Library Organization (for my conference group)

Over the past 5 years as a teacher I've realized the essential need to be organized! Not only does it save you much-needed (and always lacking) time, but I've found that the more organized I am, the more self-sufficient my students are.

One area of my classroom that very organized and, thus student-maintained, is our classroom library.
To begin, I created separate spaces for my chapter books, non-fiction, and picture books. Pictured here is the chapter book section of our library (top 3 shelves) which is mostly organized by series. Each bin then has a label with a coinciding picture to show my students which books are available and (most importantly!) where the book should be returned.

The bottom shelf contains my non-fiction texts. I've currently got "Informational Texts" and "Informational Texts about Animals" to try and further help with the organizing. 

This section of the library contains my "Rhyming/Poetry/Songs," "Realistic Fiction" and "Fantasy" books. Each tub contains a label and a letter code. The letter code can be found on each book (see below) which helps my students to know where to return the book (while also reminding them of the genre they're reading..bonus!).  

Finally, this section contains a few more genres (Traditional Literature, Graphic Novels and Mysteries) as well as leveled readers. 

The most time-consuming, but beneficial, aspect our library are the stickers I've placed on each book which contain a "letter-code" matching the bin they belong in. 

While this method of organization isn't perfect, and I often have to remind students of the importance of keeping the library organized for themselves and others, it's definitely helped to create a student-maintained area in our classroom!