes typically consist of 4 "dot" books from the green, yellow, or red tubs that are just right for them. They also get 2 free choice books. These can come from anywhere in the library except chapter books. Chapter books are only for students that have been approved by me. I make this decision based on guided reading groups/levels. Then they also have some guided reading books that we have already done lessons on to practice rereading and fluency.

This is my second year in my classroom. I'm in the process of getting new tubs for the library because the previous teacher had everything mismatched...which really bothers me. Haha. So I'm slowly getting things how I would like them to be. I'm hoping I'll have some classroom money left over to buy some new tubs at the end of the year so the library looks more organized!

But there ya have it! I allow them to take their shoes off when they are in the library. They love relaxing on the puzzle mat with books! :)

Cait