Post
by jhperry » Wed Jun 05, 2013 9:42 am
I use the vinyl electrical tape, it comes in many different colors and stays on great! I did a combining of categorizing by guides and subject so our system looks like this:
blue for history books
orange for science books
red for storytime/read aloud books
purple for emerging readers
green for DITHOR books (then I use a sharpie to write the level # on the tape)
white for all other chapter books (kiddos know they are free to read these whenever)
The color-coding makes it super easy for me and my children to return a book in its proper place! I bought our tape at Lowes ($3 or $4 for a large roll) but then found you can get them much cheaper at a local supply store ($1 or so a piece).
Hope that helps!
Jamie
*Mom to Ds 14, Dd 12, Dd 10, and Ds 5
*Enjoyed LHFHG, BLHFHG, Bigger, Preparing, DITHOR, CTC, RtoR, Rev2Rev & MTMM
I wanted to pass on what I have done to keep sane and keep all of the books straight. I put on the spine near the bottom of every book associated with a guide a colored sticker. (some need to be reinforced with tape depending on book material) My LHFHG set all have a happy face sticker. My BHFHG all have a frog sticker. Preparing all have a green dot, CTC has a pink dot, RTR has a yellow dot, etc. That has been a HUGE help as we are now at the end of the year and are putting the sets away for the year. In clearing off the shelves, I can see at a glance what book needs to go in what box. It also helps when cleaning the house and picking up a book and trying to remember who was reading what book (especially for my older two.) The dot on the spine tells me who it belongs to. The guides/sets that aren't being currently used are easily stored in banker boxes with the catalog pages so I can see at a glance what should be in there. (My daughter has told me I have to keep all of my HOD sets for her kids someday, so no reselling of my sets... they are practically family heirlooms now! 
) Anyway, I thought I would pass that tip on. I am cleaning my school room area out for the summer and was very thankful for that little system, and thought others might benefit, especially if you start accumulating guides/sets over the years like I have.
I really need to do this too, though, since I own a lot of guides/packages -- SEVEN and counting!!! 
I used Washi tape to code the spines of all the books. by son has rolled some of it though. So your suggestion to reinforce with tape is noted!