Daily 5 - Chapter 4 - READ TO SELF

Woo Hoo, we are in the Meat and Potatoes of this. Read to Self is one of my favorites. I time for kids to read on what they want to read, but oh how it can be frustrating at times. I think I will just answer Mrs. Klohns 5 questions today:




How do you launch or plan to launch the Read to Self component in your own classroom?

1. I always begin Read To Self the way the book suggests. As a class (and each individual Class, I will have 3 this year) we create the I chart. Yes that means 3 I charts in one day. No I don't post them all, I combine to make 1 that gets posted. As you can see the Sisters give you what should be on there, so they all end up being about the same. Some years I add picture visuals, some years not.

  How do you implement modeling within your reading workshop time? Do you always model, or do students model correct reading behaviors too?

2) I also do modeling with the kids. They think it is funny, but it makes my point. Even though I teach 6th grade, and a lot of my students have done this in the past, I still find it very important. Each teacher is different. My versions of a bubble space, silent, and appropriate seating spots may differ from the previous teacher(s). I mainly have the kids model. As for time, I don't always start with 3 minutes, but I never start with more than 5. Yes, they are 6th graders, but we don't want wrong practice and believe me there are years we don't make it past 3 minutes.

 

How do your students choose their spots of read to self in your classroom?

3. I let me students choose their spots to sit, of course this is after we make an anchor chart of where appropriate seats are. (Where I can see you, what is a bubble space, where you will stay awake, yes you can be on the floor, no more than 2 people at a table, etc)

 

Do you allow your students the opportunity to book shop during their read to self time, or when do your students have an opportunity to do this?

4. I prefer book shopping to be done before Daily 5 starts, but with 3 classes and only 90 minutes each, a lot of time the book shopping has to be on the way to their spot. I haven't figured out a good way to do this. I will take any ideas that may be out there.
 
Is Read to Self something that you expect your students to do on a daily basis when they are picking their rotation spots?

5. I think Read to Self is a DAILY must do. I am hoping to have a Daily 3, where Read to Self and Work on Writing are required, and then Read to Someone, Listen to Reading (don't do this very often), and Word Work as an optional the 3rd rotation. However to be honest, even after doing this 3 years, it is still hard to get it all in for me. I have also found that my Mini Lessons some times are 20 minutes (hey with 6th grade sometimes it takes that) and we can only do a Daily 2. I have also realized in order to get those grades, we all must have, I have to help my students understand that Read to Self may include an activity to do as well. Sometimes we need to record as we read to completely comprehend.









If you want to hear what other teachers are saying, link up the Blog discussion going on at We Read, We Blog, We Teach.









Till Friday, make sure you take some time for you to have READ TO SELF.

Nicole