Daily 5 Book Bins

"There is a quiet and calm hum to the room.  Some children are lying on the floor with Book Boxes full of 'Good Fit" Books sitting next to them.  As they read to themselves, a child nearby reads the pictures in a book, giggling at a funny part...Some children are curled up in a corner on pillows with partners, reading a particularly animated section from a Junie B. Jones book..."
-Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, The Daily 5


I am entering my 3rd year using the Daily Five and I think I FINALLY have the book bin situation perfected...I have tried Ziploc Baggies and cheap cardboard magazine files.  Each of these had to be replaced during the school year or barely lasted til the end of the school year.  So, I decided to opt for something a bit more durable and something that will last more than a school year.  I purchased bins from the local Dollar Tree which are pictured below:

A few things I want to note:

• I labeled the bins with numbers so that they can be used another school year and I don't have to worry about taking off/replacing the labels.  
• I inserted library pockets in each bin.  These are great pockets for bookmarks, sticky notes, etc.  Basically small items that they will need during Daily 5 but that we don't want to get lost amongst the books!
• Lastly, in each library pocket I have placed a clothespin with their classroom number on it.  These are used to sign up at the Listening Centers.  I used to have students write names on clipbpards to use the netbooks/tape player/etc. and then realized how much easier it would be to have them use a clothespin.  I could not be happier with this addition to our Daily 5 management :)

As the school year gets going I will delve into each Daily 5 separately and explain how I use each in my classroom :) 

How do you manage your classroom book bins if using the Daily 5?