Lyles- Blog #3: Chapter 5 Organize an Outstanding Classroom Library

I can honestly say I love collecting children’s books for my classroom and have spent a lot of money doing so!  I also love to organize things but have struggled with finding the right way to organize my classroom library (I’ve actually had this on my teacher to-do list for years but never seem to find the time to do it!) I recently printed book basket labels for my bins and have slowly gone through my stacks of books and organized them the best I could but it still isn't where I want it to be!  I feel that my library will always be a work in progress as I get new books and seek out ways to improve it for my students.  However, this chapter provides lots of good tips on creating a classroom library and has some important questions to ask yourself when examining your own library. Routman stresses the importance of choice once again and the need to get to know your students—finding out their favorite authors, series, books, etc.  so that you can fill your library up with books they want to read.  Including lots of nonfiction books is also an important thing to consider when planning your library.  I will admit that my classroom library is struggling in the nonfiction department so this is a factor I will definitely be working on.  Throughout the chapter, Routman also mentions specific items one can use to organize and store their books rather than the usual book baskets! I love the idea of the rain gutters if only I had space to do it! I found the idea of letting students be involved in the organization progress rather intriguing.  Not sure if my kindergartners could take it seriously, but I bet in the upper grades this could be a valuable process.  Having students help in this process and help determine which topics and authors should be present in the library can give the teacher a glimpse into what their students like and are interested in.  I want my library to be inviting for students and make them want to come and check out books! I hope to take some of the ideas presented in this chapter and apply it to my classroom library to make it more enticing and user friendly for my students.