Get New Ideas for Taking Care of Class Books

If you ended this school year with a number of worn and torn books, you can change that in the year ahead! These 10 favorite tips from other teachers will help you care for books in your classroom library, which will in turn save you time and money during the school year.

1. Start by organizing your classroom library using an easy-to-understand system. “If students know where the books are and where they go, they are less likely to shove books into the closest shelf,” says Joshua Blackburn, a second-grade teacher in Tennessee.

2. Model how to handle books for students. “Show them how to find a home for the book and where to put the book if it becomes damaged,” says Kristen Poindexter, a kindergarten teacher in Indiana.

3. To increase the lifespan of her books, Elizabeth Rubio, a first-grade teacher in California, often tapes the edges of books in her classroom library. “I also have book baskets so that the books are placed away carefully,” she says.

4. Set up a “book hospital” for damaged books. “As books are loved, pages and covers will fall off,” says Poindexter. “Have a place where students can put them so you can repair them right away.” 

5. Buying hardcover or library-bound books is also a good investment for extending the life of your classroom library. “Though hardback copies are usually more expensive, they are the more cost-effective option when filling your classroom library for the long-term,” says Blackburn.

6. Delegate your book care! “Designate a student or students who are great at organizing and ask them to be your librarians,” says Poindexter. “They can place any homeless books back in their correct place and alert you to any problems.” 

7. Storage bins are another great tool for protecting your books and keeping them organized. “Using magazine bins or similar containers allows you to fit more books in a smaller space,” says Blackburn. “It also keeps them from getting pushed around the shelf.”

8. Poindexter also recommends labeling storage bins or baskets with pictures or stickers to help students find where to return the book. “All of my There Was an Old Lady… books live in the same basket and they have a label showing the front cover and a red sticker dot at the top,” she says.  

9. Give each student a personalized paint stirring stick to use as a shelf marker for when they check out a book. When they’re done reading, they’ll find their stirring stick on the shelf and place their book right back where it belongs. “You could even write students' names on the sticks and let them decorate them at the beginning of the year,” says Blackburn.

10. Finally, Poindexter recommends reading as many books aloud as possible from your library. “This gives students buy-in to want to read the book on their own, thus resulting in more careful readers,” she says. It’s the most natural way to teach your students important book care lessons. 

For support refreshing your classroom library, you can also start a ClassroomsCount™ campaign — Scholastic's easy, free platform for educators to raise funds throughout the year for their classrooms and students. Start a campaign in minutes, share it with your community, and spend every penny as soon as you receive it. 

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