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The Brown Bag Teacher

Teach the Children. Love the Children. Change the World.

5th Grade Classroom Library

Praise the Lord, Alleluia by and by…I see the light at the end of the room-setting-up tunnel! Yesterday was new-teacher orientation and then, I stayed at school cleaning/organizing/arranging/sorting until 9ish. I am *almost* there! I just tried my first desk arrangement and it’s not terrible – which I would consider a HUGE success. So, *fingers* crossed I’ll be able to show you my room by Monday-ish. 🙂 Until then, I would {love} to share my classroom library with you. So, here we go!

On the far wall, I have my fiction section of the library that includes about 20 bins of 16 different categories.

You also see my bulletin board above the bookcase which includes genre posters that we’ll review the first week of school. The posters will act as a visual reminder to students about the different categories of the books they should be reading throughout the year (based on The Book Whisperer). On the far right you see running list of ‘Words to Know’ that we’ll cover in our first unit together. Through the year, I’ll switch out the words. I wanted to go ahead and have them up for Open House so parents will know what we will be learning the first few weeks!

And moving on…….to my the-bottle-of-mustard-just-threw-up-on-my-wall yellow-partitioned
wall there is my non-fiction collection that consists of 12 different
categories with one (now empty) book hospital.

Also, you might notice writing on the side of my filing cabinet! No, I did not defile school property, but I did cover the side in black butcher paper and purchased a silver sharpie and added a magnet to the cap. This will be our classroom’s “Favorite Book Quotes” area. As students are reading their books, they will look for the ‘just perfect’ quote to include on the board. I just finished up The One and Only Ivan, and had to start our class out. BEST BOOK EVER.

Since my 5th graders do not go to library (yes, you read that correctly), it is SO important that my library appeals to all of my readers. So, I wanted to make sure I have different books on display. I picked up a magazine display from Staples, and then, two plate holders from Hobby Lobby! The two picture frames that you see were one of my spray paint projects a few weeks ago.

And when you put it altogether *channel the Macarena* you get a nice little reading space. I would have loved to add a chair and other ‘warm fuzzy’ items, but with limited space that was not in the cards this year. Although there are no ‘extras’ my students have a well organized and appealing library from which to choose! Hopefully, this will begin our adventure of reading 40 books by May!
Later in the year, I discovered that I needed shelves devoted specifically to books in a series. They were getting lost in the baskets and once my 5th graders read one read, they HAD the read the rest. 😉 So, directly across from our nonfiction shelves (on the opposite wall), we have our books-in-a-series shelves I found it did not work putting these books on the non-fiction/fiction shelves because they would get separated from one another and they were difficult to find. We added them to shelves I purchased at Target and they were organized by the author’s last name. (Note – after our last Donor’s Choose project of graphic novel series was funded, I had to move my teacher binders and replace them with books! :))

Lastly, I place my REALLY low books (Horrible Harry, Clementine, Nancy Drew Clue Crew, Magic School Bus chapter books) in the bottom drawer of my black file cabinet. From there, I added containers to the bottom shelves of my fiction and nonfiction shelves for students to pick from. My students who read at grade-level or above never really paid attention to these books (although they were welcome to pick them up for a quick, fun read), but my below-grade level readers were able to pick books from the shelves just like everyone else!

For all my intermediate friends, you can find the labels I used here. Also, a sweet friend requested a set of labels for Primary Land, so I whipped these out. I took out the cursive ‘nonfiction’ ‘fiction’ section of each label and added more topics/categories. There are over 55 labels in this pack, and I am always happy to edit/add labels if you need them!

So friends, what do you think? I really hope my fifth graders love it! I had a chance to meet a few of my kiddos at registration last week, and…..they were not terrifying!!!! In fact, I think I *might* like them. YAYAYAY – it was {such} a huge relief and I kind of felt like crying. Plus, I was even taller than some of them – say what?!?! I know. 🙂 It’s the small things people.

Happy Thursday, friends. I am off to the Scholastic Warehouse and Ikea! That’s right – I am living the dream. 🙂

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Comments

    • Kate says

      Thanks, Amy. Oh my goodness, I just got back. My advice on Ikea – go with a friend and a truck. Whoa. It was my first time going and it was bonkers. Beautiful things EVERYWHERE!

      Reply

    • Kate says

      Steal away, Lisa! 🙂 I am really looking forward to kids reading closely to find the perfect quote from their book. It should be a fun project, and I cannot wait to make a project out of all the quote!

      Reply

  9. The Polished Teacher says

    The library turned out fabulous! Love it! The mustard wall doesn't even look bad at all! Are those all your personal books that you bought? I was wondering since you student taught 1st grade if you had that wide variety of books bought. I can't wait to see the final pics! I know it is going to knock my socks off!

    The Polished Teacher

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Hi, Ash! Thank you 🙂 I have done SO much embracing of the yellow that I am beginning to ignore it – woot, woot. You're right – a majority of my books are K-2, but I am a book hoarder. About 150 or so of the books on the shelves are mine, 180 or so are my principal's books (she taught 5th grade for 4 years), a few were left by the teacher before me, and I just picked up 100 new ones at Scholastic today! 🙂 I am SO grateful that I had already started an intermediate collection. If not, I would be panicked right now!

      Reply

  10. Kris @ The Poole Pages says

    I LOVE your classroom library…and your bin labels…and your genre posters!!! I think I just found the inspiration I needed for my classroom library. Thanks for including the links to everything…makes it so much easier to shop 🙂
    Kris

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Hi Kris! Thank you so much 🙂 It has definitely been a labour of love, and I cannot wait for my students to use it! I like the Bella containers more than the dollar tree ones for a couple of reasons – (1) Last week they were $1 at Lowes (2) They are actually clear (not just a brushed clear/white); there is no 'film' on them (3) They are much deeper (like 4 ish inches) so they hold over-sized books really well (i.e. they do not flip over).

      I'll be honest, I do not particularly care for them with school supplies. Initially, I thought I would put supplies in them but the rounded corners made it hard to stack rectangular and square things.

      If you have any more questions, please let me know. :)brownbagteacher@gmail.com

      Reply

  12. Mikaela says

    This area of your room looks awesome! I love the Genres board and your library looks super organized. I can't believe your 5th graders don't go to the library!!!

    Reply

    • Kate says

      It is an absolute travesty. Not only are my students not learning how to use a library and have less access to a wide variety of literature, they also miss out seeing one more adult who loves to read. It is SO frustrating, but not changing anytime soon….so we'll make it work! 🙂

      Reply

  13. MsAPlusTeacher says

    It looks amazing! I worked on my library today so I know how much time and effort it takes to organize and find all those books! I love the look of your library. It makes me want to sit down and go through those bins :)… I know your fifth graders will love them! I think I might have to get a few magazine racks for a few of my magazines. I was trying to figure out how to display them today without them getting crumpled!

    Thanks for sharing your library 😉

    Amanda
    My Shoe String Life

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Hi, Amanda! Thank you so much. I am sending positive library waves your way and cannot wait to see your final product. 🙂 Staples had single magazine holders and then, triples that were tiered! The singles were 7ish dollars and I believe the triples were 17ish. Good luck!

      Reply

  15. Michelle Parker says

    I absolutely love your library! I have the genre posters in my cart ready form purchase. I also love the vocabulary and was wondering if that was included? I didn't see it on the preview. If not, is there somewhere I can purchase that as well?

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for the note. The Vocabulary is not included right now – sorry! I'll definitely add it to my to-do list, though. 🙂

      Reply

  19. Freddy Ibarra @ XtraTouch says

    Hi Melissa
    Thank you for your simplifying solutions on cleaning and taking the fear out of how to clean efficiently. I love the traffic light logic of breaking up cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting.
    If you have recommendations on how to clean with a steamer I would appreciate it as I have allergies and am very sensitive to the smell of disinfectants.
    Thank you, Jessika

    Reply

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