Daily 5 Book Study: Chapter 5

I am back to work this week from spring break and I am busy busy! I think March and April are the busy time of year in education for some reason (and the most stressful!). Tonight I am here to talk about Chapter 5 of the Second Edition of the Daily 5. 

Chapter 5: Launching Read to Self-The First Daily 5

The First Day

*Read to Self is a very powerful tool for students to gain literacy skills through, which is why "the sisters" suggest teaching it first. 

*Read to Self is launched using the 10 Steps to Independence I talked about last time. 

*At Back to School Night allow students to choose some books to put in their book boxes therefore they are all ready to begin building stamina on the first day of school. 

*There are 3 foundation lessons to teach during Read to Self; Three Ways to Read a Book, I-Pick Good Fit Books, and Choosing a Successful Spot

Three Ways to Read a Book

*"The sisters" teach this lesson on the first day of school. 

*For younger students leave out retelling for another short mini lesson later in the day. Doing all three ways will make your lesson longer than 8-10 minutes. 

*"The sisters" walk you through what the lesson looks like and sounds like. I made sure to flag this section to refer back to when I am teaching. 

*This is a perfect lesson to also allow students to practice your expectations of turning and talking to a partner to tell each other what they saw you doing while you were reading the words and reading the pictures. 

At Last- We Launch Read to Self

*Use the 10 Steps to Independence to launch Read to Self. "The sisters" hold three or four practice sessions to build stamina throughout the first day of school. I like this idea, because last year we did practice several times each day and I think it really helped my students build stamina quicker and solidify the expectations during Read to Self. 

Integrating Foundation Lessons

*What do you do when your students aren't building stamina...foundation lessons! These lessons are focused on teaching students the desired behaviors for each component of the D5. "The sisters" suggest teaching foundation lessons before launching each of the D5 choices so students can jump right in when it is time to build stamina. I am not sure if I like this idea. Last year we taught the foundation lessons while we were building stamina. I would teach the lesson about EEKK for Read to Someone and then my students would immediately apply it to Read to Someone the next round we built stamina. I am not sure if I will change to "the sisters" suggestion or not. For me it feels more nature to teach them in conjunction like I did last year. 

I-PICK Good-Fit Books 

*This is one of my favorite foundation lessons to teach with my students. "The sisters" spend a good couple of pages covering this lesson, therefore I would say it is pretty important!

*Leveling your books in your classroom library might not be the best choice because students then can't apply the I-PICK model in other situations. They only rely on having to stay in all the green tubs because that is "my level." 

*After modeling the lesson with shoes, "the sisters" model with real text for yourself to choose from. I like this idea, for my students to see me choose a good-fit book. I think modeling this process for my students would be very powerful. 

*Include the I-PICK model in family newsletters to get parents involved throughout the school year. 

*Invite other staff members to get involved in the process of finding good-fit books. The librarian is a great person to contact for help. Also ask other staff members to model the process of picking a good-fit book for your students like you did. 

*The process of finding a good-fit book takes time. One suggestion is to have a round of the D5 once a week be "shop for books." This allows students to return books and find new books for the week. It also is an extended period of time, instead of the usual 5 minutes they get at the beginning or end of the day. Students will need this extra time to truly use the I-PICK model correctly. 

*Confer with students during small group about what books they have in their boxes. This is a great way to check in with students to makes sure they are being successful with the I-PICK model. 

Adding the Other Foundation Lessons

*This section "the sisters" talk about launching Work on Writing next. The lesson they describe is similar to the beginning lessons I used in Lucy Calkin's Units of Study to launch writers workshop. I used Calkin's Units all year as my mini lessons and then during D5 my students worked on their writing pieces and practiced the skills I taught in my mini lesson. 

*"The sisters" also briefly talk about launching the other 3 choices in the D5 and what the foundation lessons are. 

I enjoyed reading this chapter but it seemed a little jumping for me. It was hard to focus on Read to Self when "the sisters" added the other components in as well. I would suggest going back and rereading the chapter in the first Daily 5 book on Read to Self too. I did get some great tips I want to try in my classroom to make Read to Self even more of a success than it was last year. I can't wait to get parents and staff members involved in the process! 

Make sure to head over to see what Kim has to say for upper grade levels!