More Classroom Library Inspiration... Get Organized!

Summer!!!  Yessss!

The perfect time to tackle those projects you've been putting off... things you've wanted to do, but didn't have time to... until NOW!  I'm totally with you!  I organized my classroom library last week and it was SO fun!  If you're in the mood to do the same thing, I'm sharing all the labels I used on TpT at HALF-PRICE (only $6 for everything!) during the month of June!  

The ultimate classroom library organization kit includes 106 different, 3 x 3 inch labels for your book bins, baskets, or boxes (however you arrange your books will work!  You can see I use a hodge-podge of different baskets, bins, and shelves... mostly hand-me-downs, misc., or $1 store stuff...), and 58 sets of different labels for your individual books that are 0.6 x 1.5 inches.

Here's a little snapshot of some of my library

I tried to include a lot of popular options so you'll have everything you need (you'd use most of them, but probably not all), but if there's something you would like to see included that I missed, please send me a message and I'll be happy to whip it up for you! :)

So here is what's included:

Book labels for:
General Topics:
Friends
Family
Pets
Plants
Weather
Animals (if you like to think big, but if you like to be break it down, read on...)
Mammals
Reptiles
Amphibians
Birds
Fish
Dinosaurs
Bugs
Ocean
Farm
Space
Earth
Human Body
Silly
Poetry
Books We Can Sing
ABCs
Math
Transportation
Mystery
Sports
USA
Biography
Disney
LEGO
Informational
Fairy Tales
School
Teacher Favorites
More Fiction (the catch-all spot for your leftovers that don't really fit anywhere else, but are too good to not include!)

I found these little plastic sleeves at a garage sale once... but sure you could buy them at an office supply store!   Or just plain ol' laminating or taping will work great, too for the box labels!

Seasonal and Months:
Spring Books
Summer Books
Fall Books
Winter Books
January Books
February Books
March Books
April Books
May Books
Summer Books (I lumped June, July, August here) :)
September Books
October Books
November Books
December Books


Favorite Authors:
Eric Carle
Robert Munsch
David Shannon
Laura Numeroff
Audrey Wood
Cynthia Rylant
Dr. Seuss
Kevin Henkes
Mo Willems
Jan Brett

you can see about how big the book labels are actually on the books... perfect size!   And actually, they're also just a  tiny bit less wide than a piece of packing tape, so they're extra easy to tape on with one quick piece.

3 x 3 inch box labels include ALL of the above, PLUS these popular series labels in a black bordered option or a color coded option (purple = authors, orange = series, and blue = general topics). I feel it would be redundant to label the following series books individually because they already all clearly state the name of the series and have a picture of the main character on the cover, (like I'm not spending time putting special Froggy labels on all the Froggy books that already have a great big picture of Froggy and say "Froggy" on the cover- ha!  I think even my tiny Kindergarteners totally understand that)...  but they definitely need a special place in your library if you have them, so here are the box labels:

Biscuit
Froggy
I SPY
Magic Tree House
Magic School Bus
Black Lagoon
Berenstain Bears
Fancy Nancy
Clifford
Curious George
Henry and Mudge
Five Little Monkeys
Fly Guy
Little Critter
Franklin
Amelia Bedelia
Pinkalicious
Arthur
Junie B Jones
A-Z Mysteries
Calendar Club
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Judy Moody
Little House on the Prairie
Jack Stalwart
Ivy + Bean
My Weird School
Rainbow Fairies
Boxcar Children
Zac Power
Ready Freddy
Big Nate
Nate the Great
Jigsaw Jones
I Survived
39 Clues
Clementine
Horrible Harry
Geronimo Stilton
American Girl
Harry Potter
Chronicles of Narnia
Encyclopedia Brown
Ramona
Percy Jackson
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew



Please note that these pages are not designed to fit on a certain size of sticky Avery labels. IF you're a huge label fan though, you could easily print these on full-sheet labels, trim, and stick them on the books. 
I prefer to print on paper, quickly snip them up (everything is lined up so it's really quick and simple... you could totally recruit a parent volunteer to do this, get students to do it if they're old enough to cut neatly, or do it yourself while you're watching TV or something!), and then use packing tape to stick them on. Here's why:

When I have just used plain labels in the past, they wear or peel off and I always end up taping over them anyway. :) If you want to make it last, use tape! To give you an idea of how long it takes, once the labels are cut out, I was able to label a box of about 50 books in 10 minutes. Pretty quick and very rewarding!

I am SO excited about this project! If you love organization, you're going to LOVE your results! You'll end up with a gorgeous library with no more misplaced books... even the littlest learners can match pictures and learn to put books in their proper places. Thanks for stopping by!