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In kindergarten, literacy is one of the most important aspects of the content I teach. It’s my job to instill a love of reading in my students and to help them discover new books that ignite their interests and fill their hearts with joy. It’s also essential that I put books in their hands that are on-level for their reading abilities so they can build confidence as young readers. My classroom library has always, hands-down, been my favorite corner of the classroom. I love the vibrant colors, the neatly lined up bins, and the organization? Well, that’s just the icing on the cake!
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As you prepare your own classroom for back to school, I’m excited to take you on a little tour of various classroom libraries I have set up over the years share my classroom library with you.
If you’re just getting started organizing your classroom library, you need four simple things:
If you are ready to start building your classroom library today, I’ll take you through the four essential items to help you create a library space for your students.
If you’re building a classroom library, you need to start collecting books. Fortunately, there are a few cost-effective options available to help you get started.
Used book sales are another amazing place to get fantastic books for classroom library. I have purchased hundreds of books for my own library over the years from local used book sales. Sometimes I’ve even been lucky enough to find leveled books from a former teacher’s library in the used book bins.
The prices of children’s books at Used Book Sales are particularly amazing. They often charge by the inch, which means they stack the books up and you pay based on how tall the stack of books are. In my area, most used book sales charge $1 per inch; which means that I could get a collection like this for only $3.
I’ve also found that if I’m purchasing dozens of books and I mention that I’m a teacher, the volunteers who run the cash register are often pretty generous with their measurements.
Another excellent source of classroom books is from donations. Reach out to former parents or put a note in your school newsletter stating that you are trying to expand your classroom library and are seeking any gently used book donations. You’d be amazed at how many picture books families have at home that their children have outgrown.
Once you’ve begun to collect books for your classroom library, you’ll find yourself sorting them so that your library can be organized. There’s no right or wrong way to sort and organize your books. Many lower elementary teachers sort their books by theme (such as apples, holidays, or favorite book characters). Many upper elementary teachers sort by genre (fiction, biography, fantasy, etc). Some teachers, like myself, have books sorted by level in addition to categories.
No matter how you sort your books, you are going to need a way to store them and keep your categories separated. Here’s where book bins come in. My best advice is to stock up on rectangular bins. Avoid round containers or boxes with irregular shapes. Rectangular boxes fit the best on shelves and help you to maximize your storage space. There are a few great places to stock up on bins for your classroom library.
During the summer months, I begin stalking all of my local Big Lots stores. They carry a line of plastic bins and boxes in their dorm decor that are amazing. I especially love the large multipurpose storage bins and their medium size dot baskets.
You can see the large white multipurpose storage bins on the middle shelf of the photo from a classroom library I helped set up for a friend. These bins are the perfect size to hold slightly oversized hardcover picture books that sometimes don’t fit in the bins from Really Good Stuff. And you can’t go wrong with a price tag of $3 per box. I also really love their medium size dot baskets (shown on the bottom shelf) for storing books that I own in abundance. Those boxes are extra durable and can really stand the test of time.
Curious about the bins on the top shelf? Those are book and binder bins from Really Good Stuff.
As amazing as these bins are, there’s just one catch. You can only buy them in-store during the summer months. They don’t sell the bins online. And the colors rotate from year to year. A few years back, they had the most beautiful pink, blue, lime green and purple selection. This year the colors are coral, bright blue, black and gray. If you’re in need of boxes for your classroom, hop over to the Big Lots website now and grab these while you still can.
Jill from First Grade Made used a mix of Dollar Tree bins and Really Good Stuff bins to store the books in her classroom library and it looks so beautiful. I’ll talk about those labels in a minute. 🙂
You can find the complete offering of Dollar Tree’s plastic bins here. Just remember that rectangular boxes will be your best friend and round ones will be a nightmare for your storage system.
Once your books are organized and sorted into bins, you’re going to need to store those bins somewhere in your classroom and make them accessible to your students. Many teachers purchase additional shelving to store those books.
I use these bookshelves from Target in my own library and throughout my home. I have used (and destroyed) a lot of bookcases over the years in my library and these are by far the best bang for your buck. They’re surprisingly durable and have a price tag under $25.
The Target shelves sometimes sell out (probably because of the crazy low price). A coworker has many of these similar shelves from Amazon in her classroom and they work great too.
So you’ve finally collected the books, sorted them and tucked them neatly on the shelf in bins that are ready for students to use and love. Now how exactly do you keep those books organized so that all of your hard work wasn’t in vain?
All you need now is the right labeling system to keep your classroom library organized and staying top-notch. My classroom library labels are perfect for the job!
Child-friendly illustrations and a simple font are used on all of the box labels. Just print the labels you need, laminate and hot glue them onto plastic bins. Yes, I said hot glue. It creates a firm bond but pops easily off when you want to remove the label.
The book bins are fantastic and look amazing, but the real magic is in the coordinating book labels that are also included in the set. Just print the labels onto Avery 5160 sticker sheets and place a matching label onto every book in the bin. That way, your students will always know exactly where to return the books when they are done reading.
Classroom Library Labels are available in the bold Black Series or an ink-friendly White Series. Both sets will help your library space look absolutely stunning.
If you want to see more about the library labels and aren’t exactly sure how they work, this video is for you. I explain the whole process for how I use them to label my own classroom library.
As nice is it is to have a really beautiful space, it’s perfectly ok to start with an area that’s purely functional and grow from there. This is how my classroom library looked in 2012. As you can see, things were a little bit different back then. And that is OK! I had books, bins, shelves and labels in place. My students used the library and loved it and we all start somewhere!
My library has changed (and expanded) considerably since those early days. Here are a few photos from this space in my classroom last year. Is it any wonder why I love this area in my kindergarten room the most? You can read more about my classroom here.
I’m a former kindergarten teacher turned work-from-home mom. I still love sharing ideas and resources to make teaching easier, so you can focus on what really matters in the classroom. When I’m not working on the blog, you’ll find me chasing kids around the house with a cold cup of coffee in my hand (some things never change even once you’re out of the classroom!)
©2021 Kinder Craze. All Rights Reserved.
17 Responses
Hands down…. Your classroom library has been and will always be my favorite!
Everything you do is beautiful! I wish to see more soon
Hi there! Where can I find the Pete the Cat, Fancy Nancy, and other books series labels that are shown in your pictures above. I already purchased the white version of your labels but I do not see those options on there. Do I have to edit myself?
Thank you!
Hi Stephanie!
Yes, you would need to create those using the editable templates in the file. Those book characters are copyright and trademark protected and I’m not permitted to share classroom resources featuring their names or images.
Hello! I’m so inspired by your library! I bought some library bins from Really Good Stuff and I just wondered if you bought the baskets from Really Good Stuff? If so, what size were your baskets above the book bins (underneath the “read” letters)? Thanks so much!
My question is about organising a Kindergarten classroom (I am in Australia, so this is for children who 5 to 6 years old).
I was wondering about non-fiction books. If you had a non-fiction book about dinosaurs, would you put this in the same tub as the fiction books about dinosaurs? Or do you put all non-fiction books together? Thanks and I love your room.
I think that’s up to your personal preference. I personally mix fiction and nonfiction books that are on the same topic into the same box.
Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that I purchased some amazing book bins from Steps To Literacy for my classroom library. Their website is 25% off and I found a free shipping code on their Facebook page “FreeShip” so the pricing was not bad at all either.
That’s a great bargain! Thank you for sharing!
Love your classroom library! Wondering where did you get the tall blue baskets. Those are the ones on the bottom shelves. They look good for hard cover books.
Hi Maria! I love your library setup! I’m using your labels and would like to print the stickers. I can’t seem to find the avery stickers you used. Where did you get them?
Hi Maria! I am trying to make my own library book labels in addition to using yours. I am experiencing some trouble with printing them on Avery 5160 labels like you have done. Please offer any assistance or guidance you may have. My graphics keep getting cut off. How did you make your library book labels to place on the books?
Hi there! You might have to adjust your print scale. Make sure it’s set to “fill entire page” or a print scale of 100%. (Different computers use different settings, but yours should have something along those lines in the print menu)
This is such an informative post. It can be challenging to build your library from scratch, or even just from what was left behind by a previous teacher. This is a great resource for new teachers. Thanks for sharing, Maria!