Shop for books Monday!

I had you at shop right?  Well I'm not talking about our FAVORITE kind of shopping.  We are talking picking our books for the week to become better readers.  YES! 

Every Monday we have this buzz of excitement that starts as a twinkle in my student's eyes and then comes bursting out in cheers of delight when our reading lesson begins.  Monday is SHOP FOR BOOKS day!  And that's exactly how they say (yell) it.  

When talking about choice in our reading block I make a BIG DEAL about picking your books each week.  In years past if I had students shop for books during their reading time but it became TOO MUCH and some kiddos were never getting to their actual reading time.  To manage our book shopping time I came up with a few rules that help us all shop on one day and then we don't have to worry about it the rest of the week.   Bonus? Keeping my library in order (somewhat). Here are the simple rules: 

1.  Return all of your books on Monday.  
2.  If you know where it goes, put it back. 
3.  If you don't know where it goes put it on the small group table. 
4.  Shop from the room and the small group table (most of them shop from the table). 
5.  Pick enough books to get you through the week.  

So here is the result: 

Looks like chaos right?  Well, it's not really.  It is such a great time of the week that our love for reading comes bursting out.  Students use this crazy time to suggest books to each other, use manners to ask a friend for their book, or just explore what they haven't explored before.  Of course all of our favorites are usually on the table so we are pretty crowded there.  I perch myself in the chair and assist in handing books back and forth but they do all the choosing. They make great choices!  

What do I do with the books that get left out?  Well that doesn't happen very often but sometimes I have a little pile left over.  This year I have a reorganized library that has been super simple to keep in order.  All of my bins are labeled with these circle labels and I spend a couple of minutes putting away the extras.  This way I am sure that things are getting put back in the right place.  I would say 99% of my library is in the right spot with this new way to keep track and shop for books time. 

How do you manage shopping for books time?  I've tried it on different days with a schedule, the first 5 minutes of the day, and other ways but this way just warms my heart every Monday.  I guess that's why I was inspired to share it today!  

And it doesn't stop there!  I was also a guest blogger over at Mrs.3rd Grade today and discussed all of my Guided Reading Plans  Check out that post HERE! 

Have a great week friends!