The Daily 5- Introduction to Read to Self

     If you have not tried the Daily 5 because you think it sounds too hard for kinders, I promise it's not!  My first year teaching K I would have never dreamt of trying this, it seems like too many expectations of independence for little ones who sometimes come to us as young as four.  I know you're probably thinking, how will my students read when they don't even know their letters?!  Most students are not actually reading when we get started.  But if you teach K (or any other grade level) you know that your little ones are storytellers.  They love telling stories!  Read to self in the beginning, is all about doing exactly that- telling stories.

     When I introduce the Daily 5, I always begin with Read to Self.  It is suggested first in the book to introduce, but year after year, I also feel that it's just a good fit to introduce first.  When I bring out the book baskets and display a sampling of the most popular books (David Shannon, Mo Willems, Dr. Seuss, books about animals, etc) they can not wait to get their tiny hands on them!    
     The first day, we discuss the purpose for reading books.  The most common responses from my students are "to get smart" and "to learn", which are fantastic responses!  I also let them know about why I read books- because it's fun!  I share with them my love for reading, how I imagine myself as the main character and picking new books is like picking my own new adventure!  I also tell them it's like watching a great movie, but with a lot more secrets and detail that movies do not have time to share- they get excited about this!

    Once we have set our purpose, we then discuss how to read books.  When I say this, I always see most of the students beginning to look nervous, as if they're wondering how long it will be before I figure out that they can not yet read.  The first way to read is to "Read the pictures".  When I tell them this, some of their nervous looks turn to confusion, as if wondering why I would say reading pictures when you read words!
 
   I begin modeling this by choosing a book with with very obvious pictures (such as No David! or David Goes to School) and telling the story simply by discussing the pictures.  I also ask for student input when "reading" the pictures.  I find any way possible to find evidence from the pictures to support their "reading", to increase their confidence!
 
  The next way to "read" is to retell the story.  I usually do this with a well known story, such as the Three Little Pigs.  I have a bookshelf specifically for "Books we have read together."  Students may select books from their to go in their bags (more on that in a bit) to retell.  When I model this story, it's much like reading the pictures, except with a little more detail because we have heard the words in the story before.

    The final way to read is the most obvious, which is to read the words.  I should students our baskets labeled A-C, which are early reading levels and suggest they try 1-2 of these a week and look for words they may know while they're reading the pictures.  I also emphasize that it is OKAY if you can not read the words yet, this is not an expectation yet and we will learn how to read this year!  After this presentation (usually spanning two days), students seem much more at ease in "reading".
   
 The Daily 5 authors suggest choosing student's first set of books, but I allow my students to choose their own right from the start.  We talk about how the tags on the baskets indicate what type of books are in the basket and why choosing "Good-Fit" books are important and the most fun to read!

   Students choose five books the first week and store them in their colorful bags (picture at the top of the collage- the brown tags on them are actually "photo stickers" covering names!)  I purchased them from Really Good Stuff about five years ago and they have held up very well for daily, continuous use- I have not had to replace one yet!

   The first couple of days practicing Read to Self are trying.  Students usually make it about 2 minutes before someone is not following directions and everyone is redirected back to the carpet.  This may seem tedious, it certainly feels that way, but after a few days they make it longer.  And then within a week or so they're easily up to 10 minutes of read to self time with no redirections!  We celebrate our success with a stamina graph!  Each day we chart how many minutes we were successfully independent.  Each time we celebrate, I share I few things I saw that I liked and ask students to share things they felt were especially successful for them.

   Below is a picture of a few of the anchor charts I use to introduce and review Read to Self.

     Do you implement the Daily 5 in your class?  If so, what grade do you teach and how do you feel about introducing Read to Self?

Coming soon:  Read to Someone

99.5% done introducing the Daily 5!

    So, it's been a while!  The first couple weeks of school were not only busy during the week but on the weekends as well leaving me with little free time to blog!  We have already covered so much!  We're nearly finished with section 1 of Everyday Mathematics and we will be beginning our new unit in ELA on Wednesday.  We have also spent time working on names, social skills, and apples.  And finally, our 5 class rules, "Hands and Eyes", "Mirror" and "Class? Yes?" have also been introduced
    We're in the home stretch for the introduction of the Daily 5!  So far we have learned all about Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work and Work on Writing.  Starting tomorrow, I will be introducing Listen to Reading.  Most of my listening library collection is still on tape so that is always interesting since kids usually think I am talking about the tape used to stick things together (I always ask if they know what tapes are and 9 times out of 10 they say that!)
      I only have one listening station set up (tape/CD player) and the other half of the group listens to stories on the computer.  In the past, I have used Barnes and Noble Online Storytime and our local library has an online collection of books as well.  Our new ELA curriculum, Superkids, also has stories on their website so we use those as well.
     The most challenging part of Listen to Reading is coordinating who listens to the CD/tape player first and whose on the PCs first.  Even though I color code it, the students still get confused.  Any suggestions?  I know they're trying their best to follow instructions, but I still can't find a system that works out good enough to increase their level of independence.
     This year, I have a lot of young students- many who just turned five or those who will be five most of the school year.  They may be a little farther away from reading, but their desire to read might be the strongest and most confident I've observed in a couple of years.  I've also had good luck with students choosing good fit books and putting away books in the correct baskets (I have sticker picture labels on every book).
     For the most part, I introduce everything nearly the same way it is outlined in the back of the book (The Daily 5).  I do shorten each introduction down a day or two (instead of 5-ish days to introduce and practice one topic we do 3-4 before introducing the next one).  This is because the first full week we implement the Daily 5 exactly as it should be (students going to different activities at different times vs. everyone practicing the same thing), I am still observing behaviors, as well as redirecting and modeling when needed.  After that first week, we will begin guided reading groups.
     Over the next week, I plan to write more blog posts about the remaining four parts of the Daily 5 and what it looks like in action in my classroom!