Top 5 Teacher Must-Haves: #2

Each day this week, I will be sharing one of my top 5 teacher must-have items. These are items that make my teacher life easier, my classroom more organized, and my time more efficient. In case you missed it yesterday, you will want to start reading {HERE} to see my #1 teacher must-have. Join me each day to see another must-have item and how I use it in my classroom. Edited to add: You can see the other blog posts in this series {HERE}, {HERE}, and {HERE}.

#2 Sturdy Book Baskets
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Book baskets for your classroom library can get VERY expensive, so it's important to choose wisely when spending your precious dollars on something that will be used (and sometimes abused) every single day. I have found that the more sturdy the material, the better! You want something that is going to last so that you don't have to continue buying new containers each year!
I have had many, many variations of book baskets in my classroom library. I had some super expensive baskets from a very popular brand that did NOT hold up well at all. They didn't even last me through one school year without the handles breaking off or the baskets themselves cracking. They looked pretty, but didn't hold up to the wear and tear of everyday book browsing.

Some of my favorite baskets have been the ones below. The small baskets for the chapter books are from The Dollar Tree several years back. The larger baskets are from Big Lots, also several years ago. They are very colorful and have held up really well over the past few years!


For this next year, I'm thinking about toning down my brightly colored classroom and going for more of a stream-lined look. I'm thinking about using the black Sterilite baskets below to organize my classroom library this year. {Affiliate Links} The small baskets are perfect for chapter books. The medium baskets are perfect for picture books. I think it's SUPER important that in any classroom library, students are able to see the covers of books in order to quickly find a book they might be interested in. This is why all of my books' covers are facing the front.

You can see below that the small baskets are perfect for chapter books. There are 28 Magic Tree House books in the far left basket. That gives you an idea of the storage size of the small baskets. You can check these out at my Affiliate link {HERE}. This links you to a 6-pack of small white baskets.

In the picture below, you can see that the medium-sized baskets are perfect for picture books. Even my bigger picture books will fit in this size basket. I just turn in sideways so that the book covers are facing the front. You can compare the two sizes (small and medium) below. You can check out the medium-sized baskets at my Affiliate link {HERE}. This links you to a 6-pack of the medium white baskets.

Another great feature of these Sterilite baskets is that they are STACKABLE. If you want to use them for storage of math manipulatives or other classroom goodies, you can save room by flipping the handles and then they STACK! Score! :)

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Please join me tomorrow for #3 in my Top 5 Teacher Must-Haves blog series. You can catch it here on the blog, on my Facebook Page, or on Instagram. See you tomorrow!


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