Classroom Re-Vamp Part 1

Hello all!
I am 3 days into my summer vacation and I cannot get away from work! My brain is always turning about classroom organization, summer school, Daily 5 and the new reading curriculum coming our way. I am finding some time for relaxation, don't worry about that! =) Still, work is never done for this teacher...

So, I went to the Target to change up my classroom library. Anyone been to Target on a Monday morning? It is so peaceful! I got 8 very cute, blue and green containers from there and it cost me $20. Not too much, right? Well, I took those babies back, went to Dollar Tree and snagged 12 baskets for $12! Now that's a steal! I am kicking myself for not taking more "before" pictures especially because I just got this awesome new phone that links my photos to Picasa, no more emailing them to myself, but I have to remember to whip it out and show off my stuff!
Here are some of the work in progress photos...

before

before

 I am mad that you didn't get to see what a disaster area this bookshelf was before those cute, green fabric boxes. Here you can see the books just piled up in those clear bins. No labels anywhere, no order, no finding anything interesting.  Hot mess. 






The boxes often look like this hot mess.










Now, I have Dollar Tree on my side...

After

After (Do you see the other desk in the top corner? My co-teacher moved in! More to come)

Sigh a big sigh of organizational bliss. I can now bring out some books from my closet to add to that empty basket. I am also working on labels for the green fabric boxes (my free choice supplies), and all of the library. Ahhh. Now back to work on summer school!

Wait, before I left I just had to do this...

After

Those handles sticking out were driving me crazy! Now a label can fit nicely on the front of these baskets.I also like that I can see the spines of the books now. I am hoping that will make it easier for the kiddos to find what they are looking for OR come across something new. I don't know how it works in your class, but in my experience, there is a favorite book each year and that's the one that everyone wants to read. This year was a book called Color. Maybe next year it will be different?

What do you think? What's your favorite part of your classroom library? What am I missing here?

Thanks for visiting! Leave a comment, there's no more robot checking your vision anymore! =) Thanks to Mrs. Stanford's Class for pointing that out during her linky. I had no idea those annoying things were haunting my own blog.