Organizing Picture Books

Ah, picture books. As we start our new series on how to organize your classroom library while staying green, we focus on this most difficult type of book to organize.

Most picture books have very thin spines, so reading the titles are impossible when they are just thrown on a shelf. They slip and slide down, sometimes even falling off the shelf, causing a huge mess. How can you remedy this?

My favorite solution is the folder box! These boxes can be found in surplus during back-to-school sales at Staples, Office Max and Walmart. If you need boxes mid-year, simply contact the manager and ask that they hold a few when the next shipment comes in.

Often, you can find fun designs on the outside of the box that match your classroom theme. The following boxes were obtained by visiting over 5 different local Target stores-I love the wood grain look. Simply print out genre or subject labels to put over the text on the box, and you’re ready to organize!

Fill your folder boxes with some of the thousands of picture books available at Sprout Classrooms. All books are fully leveled for both guided reading and grade level, and are priced at around $2 each! Shop now!

Time for a Treasure Hunt!

The Sprout Team loves a good treasure hunt. We spend all day, every day, hunting out great items for your classroom at the best prices. And while we're certain we have the best selection and price you'll find anywhere, there will be times when we suggest a project or idea that our store does not have in stock.

Never fear! There are many ways for you to hunt down these great materials on your own. Let's take a quick look.

Freecycle: This is by far and away my favorite method of obtaining materials for my classroom. Freecycle is a national movement that is divided up locally through their website. Your friends and neighbors will post items through e-mails they are giving away for free, and you can reply saying you would like to pick them up. You may also send out 'want' requests for specific items, which makes it very handy for ideas found here. Freecycle is a very tight community, and you should make sure to balance your 'wants' with a few offers of your own (perhaps those very cool pants you bought on clearance and never wore...). Find your local chapter and join today!

Craigslist: This is a resource that is huge in the Bay Area, but I believed is overlooked in many other parts of the country. Check out the 'free' section for great materials, or post a specific item in the 'want' category. Not as reliable as Freecycle, but still free!

Garage Sales: Our favorite part of Sprout Classrooms is the fact that we give you garage sale prices without the hassle of driving around and haggling on one of your only days off. But if you decide to venture out on your own, we recommend using the Yard Sale Treasure Map tool to help you plan your route (thanks for the tip, Sadie!). Put on your pirate hat, grab your sword.. er, wallet, and you're ready to go!

We'd love to hear suggestions you might have of places to get free or cheap classroom materials! E-mail us at admin [at] sproutclassrooms [dot] com, or leave a comment!

Sprout Classrooms Welcomes You!

I can’t think of a single educator who doesn’t want to go green in their learning environment, but when is there time to even think about? Between writing lessons, grading papers, working with students, dealing with parents, participating in staff development, not to mention having a personal life-whew! You can hardly take a breath, let alone figure out how to make your classroom more eco-friendly.

Sprout Classrooms is here to help! We’ve already become the first organization to offer teachers recycled classroom materials for up to 90% off their ‘new’ price-saving money and the environment is a good thing! Helping to keep these awesome materials out of the landfills makes everyone feel good, so keep checking in with our online store, and sign up for our newsletter to stay updated.

Sprout is proud to present it’s new blog, ready to take your classroom to the next level of green. We can’t wait to bring you fabulous ideas on how to re-use, recycle and renew your classroom! All our ideas will be practical, cheap and –most importantly- easy on the earth. Model a conscious state of mind for your students, and you’ll be doing more than teaching them the basics-you’ll be planting seeds of responsibility into their hearts!

- The Sprout Team
www.sproutclassrooms.com