How do you organize books in preschool library?

Question

We have a lot of books in our classroom. I am looking for suggestions for how to organize them so that I can find the one I am looking for without going through all of the books. Do you organize by theme, alphabetically or ...

Answer 1

I would say alphabetically by author. If children use this library, it will help them get use to public libraries. If you need to catagorize them by theme, think of buying stickers to put on the spines. Demco is a company geared towards libraries, and they sell stickers for genres. Good Luck.

Answer 2

I organize them first by theme, and then alphabetically within the theme group.

Answer 3

Levels or theme or most popular or just random becuase what ever u do the preschoolers will mess them up if they do use them. :)

Answer 4

I would organize it alphabetically by title of book, especially for preschool books. I wouldn't do it by author because I doubt the authors have enough prestige for you to remember their names.

Remember to leave out the 'the' when alphabetizing. For example, if a book is titled, "The Big Red Dog", place it under the 'b' section as opposed to the 't' section.

Hope this helps

Answer 5

I organize my books by theme so I don't have to go through them all to find the ones that fit my theme. I can just go grab the stack that fits my theme and have all the books I need. I worked one place where the teacher before me had gone as far as to put color coded stickers on the books to match the themes. That was nice. It made them really easy to find.

Answer 6

If the books are on your bookshelf, you can definitely do it alphabetically by title.  You could also group them by subject and then go alphabetically- math, letters, science.  You could also organize holiday and seasonal books in the order you'll use them throughout the year- starting with September for fall books, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then winter, then Christmas/Hanuakkah, etc.

If these are books that the kids will access, get yourself some book boxes (small plastic baskets from the dollar store will work, as will the basins you get at the hospital, or you can buy sturdy book boxes from lots of educational supply catalogs).  Then, group the books by topic- books about dinosaurs, books about firefighters, Clifford books, etc. and teach the kids how to read books by only using one book box at a time.  That way the books stay organized, and you can thumb through just a few books to find the one you want.

Good luck!

Answer 7

when you have a ton of books, i've found it is easiest to go by theme and then go alphabetically in the theme (if you have that many in each theme).

on the teacher shelves in my old classroom, we put a label below each section such as:

dental, fire safety, colors, math, science, eric carle, transportation, dinosaurs. then, if the section had a bunch of books to keep organized as well, we'd do them alphabetically.

i find that organizing books by theme is easier because we usually kind of go with a theme in the classroom. it makes the group of books easy to find and easy to put away if they are in sections by theme.

now....on the other hand, you might be talking about organizing books in the classroom for the kids. in the classroom, we have a section that is called Library and Listening. that area has books that the kids can take on and off the shelves as they please. then, in all the other sections of the classroom, you will find books going with the theme of that area. for example, in our construction (blocks) area, you'll find books on building and transportation. in the writing center, you'll find books such as a kid's dictionary and first word books. in the math and science area we have books on dinosaurs, shapes and seasons.

i hope that helps!

Answer 8

if you identify books best by title organize them by title alphabetically, if by author organize them by author alphabetically and so forth.

do it in a way that makes sense to you and is easy for you.

Answer 9

I organize by themes, individual holidays and seasons, and skills (letters, counting, shapes, etc)

Answer 10

Get the books that you use on a regular basis and keep them on a seperate shelf. The rest...I would gather and place in theme order...it makes the most sense.