skeeterbug Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 Pondering. It's a big task and I'm just not sure if I'll regret it. But it would be nice to get it all sorted and have the kids understand where to return books to. Maybe then I'd be able to find what I'm looking for! What did you use for labels? Sticker paper, address labels, SL labels, regular paper with packing tape over it, etc. Are you happy with it? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 Yes. The picture books with dots when the kids were younger. Trying a bin system. And, sadly, yes. It was a waste of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 General labeling, no. I did put stickers on with grade numbers, and I regret that because I want to change the level. (So the system is good, it's me that needs change.) I went loosely by the Dewey Decimal system - 100 (religious) books are purple, 900 (history, geography) are brown. I used tiny white rectangles and a set of markers to color them. I put that on a half an address label with the author's name (or book of the Bible for commentaries). I want to label the rest of my books (I did the important ones and stopped ... which should tell me something). I really want a way to change the grade/level number. I've tried writing on the outside of the tape, but it was rubbed off. And part of the reason I don't have regrets is I skipped my nicer books - the beautiful hardcopy of Tom Sawyer, the leather bound Pilgrim's Progress, my set of Jr. Classics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I have colored dots on the books I have from SL using their color system, with R in the center for readers. The kids know that the book goes back on the shelf with the same color, it works here. I have the lists in my head so I can search a color group quickly. I have color dots on my TOG books too by year plan, but those can be removed. I don't regret it five years in, it saves time with all the books I have to keep track of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy4tmama Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I didn't label my books but I did label our shelves. I have categories such as easy readers, hard backs, paperbacks, comics an magazines, abcs and 123, s, science, board books , chapter books,seasons and holidays...etc. this just for the kids books I have separate shelves for books I intend to use in the coming term and curricula. This at least makes it semi likely we are able to find a book we are looking for. The kids are pretty good at putting books away, however, we have had this system for at least 2.5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexi Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 I used electrical tape on the spines of my books. The colors correspond to TOG years. So helpful! I also put white tape on all the readers so my kids can quickly find books they can read. It makes it quick and easy to find books and put them back. I've been coding them as I buy them so it doesn't take long. No regrets so far :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Hmmm...thinking about labeling just some of the main categories, maybe that would work better. I guess all the books we use 'officially' for school as opposed to every book in the house. So a lot of the picture books and whatnot would not get labelled, they could just all be piled together on the shelf. But science, geography, history, readers, etc. would be labelled. In other words all the books I am always trying to find that seem to jump around the house. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 No regrets at all here- it's been a couple weeks and the books are organized, I can find what I need, and the kids can put them away. This is how I did it (there is a printable too, if anyone wants to do it the same way) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishMum Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 We started well but didn't keep it up, so most of our books are unlabelled. All the ones we used for SOTW 1 have a happy face sticker. They are easy to spot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairy4tmama Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I didn't label my books but I did label our shelves. I have categories such as easy readers, hard backs, paperbacks, comics an magazines, abcs and 123, s, science, board books , chapter books,seasons and holidays...etc. this just for the kids books I have separate shelves for books I intend to use in the coming term and curricula. This at least makes it semi likely we are able to find a book we are looking for. The kids are pretty good at putting books away, however, we have had this system for at least 2.5 years. I should add that we keep a wooden box on top of one of the shelves for books to be reshelved. This has been key to kids being able to put a book away even if they don't know where to put it. The kids all take turns reshelving books with me so they have easily learned where the books go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthie in MS Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 No regrets at all here- it's been a couple weeks and the books are organized, I can find what I need, and the kids can put them away. This is how I did it (there is a printable too, if anyone wants to do it the same way) I was just about to recommend this system. We haven't done it yet because I have other organization projects going on but it's on the list. This is probably the best book labeling system I've seen yet. It even has free printables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I have some SL stuff labeled.... and I am cool with it. The thought of labeling more and marring the pretty book spines - gives me fits! BUT, i do need to do it.... I like those categories in the link posted - except I would do them on labels and just print, peel and stick. Then if they fall off later I won't have as much "cringe" factor going on! That said, I used some Avery return address label sized labels and they have stayed on well (and the labels are old). I think I would avoid labeling the nicer/collectable books on the spine, maybe a label inside the cover? (Oh and that PDF in the post - ye gads do I have some font issues with it on my Mac! The ones with pictures are blocks of solid black, and the others are not very clean text!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I have some SL stuff labeled.... and I am cool with it. The thought of labeling more and marring the pretty book spines - gives me fits! BUT, i do need to do it.... I like those categories in the link posted - except I would do them on labels and just print, peel and stick. Then if they fall off later I won't have as much "cringe" factor going on! That said, I used some Avery return address label sized labels and they have stayed on well (and the labels are old). I think I would avoid labeling the nicer/collectable books on the spine, maybe a label inside the cover? (Oh and that PDF in the post - ye gads do I have some font issues with it on my Mac! The ones with pictures are blocks of solid black, and the others are not very clean text!) Tracy- I am sorry about the font issues- I made those printables, I will make a second verson for you in the next day or two with a standard font instead of the one I used. Is there a font that works well on mac? I'm sorry I don't have one, so I am not sure if they are the same as in Word. I'll message here when a Mac compatable font is up! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Also, they, in theory, SHOULD print on peel and stick labels, the standard grid kind like you get in the mail. Here in germany I don't have access to those labels to test that theory, but I made the file in publisher on standard size return address labels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Tracy- I am sorry about the font issues- I made those printables, I will make a second verson for you in the next day or two with a standard font instead of the one I used. Is there a font that works well on mac? I'm sorry I don't have one, so I am not sure if they are the same as in Word. I'll message here when a Mac compatable font is up! :) I just went thru some funky font things with the Partnership Writing from Brave Writer - and her designer was in South Africa. I wonder if there is something fontwise strange in Windows on that side of the pond? (OK, i'm assuming you aren't running US versions - so gee, that could be a useless statement!) I'll send you a link to a screen shot so you can see how it looks - and most fonts SHOULD work. I'm happy to try the versions out for you though!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I have tried a couple times to label but they never have stayed on. I used the Sonlight labels 2x, and I forget what I used after that, but it didn't work. I guess I'm thankful since I don't use Sonlight anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weederberries Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I don't label or level the books, but I label the shelves with a label maker. We have two bookshelves, one for the books my kids can freely read, another for the books that I don't want them messing with, are sorted by year of study, or are in reserve for upcoming lessons. On the general shelves, I have labels, such as picture books, Dr. Seuss and Henkes books (we have a shelf full of them), travel books, reference books, non-fiction/biography, novels, series, poetry, family life, Coloring books (in a basket on the shelf), board books (in a basket for our young visitors), and so on. It took about a month of reminders for them to be able to determine the category of book to re-shelve it. On our other bookshelf, I store my resources and materials in reserve. I keep them in Magazine racks with labels. I have one for each of the subjects. I have boxes for other years of study (ancients, medieval, etc). I know where to go if I need a book from a different time period, but I don't have to keep them all displayed and organized all the time. When I taught in public school, I had a leveling system and I hated it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 So this isn't a thread about tattoos on your cleavage? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 So this isn't a thread about tattoos on your cleavage? :D I thought that was bOOks not books?? :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffeemama Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I really love the idea of having all my books labeled, but I'm not sure how useful it will be since we are HUGE users of the library for many of our topical studies. Maybe I will start by just labeling history books we've acquired. We are restarting the four-year cycle in the fall, so it will be useful to pull together any book on Ancients. Thank you for sharing the printable labels! Love them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Label-maker + Dewey Decimal system + Library Thing + packing tape over all of that. LOVE it! I can find the books I want, & the kids, in learning my system are learning "library skills." :D For further labeling books--you know how you have a tough time w/ some--do I label this Medieval or Art or Biography???? You can tag things in LT w/ ALL of those labels, then? When you're looking for "Medieval" stuff--everything w/ that tag comes up. It's really fun for planning K stuff, lol, because it searches titles, tags, etc, & "duck" for ex comes up w/ stuff I wouldn't think of on my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Okay, am I the only one who is imagining putting labels across my chest, giving each b00k its own name? Because that was honestly my first thought...... :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 Okay, am I the only one who is imagining putting labels across my chest, giving each b00k its own name? Because that was honestly my first thought...... :leaving: That would belong on the chat board! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 Since starting this thread I've realised my main concern is not knowing what books I have. I've realised the kids mostly put things back in at least the general area but there is always that random book I can't find, that I think we own but can't remember for sure. And we've ended up with extra copies of some. So, I download the Book Crawler app to help me keep track of what we own. I love that I can use multiple tags for each book. I'm going to set the kids loose on scanning all the books this weekend and hopefully make sure all is organised. If that doesn't help, I will revisit the labeling idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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