Daily 5: Read to Self and a FREEBIE

Phew, Monday is almost over and out of the way!  We got our first snow here in Minnesota and they kids were...excited...to say the least!

Last week I posted a little bit about how I run my Listen to Reading area for Daily 5.  I am planning on doing several more Daily 5 posts, as this is my first year trying it and I would LOVE feedback.  I have to be completely honest and admit that I don't really do Daily 5 correctly, but I do use many of the concepts presented in the Daily 5 and Cafe books.  I use four of the Daily 5 components that the sisters explain: Read to Self, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing.  My fifth station is ME: doing guided reading, guided writing and/or assessments at my horseshoe table.

My Daily 5 rotation pocket chart.  Partner reading was one of the rotations that we did on the day this photo was taken-we usually do Listen to Reading instead.

Right now, I am still running these five components quite a bit like centers or stations.  Students do not get to choose where they go/when they go there yet.  I am planning on gradually increasing choice and independence a little bit later in the year.  Below is a picture of my pocket chart that shows students where they go.  I just rotate the top pictures every time we rotate activities.  Students go to each activity every day for about 15 minutes per rotation. The Daily 5 suggests going to only 2-3 activities per day, but  I think kindergarten students need to change activities more often so I adapted it a bit.

Today I want to share how I manage Read to Self in my classroom..what is Read to Self?? You may be wondering if you are a complete Daily 5 beginner.. Read to Self is exactly what it sounds like...kids reading silently to themselves (while an adult is conferencing with individuals or small groups on concentrated literacy skills).  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of my Read to Self anchor chart from the beginning of the year, but I promise it looks pretty dang close to every other one you've seen on Pinterest or other teacher blogs;).  Our anchor chart helps students learn about and remember their jobs during Read to Self time, which are: to read for the whole time, stay in one spot, read the pictures and/or words on each page, and keep our body still.

Here are the book bins that I use for students. I was lucky enough to have these cubbies in my classroom when I started at the school.  I also have students keep their poetry notebooks in them so they can remember all of their favorite poems and songs.  I'll post more about poetry notebooks later this week during the "word work" segment of Daily 5.

Students are allowed to "book shop" for  six books per week from our theme shelf or categorized classroom library. Right now, I allow students to choose all "interest books" or "look books" for Read to Self time.  These are books that are likely too hard for my kindergarteners to read, so they tell themselves a story using the pictures.  Reading the pictures is a skill that I model and we practice explicitly at the beginning of the year. This will be changing next week when I introduce my leveled library and I do my lesson on choosing good fit books. I will post pictures of the lesson after we do it!  After I introduce leveled books, I start sending home a take-home book bag each night.  Students choose one "good fit" book from their book bin to bring home and read with a parent.  My mom is making me fabric book bags this year which I am suuuper excited about!!

Here is my leveled bookshelf-almost all organized and ready to go for book shopping and take-home book bags!

I use Avery dot stickers to color-code each book by level.  I used Guided Reading levels to level my books, although some are a ballpark guess!

One of our two themed book display shelves that students can book shop from. This one is set for Thanksgiving/November.

Part of our categorized classroom library.  Below the books are retelling props and puppets.

I allow students to spread out around my room and read pretty much anywhere that I can keep my eyes on them. I have considered structuring this more and having some sort of sign-up for reading spots.  Does anyone do this in their classroom?

Since I do not conference with individual students like The Sisters suggest (I am meeting with groups of students for Guided Reading instead--just couldn't give this up!!), I created checklists of literacy skills for my parent volunteers to go through while they are meeting with students.  These are working out really well because they are very specific and easy for all parents to grab, understand, and complete.  I even cuted up a clipboard for my checklists and put it in a spot so regular volunteers can easily access it each time they come in.  You can grab my checklists for free at my Teachers Pay Teachers store right now!  Just click the cover picture below.

I will be back to post some of the comfy reading spots in our classroom, our anchor chart for Read to Self, and our Good Fit book lesson--but I hope this helps get you started and gives you some good Read to Self ideas!

Please leave me a comment if you download my conferencing checklist freebie or if you'd like to share how you do Read to Self in your own classroom.  I would really love to hear from you:).