Daily Five Chapter Five part 1

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

1. How will you instill the importance (or urgency as the sisters call it) of 'listening to reading' in your students and especially those students who have had little 'lap time' or reading done for them in their own homes?

I think the best way to do this is to make listening to reading super fun and exciting when they listen to me.  I use puppets, I dress up, I jump up and down, act things out and use different voices and I even use sound effects when I read.  When I download a book (which I do when I am on a long car trip) I often listen to snippets before downloading the book to see if the reader can keep my attention.  For those that haven’t had a lot of “lap time” I think it is also important during the first several weeks of school to spend lots of time on the floor reading to kids, modeling what it should look like, sound like and feel like.  I will also be starting a blog with ideas for parents to spice up listening to reading at home and explaining the importance.  I love some of the web sites other bloggers are posting that have actors reading stories (for free!) kids books.  I will be making a list of those to share with parents and to use in my reading nook!

2. What devices or strategies are you going to use to conduct listen to reading?' Will you use a community recording device with one cd and several earphones, individual cd players, tape recorders, ipod-type devices or computers?

I love my iPad for listening to reading.  The kids are enthralled with it and several kiddos can listen at one time.  I am looking to pick up some cheap cd players and tape recorders because I have picked up lots of tapes (cheap) from an on-line yahoo teachers group where you can list items you have for sale and other teachers can list what they are looking for. 

3. What expectations will you have for your students during 'listen to reading' and how will you keep them on task and independent instead of needing your assistance when they can't manage 'devices?'

My expectations are for them to actually listen to what is being read.  This means quiet voices, listening ears, watching eyes.  I will keep them on track by modeling how to listen to reading on the Smart Board as a large group by going to an on-line reading resource and having everyone practice together.  We will make an anchor chart and model it doing it correctly and incorrectly.  Practice, practice, practice.  I love the set of posters on the blog A Differentiated Kindergarten http://www.differentiatedkindergarten.com/2012/07/kindergaten-daily-5-link-up-and.html  so I will be downloading those and using them as well!  Thanks for making those!

4. Do you have enough 'listening to reading' type materials? If not, what ideas do you have for securing these materials? Where will you store them? How will your students retrieve these items? Where will they be used (will there be a designated spot in your class for listen or reading or will it be their choice)?

No, I do not have enough material, but I am stalking garage sales, thrift stores, on-line resources (like the one I mentioned above) and friends and families to get more tapes and CD’s to go with books for listening to reading.  I also have subscribed to several apps that have free books, interactive books and add new books each week.  I have a special place with a special book shelf, a beach umbrella and beach chairs for the kids to listen to reading.  I can’t wait to set it up.  They can listen anywhere in the classroom, but I am hoping this becomes a special place for them.  As long as supplies return to the shelf they are allowed to go where they are comfortable. 

6. The sisters do not really talk about this in their book, but how do you feel about listening response sheets? Will listening to reading be just for 'listening' or will there be follow-up work required of your students? If there is reading response sheets, what will they look like?

I think taking data on what the kiddos are getting out of their listening to reading experience is important, but I do it on a bi-weekly basis and do not have the kiddos fill out a sheet each time they listen to reading.  I hope to see the kids re-enacting stories they listen to during their center time play, but I need formal assessment so I know if the books they are listening to are interesting and challenging for them.  I have a feeling as the year progresses I will add more assessment to the listening to reading section of our Daily Five routine.

7. I would be remiss to not add this so . . . how can this station be differentiated to meet the various learning profiles, interests and/or readiness of your students?

I love my iPad for differentiating for children at different levels.  Some books can be interactive for my kinesthetic learners; some books can be shorter for my kiddos with shorter attention spans, longer for kids that are ready for that.  I love that I can get books that light up or highlight the words as they are read for my visual learners or the ones that have cool sound effects for my auditory learners.  I can also download books that focus on a certain topic so the kids that are into dinosaurs can read about dinosaurs on so on.  It is cheaper to download a lot of these books than it is for me to buy them from a store many times.