Getting the Library Ready to Open

Lots of teachers are already back at school, working to get our rooms ready for the students' return. In the library, I've finished arranging the lower-grade section.

While the library is not very big, I created two new call numbers last year to help kids find what they're looking for, make shelving a little easier, and better track what is getting checked out: NF for early nonfiction and BD (blue dot) for readers and early chapter books. A HUGE THANK YOU to Kristina Paetow, who relabeled and recatalogued all of the books in these sections during the spring! Without her help, this would still just be an idea.

This section used to have the same call number as the picture books
and was shelved with spines out. Now students can easily flip through a bin
and see the covers (by which they do judge the books).

 

Common Core requires students to read more informational text.
We pulled factual books from E, BD, and the regular nonfiction section to
give younger students the chance to browse different subjects.

And speaking of informational text, I decided to move a bookshelf over to where the shelving cart used to live and use it for magazines and the 000s-200s. This will give the rest of the nonfiction section a little more breathing room as well as give the kids easier access to favorites like Weird But True, Guinness World Records, and World Almanac for Kids. Now I just need a home for the cart ...