Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library

Cheap and simple book organization

Anyone else in this situation? A huge pile of books needing to be sorted? An overwhelming need to sit down and organize every book you’ve ever purchased for your classroom? This blog is all about organizing book bins in a way that makes sense for your kiddos and is very easy to set up. It’ll also be a great way to organize book bins to help students throughout the year sort books by genre.

The Disaster of Unorganized Books

Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels
Lots of reading material in the classroom

I wanted to cry when I got into my classroom and remember that all my books were shoved into boxes in my back corner. It took me a couple of hours to organize all of these books into their correct boxes. But let’s talk about the first few steps you need to take before organizing books and book bins. We need to get our tubs ready!

Labeling the Book Bins

Let’s start with book bins. I love using clear storage totes because it helps the kids because able to see book spines. Although it isn’t as visually appealing as a rainbow of book bins, it’s a little more kid-friendly to keep them clear, especially if you have a full book bin or a set of chapter books!

Bins for organization

Amazon has a pack of 12 clear storage tubs that would be great for organizing books! Each book bin will come out to about $2 a tub. Here is an affiliate link for these totes (Sterilite Book Bins)

Then, it’s time to get your labels. I have a set of FREE owl labels in my TPT store if you’re interested in a free resource to get organized. If you’re not interested in owls, though, I have an entire collection of decor sets. The entire list of options is at the bottom!

Here are the freebies, though. (Link Book Bin Freebie).

Bin label freebie
Organizing Books in the Classroom

Now is the time to print, laminate, cut, and hot glue. I left several of them blank so I could write in options that I add on throughout the year, or book bins I need multiple of!

Time to Organize Book Bins and Books

Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels

I laid my book bins around the perimeter of my book stack and sat in the middle and tossed them in as I sorted through the huge pile.

Alphabetizing bins
Organizing Books in the Classroom

Then, I alphabetized the book bins on my library shelves.

Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels

Here is a close up of one of the book bins for the students to learn to categorize the books.

Organizing Books in the Classroom- The Finished Look…

Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels
Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels

Finished! Kid-friendly. Not overwhelming. Teaches genres.

Looking for other themes for your book bins?

I have themed classroom decor sets. Each one comes with organized book bin labels! They aren’t free like the ones above, but they’re included in each of these classroom decor packs!

Classroom decor bundles

Looking for more classroom library information?

Check out a few of my blog posts that help with organization.

Organizing Book Bins in Your Classroom Library with tubs and bin labels
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