How to Store Adapted Books

When it comes to storing adapted books, you have a lot of options! There isn't one right way (or a wrong way really) to store your books, either when you're using them or when you're storing them.

Today I'm going to share ways to store adapted books when they're in use and when they're not in use based on what I've done. Just remember that you do what works best for you, your budget, your classroom, and your students.

STORAGE FOR NOT IN USE ADAPTED BOOKS

When we aren’t using adapted books, like monthly themed ones or seasonal books, I store them in deep plastic containers from Walmart or Target. Nothing super fancy, they cost me maybe $7 a bin, and I can fit an entire month of adapted books and some inside (depending on the size of the bin).

• I also don’t use cute labels for my bins. A dry erase marker works perfect and allows me to change the "label" on the bin in seconds. To erase the dry erase marker, I use a Magic Eraser and it's suuuuper easy and quick.

When I store them inside the plastic bin, I place them in such a way that saves space. I put two books cover to cover and this gives me more room to store more books in one bin (especially if you're using larger spiral bindings!).

One tip for buying these plastic bins is to make sure they're deep enough that you can fit the lid on top. This helps with storing the bins because, well then they aren't exploding in your storage area, but also when the lids fit you can easily stack bins on top of each other.

STORAGE FOR IN USE ADAPTED BOOKS

To display books, I’ve done it two ways. Let's take a look!

The first way I store adapted books when they are being used is on a tiered bookshelf. This is my favorite, but I personally have not always had access to one of these bookshelves. 

So...

Plastic bins it is! Ya'll I love plastic bins... obviously! These bins don't have lids, so they're different bins that what what I shared above. And you can use any size that adapted books fit it. 

What's nice is, the larger educational companies for years have been the only ones who have had these bins... but over the last 2 years Target and Walmart have both come out with less expensive options that are the same exact thing! 

Whether it's an actual large book bin or just a rectangular bin (like one you can use for sensory bins or IEP bins), I place the books in such a way that all covers are facing forward... making it easy for students to identify books they want to read.

This option is great too if you don't have a lot of space to work with.

Either way, the lesson here is to do what works best for you. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive or even have cute labels.