Tried It Tuesday {Book Nook Rotations}

Wahoo!!!  Any NFL fans out there?  One of the many reasons I love the fall is because I love Sunday football.  I am still basking in the glory of a Bills win.  Usually the last minute wins are NOT in our favor, but this one was!  With about 6 seconds left in the game, the Bills beat the Panthers by one point with the winning field goal.  This always makes Mondays so much better.  You should have seen all the Bills gear people were sporting Monday at my school!  Anyway, since most of you aren't Bills fans (you would have to be crazy like me!), it is now Tuesday and I am anxious to see what you have tried recently! 

My Tried It:

Book Nook Rotations
All summer, I struggled with how I was going to organize my book nook rotations.  With great posts like this one by Ideas by Jivey, I was inspired to try something a little more organized than my system last year.  My "system" last year was to draw my handy dandy popsicle stick numbers each time we used the book nooks. Then, I would stick them back in the container upside down (pink end up) so they wouldn't be called on again until everyone had a turn.

This worked okay but I would often forget to draw sticks because I was so focused on moving to our rotations.  Then, the students would remind me, "Who is using the pillows?"  It was a pain sometimes.  

I also purchased two more SUPER SPECIAL book nooks this summer.  One is a pretty fluffy purple floor pillow and the other is a memory foam butterfly chair.  You can see those in the picture below.  I also have a light blue husband pillow ($1 at an estate sale and going strong on its third year) and there is another husband pillow ($15 at Walmart and has a hole in it after one year) under the window.

I decided I didn't want to rotate the book nooks everyday since with just these four most popular book nooks and my three sections of ELA, that would be 12 changes from three different classes each day!  I finally decided to rotate the book nooks every week and set up this board next to the classroom jobs.  

FYI:  For classroom jobs, I have a homeroom line leader, homeroom board boss [not assigned yet, still modeling], homeroom pencil police [not assigned yet], and a classroom librarian for each ELA block.  Read more about my library checkout system here.

My student numbers do not match up for each ELA block because of missing students or add ons.  Next, I decided to print a class list for each block and make a small highlighter mark (color coded for each book nook) on the name as they have had a week's turn at the book nook.  For example, the purple pillow is highlighted in pink.  You can see portions of the names here and the first four students who have the book nooks.  I found this magnetic holder for the name tags at Dollar General last year.

This system is working so far and I am just proud of myself for coming up with a system that I think will be manageable for all three groups.  Also, since students will have their book nook for a whole week, this should also eliminate most last minute changes due to changes in schedules such as assemblies or student absences (only extended absences would be considered for changing the book nooks since certain students seem to miss a day of school often!).  I hope my "tried it" helps someone that may be struggling with book nook organization for multiple classes!

Before you go, I hope you will stop by and enter Gary's giveaway at Scrappy Guy Designs!  He reached 100 followers in such a short time and is offering some amazing prizes!

I am also linking up my post from when I hit 100 Followers with his linky party.  It wasn't that long ago, but at the same time, it feels like ages ago!  I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. Thank you!!