How to Keep Your Classroom Library Organized (Without You Lifting a Finger)!

This week I'd like to join the Monday Made It Linky Party and explain how I solved a problem many  teachers have!

 Problem: My nonfiction library was beautifully sorted and ready for students the first day of school, but within days it was a disaster! Once our first grade reading buddies made their appearance and dived into my book bins, I knew something had to change.

First: Students would forget which bucket the book came from and return it to any empty spot.
Second: I needed something easy to keep updated as new books came into the class.
Third: I wanted something that could be a classroom job: keeping bins organized and labeling new books.
Last: With a very limited print ink budget, I didn't want to print labels for each book, especially when I only needed one.

Solution: Contact Paper Hole Punched Shapes!

Why it works:
First: I put a sticker on the book bin label and a sticker at the top left corner of each book.
Second: I made an envelope with the sticker on it and made extra stickers for future books. I keep the envelope in the back of the book bin.
Third: If I run out of stickers, a student can make more. In fact, I would make that a reward to get to make more stickers. Everyone will beg to be the class librarian!

Here is my set of hole punch shapes. Because I have many more topic bins in Non-fiction than fiction genres, the variety of shapes is really useful. These are available at scrapbook stores.

I happened to have a variety of colors of contact paper. You don't need a lot. You don't even have to have different colors. Target, Walmart and discount stores sell contact paper or you can order it on Amazon.com.

Start hole punching! I would turn the hole punch upside down; then I could see exactly where to place the punch to get the most out of my contact paper. Just trim the edge off after punching and start another row. I found that placing the contact paper with the plastic on top and the paper on the bottom made a cleaner cut.

The more basic shapes turned out the best. Apples, stars, and feet worked well. I had a harder time punching out palm trees, etc. You can coordinate your shapes with your book topics if you want to be super organized. I use people shapes for biographies and houses for the how-things-are-made bin. If I couldn't match a shape, I just chose one.

So this is how I organize my non-fiction library. It makes it easy for any 4th grader to maintain and keep updated. View my previous post to see how I organize my fiction library.

Thanks everyone for letting me share my ideas with the Monday Made-it Linky Party!