Class Library

What’s Here

A library is an important resource in any classroom. On this page, you’ll learn how to obtain inexpensive books for children, organize them, level them, and label them in book bins. You’ll also find resources to help you introduce your class library to students and teach kids how to care for and utilize the books.

Cornerstone Cross-Reference

Self-selected reading guidelines are covered in-depth in The Cornerstone book: you’ll learn what students should be doing and how to teach them your procedures, as well as how to assess progress through reading conferences. You’ll also find tips for using individual book boxes, keeping meaningful reading logs, and more!

Find even MORE info about class libraries in The Cornerstone book and eBook! Book-exclusive content includes:

Ch. 20: Managing Small Group Instruction
*Organizing your area and materials: photos and tips for setting up your reading group location
*Deciding on the number of groups and materials for each (and what to do with the kids who don’t fit in any group)
*Flexible reading groups: how to manage your routines while pulling only the kids who need to work on a particular skill
*How to select your small group components and create a workable rotation schedule even with limited time
*Is self-selected reading a waste of time? What the research says, and how you can apply it to self-selected reading procedures in your classroom
*Self-selected reading guidelines: what students should be doing and how to teach them your procedures, how to assess progress through reading conferences, using individual book boxes, keeping meaningful reading logs, and more!

Ch. 21: Rethinking Centers
*How centers can be used throughout the day: morning work, Fun Friday, during instructional time, and more!
*How mixed ability center groups can help kids stay on-task during centers and make the activities more meaningful
*Centerjobs: 5 pages of ideas to help you create specific self-paced center tasks that are quick and easy to make and assess

Class Library FAQs

How can I create a functional display for my books?

My classroom library was fabulous in the days before fire marshall starting cracking down. How many violations can you spot in this photo?  Couch, carpet, rug, curtains, lamps…these days are long gone.  Sigh.

These early-childhood-style shelves are great for displaying lots of books with the covers facing out, and can be used for author displays, student book picks, etc. I nabbed this shelf one year when a kindergarten teacher retired.

Several years later, I used this type of shelf to feature different types of books. Each row has a category: Student of the week’s picks, Mrs. Watson’s picks (books I want the kids to read that they might not choose otherwise), social studies connection, science connection, and genre of the week (other books of the same genre we are reading in our anthology for whole class reading instruction).  Kids can put these in their book boxes like any other book in the class library.  Each book has a color-coded bookmark inside so when the kids are done with them, they know to put them back on the special shelf and not the general collection.  I keep LOTS of extra bookmarks because they do get misplaced, and if a child accidentally puts the book on the regular shelf, I don’t mind, because I change the assortment pretty regularly.

Here’s one way to store menus, brochures, maps, magazines, and other texts that don’t fit easily or attractively on conventional bookshelves.  You can purchase this pocket chart here.

Should I level my class library?

It depends. Some researchers believe that a leveling system limits students’ reading possibilities (both real and perceived). Personally, I like to give kids a general idea of the difficulty of books before selecting them, so I have always used a very simple leveling system with color-coded sticky dots. I place green dots on the upper left-hand corner of my easiest books, yellow dots on the ‘medium’ books, and red dots on the most challenging titles. Some experts get even more specific (most notably, Patricia Cunningham, who believes leveling is a critical tool for helping kids choose books). If you agree with this theory, check out this free book leveling resources. Keep in mind that leveling your classroom library will takes a very, very long time, and don’t have to start the year with every book leveled. It’s okay to work on the project slowly.

How do I label and organize my books?

Regardless of whether you level your books, you’ll still want to categorize them. Here are free, colorful, illustrated labels for your book baskets from various sites: thematic early-childhood labels from Our School Family, thematic labels from Kelly’s Kindergarten, and versatile general labels from Teaching Heart (which are what I used in the photo–I just typed in the genres I wanted and replaced the pics).

How do I keep track of books kids have checked out?

I kept this simple, too. For books they read in class, I did not use a system for tracking book check-out. Books were not allowed to leave my classroom, so I lost very few over the years. For home use, I has a notebook with one page for each child in the class. In the mornings, kids chose a new book and signed it out. I’ve explained this system in detail in my book. You can find another interesting idea for check-out from Share2learn.

How do I teach kids to properly handle books?

Here is an adorable, free printable book from Cherry Carl called Madame Libearian’s Guide to the Care and Handling of Books (it’s a large PDF file and takes awhile to download, but be patient because it’s worth it).  You can also use this creative click-through online stories for kids on caring for books from Richmond Public Schools and a taking care of library books slideshare from William Breitsprecher.

Where else can I get ideas for organization, arrangement, and management of a class library?

Mrs. Newington provides photos of her extraordinary classroom library, along with ideas for categorizing, leveling, and organizing books.

Debra Henk’s Reading 180 page has lots of photos of her class library and reading materials, including audio books and interactive bulletin boards.

Now What?

Return to the main Literacy page
Get ideas for creating and setting up literacy centers
Download a free PDF to help you use nonfiction texts in your instruction
Check out tips for decorating and organizing your room on the Organization page
See how how other teachers set up, decorate, and arrange their rooms on the Classroom Tours page