You have seem my classroom library here, so it is important to introduce my students to what books are available. I use some big dish pans and grab books from different sections of my library. I have picture books, chapter books, fiction, non-fiction. Then I give a basket of books to each table group and tell the kids to sort the books into categories. The important thing about this activity is that it is open ended. They usually want to know “how” to do it, and I only tell them they have to decide as a group.

Then I put on some music, set a time and let them go! It’s really fun to see what they come up with! I’ve had kids sort the books by size, hardcover/softcover, chapter book/picture book, fiction/nonfiction…the possibilities are endless!

My biggest problem during this activity is that the kids get caught up reading the books, instead of sorting them! Hmmm, is that really a problem?