I am moving back into a 10th grade ELA position this fall and I am thinking about my classroom library. Initially, I used the traditional "alphabetical by author" book organization method. Books could be located as long as knew the author.... Unfortunately, I am not good with names!
Next, I tried to organize the books by genre. The kids and I had fun going through all the books, reading the back and discussing genre. I liked the new set-up as kids could find books in the genre they were interested in more easily. I wanted more...
Recently, I have been arranging the books by topic. Each topic has it's own basket. The baskets are still stacked on shelves and the shelves are sort of arranged by genre. If, for instance students want a Sci-Fi title, they have several baskets to choose from including: dystopian, medical sci-fi, space, technology etc. Popular fantasy choices include: witches and wizards, vampires, the undead, medieval and paranormal. With the increased emphasis on non-fiction, I have mixed fiction and non fiction on the realistic and historical shelves. I am hoping that students who prefer fiction will eventually pick up a non-fiction title or vice-versa.
Other benefits include: more book fit on the shelves (a major plus since my library is approaching 3000 books!), The kids don't have to strain their necks looking for books. Using baskets allows the books to be arranged cover out - so they can be drawn in by the artwork. Finally, students love flipping through the titles in each basket.
Looking forward to seeing where this goes next!
