Daily 5 and the Book Basket Debacle

This year I am hoping to implement The Daily 5 during my small group reading time. Actually, I am thinking of starting the year with just 3

Read to Self

Work on Writing

Word Work

Then maybe in January, I will introduce 

Read to Someone

and

Listen to Reading

I absolutely love this idea of putting photos of each child reading on their book box.

Adorable, right? 

http://peaceloveandkinder.blogspot.com/

Now I just need to purchase some cardboard book boxes and get my classroom library in order. 

For my classroom library baskets, I purchased these adorable Polka Dot Classroom Library Labels from TPT for $4.00. I love that the set also comes with icons that can be printed on round stickers so that all of the books in each box have a sticker that matches the label on the outside of the basket. That will definitely help kiddos return their books to the correct basket. {hopefully}

I printed the labels, cut them, selected the ones that go with my book categories, laminated them, and cut them again. Whew. Am I done yet? 

Not even close. 

Even with sorting through the labels included in the set and selecting the ones that fit my books, I still had 55 different labels. 

I do not have 55 baskets to accommodate said labels and the books that go with them. Even if I did have 55 baskets, I do not have enough shelf space to house 55 baskets.

So, I sorted through the labels again trying to distinguish between books I will use for instruction versus books that I want kids to be able to put into their personal book boxes to read during our Daily 3. 

That helped to reduce the number of baskets I will need.

I now have 13 non-fiction categories, 10 favorite author/favorite character categories, and 2 additional categories. Plus, I have 8 other categories that are seasonal that I will rotate in and out of one basket because I don't think we need Valentine, Halloween, or Christmas books out all year. 

That leaves me needing 26 book baskets for my classroom library.

I have a bunch of baskets that I got at the Dollar Tree years ago, but I don't think they are the right size to accommodate all of my books. I guess I can see which books fit into those and take it from there. I still don't think I can fit 26 different baskets on the bookshelf that I have, but that remains to be seen. I plan to do a LOT of work in my classroom next week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because the girlies start daycare and I will be child free. It is much easier to complete projects when you're not changing poopy diapers, breastfeeding, and rocking a baby to sleep only to repeat the cycle when the sleeping baby pops open her eyes and gives you a huge wide awake smile as soon as you try to lay her down. And the fire alarm going off 4 times didn't help either. 

Yes, the fire alarm went off FOUR times.

I am not sure what I will do with the books that I want to reserve for instruction because I definitely don't want those mixed in with the books that the kids will be putting in their book boxes, but again, that is a project for another day since I can't very well power through my classroom library setup now that I am home.

Stay tuned for pics of my fantabulous classroom library. 

Is your classroom library fabulous? 

What kind of baskets do you use? Where did you buy them? 

Where can I get the cardboard magazine boxes for cheap?