Don't try to implement these ideas on your own! Go buy the book! And be sure to check out the official site of "the sisters!"

In their book, The Daily 5, the sisters give the following research based reason for "Read to Self":

The best way to become a better reader is by practicing each day, with books you choose and are a “Good Fit”.

Here's how we do "Read to Self" in our classroom:

Our school uses the 100 Book Challenge program. This makes it so easy for my kids to read "good fit" books for "Read to Self." As we practice and build stamina, we work towards reading for 15 minutes at a time. These are called "Steps" in the 100BC program. Every 20 steps, students can earn a prize. Every 100 steps, they earn a medal and a new reading folder. Students are required to read one "step" in school and at home daily. If you have not heard of this wonderful program before, I recommend you check it out! For schools and classrooms with limited classroom libraries, this program instantly gives kids access to HUNDREDS of books on their level. They also provide bags for taking home books, leveled "skill cards" to help with sight words and other essential skills, and incentives.

Speaking of classroom libraries, I have been working for the past several years to organize and level my classroom library in a "kid friendly" way.

Here's what my classroom library looked like BEFORE I started this project. I am somewhat embarrassed to include this photo!!!

Here is the AFTER photo - obviously I have a lot more books now too - due to some large Scholastic purchases and other book purchases (my husband says, "How many paperback books does one person need???" - my answer is "MORE!").

My new and improved classroom library is sorted using these genre posters. I reduced them to 1/4 page and laminated the paper to make labels for my book tubs.  Learn from my mistakes:: I wish I had used cardstock, but too late now (maybe someday when they are worn out I will redo them)... I love Beth Newmingham's library organization, but wanted to use the genre posters instead of her book bin labels so my kids could 1. learn them and 2. practice selecting from different genres on a daily basis.

Within each genre, the books are divided into more specific categories. Each tub has a colored number sticker on it - the color of the sticker corresponds with the color of the tub.

Green = Informational

Blue = Fantasy and Realistic Fiction

Red = Other types of Fiction (Mystery, Historical Fiction, Traditional Literature, Science Fiction)

Yellow = Poetry, Biography/Autobiography

I also have sections for Favorite Authors, Magazines, and Sight Word and Decodable books.

My tubs are from Really Good Stuff - to be honest I am not entirely happy with them but part of that is due to me overfilling them since I don't have space for any more. The magazine type bins are great, but the small baskets are not as sturdy as I had hoped. A few have cracked or even arrived that way, but Really Good Stuff has been pretty good about sending me new ones when this happens. The tubs were quite expensive but once I started using them I wanted everything to be uniform... oh well...

The books themselves have corresponding labels with the genre and the color/number of the tub. For example, this book goes in Fantasy tub #12. (Sorry for the blur - close up did not work well with the clear tape)

The books are also leveled. We have two leveling systems (unfortunately) at our school - 100 Book Challenge and AR. The books have colored stickers to show the level of the book. This book is a "blue dot" AR book (3rd grade level - these colors were determined by our media specialist and the kids are familiar with them) and a RR ("red-red" - end of 2nd grade) 100 BC level. The colored dots are easy to come by. The 100BC stickers were printed for me by my reading coach on regular address labels. (The "real" ones are very expensive!) As you can tell, the two leveling systems do not always correlate, but at least the kids have a general sense of easy vs. hard. I have a kid friendly correlation chart I recently made but haven't taken a photo yet... click here to download a correlation chart for teachers  - my reading coach put this together I believe...

ALL of the labels (front, back, and side) are covered with clear packing tape to prevent them from peeling off. This was probably the most time consuming part of this project!

Now that this project is finished, I am slowly allowing my students to choose books from my library. To create some excitement about it and encourage my kids to read more, I am only allowing those students who are "on target" for 100 Book Challenge to choose from my books. This has motivated several of my students to do a lot of extra reading at home!

I do not have a "checkout" system - the kids select 10 books in the morning and put them all away in the afternoon. I use the 100 Book Challenge books for "take home" reading and as far as I know, I have not lost any of my personal books.

Here are some photos of my students using my classroom library - so far my labeling system is working well and they are having no problem putting books away in their proper places!

At the beginning this year, I purchased reusable shopping bags from Walgreens (they were on sale 3/$1) for "book bags" My kids started out the year with a large selection of decodable books and sight word books in their bags - books I knew everyone could read. I also received whisperphones from a DonorsChoose proposal, and put one in each bag. I then added poetry folders and sight word mini word walls to their bags.

I have since received a book cart from DonorsChoose and the kids now have their own book boxes instead of the bags.

Website visitors can help our classroom by purchasing items from my Amazon Wishlist or making a PayPal donation - all donations and ad revenue received on this site are spent on classroom books and other materials.

Parents - you can also help our classroom by purchasing books for your child from Scholastic book orders. Many books are $2 or less! Every order placed earns bonus points which I use to purchase books and other classroom materials. Every monthly order totaling $20 or more earns us a coupon for $10 in free books for our classroom. If you order online, I get an additional free book pick, which I will use to select a book for your child!

Click the link below to place an order! Username and password are both "maiolo." FGCU students, feel free to order as well! This is a very inexpensive way to get books for your future classroom!

THANKS! Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me.