How do you have students switch out books for their book bags/boxes? Any strategies to share for making this run smoothly and efficiently? I've been having students switch books after I confer with them. I don't have them choose books from my personal library because some kids tend to hoarde books! I check out books from our leveled library and have them sorted into buckets. Students can choose from designated buckets for their bags (but there is a range of levels in them so they aren't told "You can only choose Ns!").
My students each have a small sticker with a letter on them (M, T, W, Th. F). On that day, during Read to Self (they MUST choose this every day), they choose their books. My students can have 6 books from our classroom library in their book box. For each book they want to check out, they must return a book from their book box. They can also have leveled books I give them during guided reading. We have two return baskets- Classroom Books to Sort and Leveled Books to Sort. I return the leveled books to my library. We have a libriarian and it is their job to sort the classroom books back into the library (small number inside the front cover).
I do Reading Workshop...Students are engaged in independent reading on a daily basis with focused mini-lessons taught by me and individual conferring...I have book bins but other teachers on my grade level use 'seat sacks' for the kids' book selections. I have designated days for conferring and book swapping. Right now I'm doing Table 1 swaps on Monday, Table 2 on Tuesday....
I probably do not do this correctly. I don't think that it is the best thing to do, but I will share what I do. My kids have their book browsing boxes. Inside, they have books that they have read with me in reading group. We exchange these only when a child moves up to a different reading level. I'm sure it isn't the best way to do it, but it is all that I know how to do now! We also have the "I Pick" books. (I love the 2 sister's stuff, but I am the first to admit that I haven't read it cover to cover yet) The I Pick books are switched out every Monday. This is part of their morning routine. First all of the students put back their books. I then pull sticks for students to choose 3-4 I Pick books. I have 3-4 baskets each of leveled just right books for Fountas and Pinnell levels A-N. The students can pick their I Pick books out of these. (Which also end up being homework books) They also can choose to pick out of the two shelves of genre/ theme books. These are the science, math, comic books, magazines, Clifford, Arthur etc. books. These are not on their just right level but it actually keeps them motivated and excited for read to self time. I only let my kids use these books during read to self. I don't let them use them for any of the other rotations because most of these books are too difficult for them to read. They just use the books to make predictions and making up a story by using the pictures. They do provide a good challenge for most of my kids at this point.
Terrific idea! I've tried teaching my kids where to put books back but it inevitably gets messy. You're giving me all kinds of inspiration today, teacherpippi! :thumb: I think right now part of my problem is I'm not sure where to put the bins they choose from so that they are easily accessible to students. I have to pull them out, and it's a pain. This is something I need to consider for next school year...
I think it's good practice to let students choose some easy and challenging books. As part of the Daily 5 I include the aspect of teaching them that there are 3 ways to read a book (one being look at the pictures) so I can understand if my struggling readers want to "read" a challenging book that's really appealing to them. I just make sure during conferences to check what they have in their bags! I also hope that they understand that if there is a book that's too hard for them to read, they can ask a partner to read it to them during Read to Someone!
