Adopt-A-Shelf is something I’ve been considering for my library for some time now. A few weeks ago, several librarians were discussing it on my state’s listserv, so I thought I would start it in my library for the upcoming school year. I’ve been working hard on all the materials so you don’t have to! I’ve created a Powerpoint presentation for students and special awards to keep them motivated!
The best part? It’s totally FREE! I ask for something very simple in return: if you find these materials useful, share this post with someone else. It’s very easy to do – just click the buttons at the bottom of this post to share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
What is Adopt-A-Shelf?
The basic idea of Adopt-A-Shelf is to encourage students to take responsibility and ownership in their school library. On a more practical level, I’m hoping it will help keep some semblance of shelf order for those of us with no library assistant. When you’re a one man (or woman) show with dozens of other responsibilities, you’ll take whatever help you can get. As I’ve mentioned before, I rarely have time to get my books shelved, let alone straighten the shelves.
I’ve tried various other ideas to keep the library tidy in the past. Parent volunteers are great, but inconsistent. Student helpers do a good job for a few weeks, but then they get lazy and bored with the task. I’ve tried different incentive methods to motivate them, but none of them have been very effective. I’m hoping Adopt-A-Shelf will be the miracle my poor library shelves so desperately need.
How It Works
At the beginning of the school year, I will introduce Adopt-A-Shelf with the Powerpoint presentation and a live demonstration. Every 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student will have the chance to adopt their very own library shelf. 3rd grade will be assigned shelves in the easy section, 4th grade will be assigned shelves in the chapter book section, and 5th grade will be assigned shelves in the nonfiction section. I’m not going to require students to participate this year, but I think the majority of them will want to.
Once students have selected a shelf, I will label it with their name. The students will be responsible for checking the books on their shelf to ensure they belong there, straightening their shelf by pulling all books up evenly to the front, making sure all spines are facing out and all call numbers are on the bottom, and checking the reshelf cart for books that belong on their shelf. Students may also recommend a book on their shelf by displaying it for their fellow students to see during checkout times.
At some point each week, I will choose one shelf from each section to be the Shelf of the Week. That shelf will be decorated with a gold star, and the student will also receive a Book Fair Buck. The Book Fair Buck will be good for $1 off a purchase at an upcoming book fair. I’m going to use some of my Scholastic Dollars credit for this incentive. I am planning to keep track of who wins each week, and I might even give some extra Book Fair Bucks to the student who has won Shelf of the Week the most times.
The one thing I haven’t decided yet is when to judge the shelves. Our library schedule is a little crazy, so I see students on various days. It’s not really fair to judge the shelves on Friday if the last day the students came to the library was Tuesday and seven other classes have checked out since then. I may do the shelf checks on random days: Monday one week, Thursday the next, etc. Just something to think about.
How can I do this in my library?
First, download my FREE Powerpoint presentation, gold Shelf of the Week stars, and Book Fair Bucks by clicking the links below. Next, introduce Adopt-A-Shelf to your students and demonstrate proper procedures. Finally, come back to Elementary Librarian and let me know how it goes! I can’t wait to hear your stories.
Adopt-A-Shelf Downloads
Free Powerpoint presentation - feel free to edit it! The file is large, so give it time to download.
Shelf of the Week star - Easy section
Shelf of the Week star - Chapter Books section
Shelf of the Week star - Nonfiction section
Shelf of the Week star - Everybody
Have you tried Adopt-A-Shelf? How does it work in your library? If you haven’t, do you think this could work for you? Share with us in the comments! Don't forget to SHARE this post if it's been useful to you!
Awesome, thank you. I've been thinking about doing this; even got as far as putting shelf number labels on the shelves. This will be a kick-in-the-rear to actually get it going this fall! Thank you!
I also have been thinking about doing this so thank you for getting it all ready to go!
I love this! Here is a question for everyone: I guess more than one kid can be in charge of a shelf? we have 4 classes of each grade (or even 5 classes) so I will run out of shelves obviously...even if just half of the kids want to do this, I would need 150 shelves and I am not close to that at all in my library! Thanks for any input...I love all your ideas!
You could make that work for sure. You'd just have to do double rewards if you had more than one kid/shelf.
I really do love the idea of adopting a library shelf! I have the same issue with shelves and student population, so I am thinking that my students could adopt a shelf for half of the school year. I think that I would still have to have two students per shelf anyway. I could schedule this fun little adoption program so that my kids could use Scholastic dollars at the Fall and Spring book fairs depending on their assignment.
The Teachers at my school suggested I rotate classes one each month for them to adopt the shelf. Because like you I would not have enough for everyone.
Have a question. Do you have any concerns that if you put the student's name on the shelf that someone could purposely "mess it up?" I would hope no one would do that, but it is something I wondered about.
This actually crossed my mind, and I think I may have addressed it in the Powerpoint. If I see someone messing up another student's shelf, they will lose any Book Fair Bucks they've earned, and may lose the privilege altogether.
I would leave it up to 2nd-4th as they are the most dependable and I want to keep the extra work down to a minimum. I call them my "Dewey Decimal Detectives" and have them put books on the shelf, but your idea adds a little more purpose. Thanks
I like the "Dewey Decimal Detectives". My first grade AR level books are pulled and in leved baskets. I shelved Easy with Fiction because I have so many older children reading soooo low that they felt self conscious. It works except for the 2nd grade readers. Most of the AR leveled books have red dots on them to signify 2nd grade level. However, I was blessed with over $40K over a 4 year period and just unpacked those shelf ready books and shelved them.
Perhaps I could make a crew of "Dewey Decimal Detectives" out of some 2nd graders and they can track those 2nd grade readers and stick a red dot on them.
I've been trying to think of an idea. Last year I had 3 of my 5th graders as year long library aides. They had their own passes to the library and they shelves books, set up the netbooks for class, ran errands and basically had fun in the library making the others jealous because they could go into my office. This idea makes much better use of my time and I can still have the aides (several of my 4th graders have already applied) to help in other areas. I appreciate all the work you have put into this so that I have very little!! Thanks, love this site
I did this at middle school and it was semi-successful. All the kids started out very committed, but as the assignments and homework began to pile up the kids stopped showing up. On the other hand, at the elementary I have the kids for class every week, so there is always access. I do love the idea of Book Fair Bucks as an incentive.
Great! Thanks for sharing this. I've been wanting to do this but hadn't figured out all the logistics.
I made one change in your PowerPoint. Instead of having kids display a book on their shelve (many of my shelve don't have room for display), I am designating the top of several bookshelves and a Student Recommended area and want the Adopters place a book there with a recommendation there. It could include a Q-Code that leads to a recorded recommendation or a webpage with it.
Great! I love it when you are able to add your own spin on my materials. Let us know how it works out!
I am planning on implementing this next year too! My part time assistant is so excited in hopes that the shelves will be more organized. Do you plan on having students read the shelves too and having them put the books in the correct order on their shelf?
That's the plan, Rachel. I know some will be more successful than others, but at this point, I'll be happy if even a few are in order. 🙂
I'm happy if they are all straight and tall
Hi, I had hoped to implement this very thing last year but time just got away from me... So I really want to do it this fall. However I could not save your free PowerPoint and was wondering if you could send it to me individually. I ordered your whole year's worth of lesson plans and love them! Thank you so much for your help! Laurie
Laurie, I'm not sure it will email since it is so large. Have you tried right clicking it and saving it that way?
I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
As an elementary school library media specialist with no assistant, this is the best idea I have heard in a long time! Thanks so much for sharing this. My students will love it.
Thanks, Robert! I'm glad you liked it. I can't wait to try it in my library as well.
As a first year Elem. SLMS with no assistant, I am implementing this ASAP! Thanks for all your terrific lessons and helpful website!
I tried this a bit last year and hope to expand on it. I think it is a really good idea. However, when I did inventory the books were worse than ever. I think that they need more teach and practice before they set to work. I hope that I see an improvement this year.
Thank you for sharing your Adopt-a-Shelf programs and all of your materials, too! I have a logistics question about the Book Fair Bucks. I love the idea because the students at my school are always wishing they had more money to spend! How do they actually use them. How do they get checked out at the register with some cash and BF Bucks? Thank you!
Susan, I'm going to redeem Scholastic Dollars for this. I created this assuming that most people do Scholastic book fairs, but some may not.
Does anyone have the students fill out an 'application' to adopt a shelf? I've been looking for one for some ideas.
I'm not going to require it. I'm just going to take volunteers this year and see how it goes. 🙂
I tried this last year, thinking it would help since I am on my own in a K-12 library. It blew up into a huge thing by the first week. Not one shelf was left unadopted on my K-6 side of the library. I hope it goes well for you all, but I found it was more work. The students were very excited but they didn't really get the concept, even though they had been taught. If I was to do it this year, I would have an after school training. I would give them a cart of books that were all out of order and when they could complete the organization of the cart, they would graduate to having a shelf of their own. I really love the idea, but be prepared for the enthusiasm. I don't think the students heard half of my explanations after they heard the words Adopt a Shelf. 🙂 Good luck everyone!!
I'm experiencing much of the same, Maureen. I think some students will do a fine job, others not so much, but we'll try it. It can't be much worse than what it is currently (in my library). 🙂
I couldn't open the Power Point either. For some reason the link states that it cannot convert, although I have power point on my computer. Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out soon! I need help with my shelves! I told teachers this year to send down students in the morning who had a great day, hoping to get 2-3 students a day to volunteer but so far, no teachers are sending kids down.
Nichole, I've tried that approach too, and it has never worked for me. I am sorry about the Powerpoint. I'll look into it.
I got the PowerPoint with no problems. It was the additional downloads that don't want to seem to download! :/
However, I am the Lone Librarian with no assistants of any kind. On top of that, I leave for the Annex EVERY DAY! So, no after school training time. I'll try to do some during some Open Library. However, this sounds like a great idea to help with shelving 600+ books every week!
Thanks!
Thank you for creating and sharing your ideas for adopt a shelf. I cannot wait to implement it and I think my library might look a little neater from now on! I really appreciate that it is free as well.
Jocelyn, I think I will try this. I have done library pages in the past, but I think this would be a better plan and would spread the ownership of the media center to more students. I think, for the Dewey sections, I will print the shelf list for their section. That way they can check book order against the list. Also, I plan to do a massive weeding. What about allowing students to recommend a book to purchase for their shelf? These could be chosen from the book fair, a list, or a catalog. Maybe PTO, corporate donors, or community adopters would adopt the student's shelves financially. Then students could be a part of building the collection too.
That's a great idea, Carla! 🙂
I love this idea. I cannot wait to try it in my library. I have no idea how it will work, but my shelves are such a disaster, that I am willing to do anything. Thanks!
Thanks for the great idea!
Thanks for all your work! I've downloaded everything, but I can't figure out how to edit the power point. I have it on my cubby. I'd appreciate any help.
How could I make this work with a fixed schedule and five classes per grade level? I won't have an assistant. The only time my classes will be able to check out is during class time.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
CP
I am going to start with during class time and mornings before classes begin. Won't be easy, but worth a shot!
I am in a PreK-8 school. I do not have an assistant yet this year and my shelves are a mess. I stumbled upon this as I was searching for "shelf marker" lessons for upper elementary. I am going to try it with grades 3-6. I showed the PPT to a 6th grade this afternoon and got 10 volunteers. If I get too many, I will alternate marking periods. We'll see how it goes. I think it can only be better than it is now! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I think I'll try it next year with just 6th graders.....they have more enthusiasm than 7th & 8th graders!
Hi...
I am an elementary school librarian. I watched your Power Point and my question is this:
Why shelf your fiction with only the beginning letter of the author's last name?
Easy for filing, yes....but for finding, when the M's or S's are all together and not alphabetized? I think I must be missing something. Please explain. Thanks, Robin
It's the way it was done before I got there and I have never had time to redo the entire section.
great! i have started it last year but not the whole program...we'll see how it will turn out this year...thanks you so much for sharing! More power!
This is a wonderful way to increase excitement and ownership by students in the school library. I tweaked the PowerPoint to make it work for us and really appreciate the time you put into this and your willingness to share. My first class has adopted their shelves and almost everyone elected to participate, which I did not expect. Thanks!
I AM the assistant in my library. I am able to shelve the books, and straighten to a degree, but there is a lot of housecleaning. My kids tends to "trash" my shelves when they come in to check out. I've been thinking of implementing something like this, not because I need the help, but so that the kids will take a little ownership and take better care. Thanks for this!
I started this about a month ago, thank you for the idea. Kids were REALLY excited to get started. Some signed up and haven't even looked at their shelf. I've been handing out the book fair bucks and posting the winners outside of the library. I also through in that when the six weeks period is over, winners can come eat lunch in the library. Maybe when that actually take place kids may take more notice.
Thank you! I can't wait to use this!