Little by little, I would take a group of books from a location in my room and type the titles in a word document. At the top of the list, I would type the location of the book- which most times also serves as the subject of the group (like: Science bucket, or my library, or red dot books, or listening station, etc) Then I would get another group of books and do the same thing. By the end of it, I had a list compiled of every book in my classroom, listed under where it was located.
I thought it was going to take forever, but honestly it didn’t take that long.
This is what the document looks like in reference to the subjects:
specific letter or sound…or word.
Here is a picture of the “search” in a document
For instance, last week I needed a book that had an r controlled vowel in it. I decided my best bet was the word “more”…so I type it in the search function box and in the document it found “Bear wants More” and “Always Room for One More.”
Easy enough, right?
Much better than running around, poking through baskets or shelves!!
Here is a picture of what one of the pages in the document looks like for authors
which are organized in the bags on the shelf:
This is where you woudl find the levelized “dot” and thematic books listed in the document:
Now, keep in mind, the spelling/capitalization isn’t always perfect in the document…I was in a hurry and I keep meaning to go back through it and fix things. It will happen…eventually!
Of course, I also have all my books in the listening center listed, the books
in my non-fiction baskets listed…everything!
Oh, and I am sure to add all titles that I purchase or order from Scholastic as I get them!
Hope this gives someone out there some useful ideas.
You may not like doing it, but you will be SO happy if you do!
great idea! a summer must do!
Great idea. I was just thinking about how to keep track of my books the other day. Thanks for sharing!
Swimming into Second
Wow, this is a great idea….what are the big plastic bags for? What books go in those?
Michelle
Apples and ABC's
This is a GREAT idea!! Thank you for sharing. This is why I love blogging!!!
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@ Michelle~ Those are the 5 gallon bags that are mostly books by author (each bag is an author)…or subjects that I don't have a huge number of books for… I will pull from these for author studies or for my seasonal book basket.
=)Jennifer
I have heard of an app for that, too. I pinned it to one of my pinterest boards but haven't tried it yet. It looks like you have an awesome system already though!
Kelly
Kindergarten Kel
Great, great idea! I had started a bucket of all books in my classroom that I needed to teach with but had no idea you could do that in MSWord! Also, my system was not as good as this one! Thanks for the idea Jennifer!
Brittney
http://www.thefirstgradebuzzbc.blogspot.com
I started this recently. As a laid off teacher, I figured I had time to organize and get a list in my computer. I say start. I am doing it in Excel and sorting it by subject. But I like the tools you used in Word. I wonder if Excel has that too? Now I want to check out the app too. So many ways! Thanks for sharing!
Ashley
Live2Learn
I have been looking for a good filing system. I have TONS of books that others come to borrow. I can list the teacher that has borrowed my books next to the book and do a quick search at the end of the school year for any 'missing' books. Thanks for the greatness!!
I love that idea! I'll be doing that soon! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Wow! Great Idea!! 🙂
Second Grade Sugar and Spice
I've always wanted to do this but it seems like too big of a job. Thanks for the inspiration!
Genius! I will definately have to do this over the summer! Thanks for the idea! =)
~Jada
Daisy Days for Learning
That's a GREAT idea!!
❀Barbara❀
Grade ONEderful
This is a wonderful idea! New Spring Break project!! Thanks for sharing.
Barbara
happyteachingfirst.blogspot.com
Love this idea!!! Thanks a million for sharing 🙂
Color Me Kinder
Such a great idea! Thank you for sharing. I'm going to start on it soon!
-Megan
First Grade Magic
This is great! I have been wanting to find a way to catalog all my books for a while now. I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to do it! Now I know! Thanks a bunch!
Elyse @ My Life With a Cherry on Top
Genius!
Lou Pencils with Pizzazz
So clever!
Rowdy in First Grade
Wow, that's a great idea! I really should do it this summer, especially since most of my books are at my house now! Thanks!
Angela
The Daily Alphabet
Genius! I will definitely have to start this! I don't have a ton of books yet, so it would be a good time to start.
You're so organized!!
❤Teri
A Cupcake for the Teacher
Check out my blog for a St. Patrick’s Day necklace craft http://petersonsprimarypeeps.blogspot.com/
Michelle
Omigosh! I know exactly what you mean! I have been soooo frustrated when I know I have a book, but can't find it!!! Thanks for the tip!
Christie 🙂
First Grade Fever
What a great idea…you are wonderful.
I am going to have to use this tip REAL soon. Sounds like a spring break project to me!
Robynn
BusyBees
Jennifer,
I did it one summer – a teacher friend retired & left her library to me!!
I had no idea what books she owned, so I did exactly what you did – I labeled it Book Inventory & instead of MS Word I used MS Excel. I liked the look of the columns/rows…plus added bonus: I can look by author not just title.
what a great idea! One of my summer projects is to organize my classroom library. I love that I'm gathering all these ideas for the summer.
Thanks for sharing.
Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten