Teacher Talk Tuesday - Book Bonanza!

Well..... Look at that. It's Thursday night after my first two days with my kiddos and I just discovered that I never hit "publish" on this post that was supposed to go out on Tuesday! And I have been so busy.... and so exhausted... That I never checked until now. Oops. The first week back will do that to you. So... here's this week's Teacher Talk Tuesday... on a Thursday... and now I'm going to bed. :-)
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Happy Tuesday, everyone! It's time for the last Teacher Talk of the month! (You can check out the last three weeks {HERE}, {HERE} and {HERE}.The last Tuesday of the month will always focus on books - get ready for a "Book Bonanza!" Now, I have a confession to make. I kind of mixed up my weeks last week. Last week we talked about great books to start the new year. That should have been THIS week. But... it will all work out, because last week was SUPPOSED to be about sharing our classroom library... and since that is still about books, we'll go with it for this week!

I have changed my library around these last couple years and I finally think I like the way I have things organized. I sort my books by theme, genre and topic, not by level. I feel that it's important for students to be able to use strategies to choose books that are just right for them, and if we only allow them to choose from "the blue basket" or whatever, we're not giving them the opportunity to make their own choices. That being said, if I see a student is frequently choosing books that are too hard or too easy, I meet with that student (or group of students) and we do a mini-lesson on book choice.

Aside from not leveling my books, I also do not put all my books out at once. I am a book HOARDER.

And those are just the "general" topic books, book series, authors etc. that I keep in my classroom. I have containers of books at home in my basement for seasons, holidays, etc. I pull those out when the time comes.

My main library is organized by genre/topic/theme. At the beginning of the year, I put out books that will really pull my kiddos in - humor, sports, animals (fiction and nonfiction), as well as books that they will be successful with - Hello Readers, for example. I also have a bin of easy chapter books, as well.

This is where my students shop for their book bags for independent reading time. I switch out both the books in the bins, or the bin itself (adding mystery, poetry, and other themes) as the year goes on. Since the books are always in my classroom, I can easily go back and pull out a favorite book a student is looking for when requested.

I also have bins of books lined up on my workbox shelf. These are books related to a current topic, theme or author.

And I have my book display on the side.

Those are the first books my kiddos see when they walk in the room and they notice right away when things get changed! (Note: I will sometimes just put the new books out with little fanfare, or sometimes I will do a quick book talk on a few before they get displayed.)

Books end up in lots of places in our room. This basket of informational books on monarch caterpillars sits next to our little friends.

Last year, I started lining up the books we read as read alouds on the tray by the whiteboard. This worked to keep the book in view and generated excitement when a new book was placed. (I find that sometimes when I put a book in one of the bins after reading it, it gets forgotten too quickly!)

There you have it! It's not as pretty or OCD organized as some libraries I have seen, but it works for us, and that's what counts!

Now it's your turn! Tell me about how you organize your classroom library. Is there a specific system that works for you? How do you display your books? Leave a comment, or link up below.

I'm trying something different with the linky this week. I hadn't gotten too much of a response for my previous ones, so last week I didn't include it - and of course, I got asked where it was! Sooooo, I linked up a bunch of great blog posts abut classroom libraries that I found helpful and interesting - all in one place! You are welcome to add your own link, too! And if you don't have a post to link, just talk to me in the comments! I can't wait to hear your ideas for your classroom library!

An InLinkz Link-up