The Final Three....Picture Books, Chapter Books and Nonfiction

Picture Books

This is, by far, my favorite section of the library! I LOVE PICTURE BOOKS! Maybe it is because they are what I teach with most, but I'd like to think it is because they are SO MUCH FUN TO READ!

The Picture Book section in my libraries were always the picture books which were level 2.0 and higher and were arranged by the author's last name (just like in a regular library). On the shelves, I would label the authors which I had the most books for, classic "famous" authors and the ones I want them to know and recognize. In one library, I had over 20 books by an author who came for an author visit, so her name was on a label. Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, Eve Bunting, Jan Brett, and Chris Van Allsburg are just a few "classic" authors who get a label on the picture book shelves.  Mo Willems, Laura Numeroff, Eric Litwin and James Dean, and Tomie de Paola are some other picture book authors you might wish to spotlight.

*This is a sample of what a picture book shelf will look like. I apologize for the blurriness. 

These sections are small enough for children to manage to look through without a lot of destruction.

Remember: You want to weed out the books with "issues" and only put the books out which represent your library the best. Kids will learn to respect books faster if the books they see are all in the best condition. This means clean the books as well. (See previous posts for instructions on weeding and cleaning books.) Also, you want to keep the shelves from being overloaded. I fill 1/3 on the left and 1/3 on the right with the center left open to put an object or book there to attract attention (see picture above).

Chapter Books

This section is the section I struggle with the most. These are chapter books which have more words than pictures, more mature themes, and are written on a level 2 or higher (mostly higher). This is where most children and parents want to be, and yet, at the K-2 level (and sometimes 3-5) the kids are just   NOT ready for this level of reading independently (or the subject matter). 

Now, there are kids who have been read to all their lives and they have been listening to Junie B. Jones books and Harry Potter since they were 5 years old, so they are able to read these types of books on their own. I am not talking about those kids (who usually are gifted). I am talking about the kids who entered kindergarten not even knowing how to sit still and listen to a story being read to them, and in the first month of school, want to checkout Diary of a Wimpy Kid because their parents bought them the video.

*This is a sample Chapter Book Section in a K-2 library. It is only 2 bookcases. 

Notice it is not "full" either. This section was in a corner of the library away from the 

Series Section for the sole purpose of "out of site, out of mind".

These can also be series chapter books like Star Wars, Disney Fairy Series, American Girl, Dork Diaries, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Goosebumps. Any chapter book you think is too hard for the general population or too mature for most of the student body, you should put in this section.

Non-fiction Books

Our final section to weed and organize is the non-fiction section. I usually organized this section last because it is the largest and usually in the worst shape. Kids will have plenty to read and checkout if the other sections are completed. These are all books which are 2.0 and higher are in this section. As you weed out, be sure these are books the kids will want to checkout. 

Example: I found a HUGE, 300+ pages, cook book once (even though there were kid cookbooks on the shelf), a HUGE, 200+ pages, gardening book (even though there were kid books about gardening). It didn't make sense to me a first grader would want to carry around a 200 page book! Not to mention they can't read it. I know there are pictures and a grown up could read it, but we should covet our shelf space and leave those books to the public library or home library shelves.

**Here is a non-fiction sample. You still want to leave the middle of each

shelf open to display a book, picture or object which will help children

find books easier in the non-fiction section.

Another way I help children find the books in the non-fiction is by labeling each section with a word label and a picture. Below is a link to TpT with the picture labels I used. ($1)

Non-Fiction Picture Labels

 The use of decorations on the shelves make the non-fiction section more inviting and exciting! I would find trinkets/stuffed animals/or pictures from magazines or old books to use to decorate the shelves for the kids. So, on the shelf with shark books, I might have a stuffed or rubber shark. This also comes in handy when you need to give directions to locate a book. You can say, "See the sea shell? Go to it, the book you are looking for is below the shell, on the bottom shelf on the right."

Remember, you can open a few sections at a time and keep some closed until you can go through them. If the shelves are in order, it will be easier for you, your clerk, your teachers, and students to learn how to use the library. The goal is to have your students become lifelong readers and patrons of the library.

I hope the posts on how to organize your library have been helpful and have you on the path to a more organized year!

Coming up next: Lesson plans for the first few weeks of school! 😊 

Series Books are the "Cool Books"

*Just a friendly reminder!

Series Books

For each of the four libraries I have "flipped", I found it easier for the children, the parents, my clerk, my volunteers and myself to have a section of series books. These books were always reading level 2.0 and higher and the MOST popular books the kids really LOVED to read! 

(See previous posts for Kindergarten and First grade level books.)

Here is just a "suggested list" of what kinds of books would fall into this section:

Clifford, Charlie the Ranch Dog, Scooby-Doo, Froggy, Fly Guy, Barbie, Lego, popular TV characters (Spongebob or Dora), Magic Tree House, Amelia Bedelia, Fancy Nancy, Junie B. Jones, Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Annie and Snowball, Who Would Win, I Survived, and graphic novels.

You can also put popular authors: Arnold Lobel, Patricia Polacco, Margie Palatini, Mo Willems, Dr. Seuss, and Eric Carle (just to name a few). 

Any books you seem to have a lot of, you may want to consider putting in the Series section. This makes it easier for kids to find the more "popular" books independently. I have had sections labeled: super hero, princess, ninja, dogs, cats, pirates, mysteries (A to Z, Calendar Mysteries, Third Grade Detectives), boy books (Horrible Harry, Oggie Cooder, Stink), and girl books (Judy Moody, Amber Brown).                                                       

As you are cleaning the shelves, weeding the books and learning your collection, it will become apparent what books you will want to have in the Series section. This will be the most used section in the library. It will be the section which will motivate your Kindergarten and First Grade level readers to want to move up levels. 

*This is a sample bookcase from a series section. 

**It is good to try to leave space on each shelf to display either an item, like we discussed in the last post, or a book to grab the children's attention to the shelf. 

Now, this section I actually shelve differently from any other section. I start with and move toward:

* Easier picture books (Fancy Nancy, Froggy, Clifford, Splat the Cat....)

* Harder level picture books (Lego,Barbie ,Who Would Win, Scooby-Doo)

* Beginning chapter books (Annie and Snowball, Fly Guy, Mr. Putter and Tabby)

* Easy chapter books (Magic Tree House, Junie B,  Zack Files, A to Z Mysteries)

* Harder chapter books/Graphic Novels (I Survived, American Girl)

*You want kids to transition easily from one level to another.

By arranging the shelves this way, your children who move from First Grade level books will learn how to transition to harder picture books, easy chapter books, then longer chapter books with pictures, to finally chapter books without pictures. I have even put the level 4 and higher chapter books in a separate section entirely to encourage the children to read in progression.

Why? Well, books made into movies sometimes do not help when kids are at the primary (K-2) level select books which are best for them to learn to read. (Not all kids at this level are reading to learn.) Example: Just because a child has seen the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movies, doesn't mean he is ready to read the books (which are level 4 and 5) when he is only reading on a first grade level. Now, if his grown up wants to read them to him, BY ALL MEANS, but we really want to encourage them to read books more suited to their level. 

I will tell kids: "If you like Elephant and Piggie books, you will probably like Froggy books." "If you like Fly Guy books, you will probably like Henry and Mudge books." "If you like Junie B. Jones books, you will probably like Amber Brown books." This transitions them to books which are similar in length and increases the reading level without jumping too high.

For the first few weeks of checkout, I open up just the Kindergarten, First Grade and Series sections for kids to explore and checkout. This gives them a solid understanding of those sections and the types of books in them. They gain confidence and independence and it gives you time to really train them on the checkout process (future post). This also gives you time to work on the last few sections of the media center without too much pressure!

Next post: Picture Books and Chapter Books!