Bookshelf Organization

When I received the keys to my classroom, one of the first things that I knew I would need to work on was the bookshelf!  Books were literally piled on it haphazardly and what wasn't piled on the shelf, was packed in milk crates.  I have a very strong need for organization, so I knew this would not work for me.

My first order of business was to go through the milk crates and make piles of similar books.  I quickly noticed there were lots of different types of beginning readers (mostly level 1 and level 2).  I put all similar level 1 beginning readers in individual piles and then combined all the level 2+ beginning readers in one separate pile.  After the milk crates I tackled the shelf which had more beginning readers and lots of random picture books.

My strategy for tackling the picture books was to pull out all non-fiction/subject related books and put them in piles.  I ended up with a history/social studies pile, a math pile and a science pile.  I also pulled out holiday books and kept them in their own piles so that when each specific holiday rolls around I'll be able to easily pull the books.

The rest of the books that were left were simply picture books.  There was a wide variety of hard and soft cover picture books.  I put these to the side until I decide what I want to keep on the teacher shelf and what I want to put out for student enjoyment.  I pulled Clifford, Richard Scarry, Berenstein Bears, and Little Critter books knowing that those will be put out for students to read and the rest went into the milk crate for me to continue to sort through.

I placed each pile of beginning reader books and the picture books mentioned above into a clear container so one can easily see the covers.  I also put the math books out on the shelf in a clear container with covers showing.  You will see in the picture below that I also have an old set of leveled readers in matching holders.  I placed these on the shelf for now as is,  but may change and put them in clear containers to match.  Also, Dr. Seuss books are free-standing, but will be place in clear bins once I purchase some more.

My next step for the student book shelf is to label these books in a kid-friendly way to ensure they are put back organized each day.  I am thinking that I will label each container with a number or color and put a corresponding color or number on a bookmark that will stay inside the book.  I will teach the students to refer to that bookmark when returning a book.  Also, it will allow me to do a quick check to see if the books have been put back properly.  I think by doing the bookmarks, I will be able to give myself the freedom to tweak the system in the future if I find problems with it.  If I were to do a sticker on the book, it would make changing the system messy. 

The holiday books are organized and placed in bins on my teacher shelf (see picture below).  I will do the same with Science and Social Studies once I go through the books more in depth.  I plan on pulling out sub-categories of these books and labeling them appropriately.

I am learning as I go.  I would love to hear if anyone has tips/suggestions for me regarding the best way to organize the bookshelf!Thanks & happy organizing to you!