Read to Self

In our classroom we have been focusing on the Daily 5. The Daily 5 is the concept that students' need to focus on five areas to help improve reading: reading to self, working on writing, word work (spelling words, high frequency words), listening to reading, and read to someone (could be a partner or a teacher). 

The idea is that eventually when the class comes in in the morning they get to pick out of these 5 what they want to work on first and bins will be laid out on the "Kiva" in which they get to choose the activity from. During this time they get to do more than one activity. The only one we wont be doing in the morning is listening to reading, because we do this during centers at the listening center. What I love about doing this is they get to do the activities at an independent level while I will get the chance to work with students in small groups. 

Moving on! My goal is over the next few weeks to make a post about one of the daily 5 individually on this blog. So that you can better understand them, and apply some of the techniques which we do in the classroom at home. As it is the beginning of the year, and we are still learning the routines we are not ready to dive into picking whatever in the morning, but we will get there!

So to start of "Read to Self" .
You can see what the bin looks like below what they grab from. They read a book on their own then I usually include a comprehension sheet (later in the year they will each have a reading response journal).

 

We have been trying to focus choosing "Just Right Books". This is a book that should not be too difficult for them. An independent reading level book should actually be below their level to amplify excellent fluency. Below you can see one of our focus poster for choosing a "Just Right Book"

These are great things to keep in mind when helping your child pick a book at home.

1. Interesting to them

2. Making sure they understand as they read

3. When they reread they sound like they are talking

4. Making sure you can read most of the words. ( I like the five 5 finger rule for 1 page. Count how many words they miss if it is more than 5 then maybe they should pick a different book)

 

 

They have been using our "Just Right Book" rules while picking books from our classroom library for reading to self. Hope you find them helpful for you at home!