Thanks everyone for all the adorable freebies last week! So much creativity! I enjoyed reading all the posts and got some great ideas! I think that I am going to hang the Daily Five posters on a clothesline over the r-u-g and use each one when I launch a new component. After we have revised and edited our anchor charts and made them our own, I will publish them using the original poster artwork. The students will be familiar with the terms sloppy copy and published work, and this way I'll have a neater and more compact version to hang and refer to throughout the year. By the way, I will definitely be using one of those music wands to call the students to the r-u-g. :-)
This chapter's guiding questions:
1) How far into the school year do you think kinders need to be to be able to begin the process of Read to Self? What is realistic? When do you plan to begin implementation?
I plan to start this process, if not the first day of school, at least the first week. I think it is key to emphasize the 3 ways to read a book and to model them daily. Alphabet, song books, leveled readers, familiar stories and any picture books with full color pictures and minimal text would be a great way to start the year. I also think taking it s...l...o...w...l...y is probably difficult, but really important in building that stamina. My class is small (only 10 students) and from families that value education and mostly have had many experiences with books prior to starting kindergarten. That does make a difference.
2) How will you make sure that each child views him/herself as a reader (whether they are reading words or not)? I think when rereading a book with the class and asking What do you notice? really helps students realize that they all have something to contribute when reading a book. Also when I take dictation from students and put it on the computer for publishing, I will change the color of all of the high frequency words we have introduced up to that point. When I read the text, I pause and let the student read the high frequency word. Leveled readers really boost my students' confidence as well. Although mostly we read our leveled readers online, I print off copies of the books (I have cut way back on all my other copying and focused on this because I think it is so important) and they keep them in the class for a while and then rotate new books in and send the old ones home for more practice.
3) What are some ideas you have about "Launching Read to Self" in kindergarten? How will you go about it and what are some ways to make sure it is "kinder friendly"? Since I have never done the Daily 5, I plan to follow the book pretty closely the first time. I've read some discussions about whether to include the practicing incorrect behaviors and have decided I'll try it on the first component. I can always leave it out on the other 4 components if it does not go well.
4) How will you/do you build the children's belief that this IS important? What can we do to encourage the ones who do not value it and create disruptions for others? This "Because We Want to Learn to Read" logic is the same logic I have used with kindergarten for learning the names and sounds of the letters. We have a kindergarten challenge to learn them all by the first week in November and it really seems to put some urgency into the task. I got this idea from Michael Heggerty (Phonemic Awareness) who suggested that even if only 50% met the goal, it still was an accomplishment, one that you could continue to improve. I believe that this logic will work on building Read to Self stamina also. I like the idea of the visual tracking chart, but don't think I would introduce it until we had met some real success.
5) How valuable is Checking In and Reviewing with kindergarteners? How often will you do it? When will you do it? What are some different ways to "check in"? This is the part of a lesson I most often get rushed and forget, but it is the glue that holds everything together. I think it is important to go over the anchor chart and change or add to the points. I must admit that the thought of starting all over and doing another three minutes makes me groan! I will have to see how that goes. The longer the stamina, the shorter the check in, but I think a check-in is an important closing piece even when we are doing the full Daily 5.
6)What are some problems that can occur during this process (either that you anticipate with your kinders OR that you have experienced)? How can we be proactive about these issues?
Last year during the second semester I did a Just Right reading time. Students had a bag with 3 current leveled readers and a book choice. They were to read those first and then they could choose from the shelf. My students really enjoyed this time and I was able to work with students individually. Those that did have some difficulty staying on task did much better when they paired up with a buddy. Also, those that struggled I called to work with me first so that I could get them started on the right track. This year I plan on using the Daily 5 model, but it may not be realistic to expect everyone to do 30 minutes of Read to Self. This might mean that during the Daily 5 block students build up to 30 minutes of Read to Self or Read with Someone and divide the working with words into two parts, Phonics and Working with Words. Expectations could evolve throughout the year, vary with different groups, or even vary with individuals (differentiate).
1) How far into the school year do you think kinders need to be to be able to begin the process of Read to Self? What is realistic? When do you plan to begin implementation?
I plan to start this process, if not the first day of school, at least the first week. I think it is key to emphasize the 3 ways to read a book and to model them daily. Alphabet, song books, leveled readers, familiar stories and any picture books with full color pictures and minimal text would be a great way to start the year. I also think taking it s...l...o...w...l...y is probably difficult, but really important in building that stamina. My class is small (only 10 students) and from families that value education and mostly have had many experiences with books prior to starting kindergarten. That does make a difference.
2) How will you make sure that each child views him/herself as a reader (whether they are reading words or not)? I think when rereading a book with the class and asking What do you notice? really helps students realize that they all have something to contribute when reading a book. Also when I take dictation from students and put it on the computer for publishing, I will change the color of all of the high frequency words we have introduced up to that point. When I read the text, I pause and let the student read the high frequency word. Leveled readers really boost my students' confidence as well. Although mostly we read our leveled readers online, I print off copies of the books (I have cut way back on all my other copying and focused on this because I think it is so important) and they keep them in the class for a while and then rotate new books in and send the old ones home for more practice.
3) What are some ideas you have about "Launching Read to Self" in kindergarten? How will you go about it and what are some ways to make sure it is "kinder friendly"? Since I have never done the Daily 5, I plan to follow the book pretty closely the first time. I've read some discussions about whether to include the practicing incorrect behaviors and have decided I'll try it on the first component. I can always leave it out on the other 4 components if it does not go well.
4) How will you/do you build the children's belief that this IS important? What can we do to encourage the ones who do not value it and create disruptions for others? This "Because We Want to Learn to Read" logic is the same logic I have used with kindergarten for learning the names and sounds of the letters. We have a kindergarten challenge to learn them all by the first week in November and it really seems to put some urgency into the task. I got this idea from Michael Heggerty (Phonemic Awareness) who suggested that even if only 50% met the goal, it still was an accomplishment, one that you could continue to improve. I believe that this logic will work on building Read to Self stamina also. I like the idea of the visual tracking chart, but don't think I would introduce it until we had met some real success.
5) How valuable is Checking In and Reviewing with kindergarteners? How often will you do it? When will you do it? What are some different ways to "check in"? This is the part of a lesson I most often get rushed and forget, but it is the glue that holds everything together. I think it is important to go over the anchor chart and change or add to the points. I must admit that the thought of starting all over and doing another three minutes makes me groan! I will have to see how that goes. The longer the stamina, the shorter the check in, but I think a check-in is an important closing piece even when we are doing the full Daily 5.
6)What are some problems that can occur during this process (either that you anticipate with your kinders OR that you have experienced)? How can we be proactive about these issues?
Last year during the second semester I did a Just Right reading time. Students had a bag with 3 current leveled readers and a book choice. They were to read those first and then they could choose from the shelf. My students really enjoyed this time and I was able to work with students individually. Those that did have some difficulty staying on task did much better when they paired up with a buddy. Also, those that struggled I called to work with me first so that I could get them started on the right track. This year I plan on using the Daily 5 model, but it may not be realistic to expect everyone to do 30 minutes of Read to Self. This might mean that during the Daily 5 block students build up to 30 minutes of Read to Self or Read with Someone and divide the working with words into two parts, Phonics and Working with Words. Expectations could evolve throughout the year, vary with different groups, or even vary with individuals (differentiate).