Daily Five Chapter Four Book Study

Link to Daily Five Chapter Four Book Study at Mrs Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business

Read to Self is a segment of the Daily 5 framework when students need to be reading quietly and constantly for a set amount of time in the classroom.

1)  How far into the school year do you think kinders need to be to be able to begin the process of Read to Self? What is realistic? When do you plan to begin implementation

I will start probably the first day.  I am planning on taking a book in myself and reading when they do at first.  I am going to send home a note with the parents at Kindergarten Orientation explaining Read To Self and I will ask the parents to introduce the term at home and to practice with their child for two minutes each night until Kindergarten starts.  I think it is important for the parents to understand the importance so they can practice at home and have the concept reinforced and practiced when they are not at school.

2)  How will you make sure that each child views him/herself as a reader (whether they are reading words or not)?

Oh my!  They are readers!  I believe that before they even come to school and they will hear it at Orientation.  I will be giving them book marks that say “I AM A SUPER READER!”.  I will have lots of environmental print in the Dramatic Play area to reinforce that they are already reading!  I will also have many “favorite” books that they can “read” to me and to their friends.

3)  What are some ideas you have about "Launching Read to Self" in kindergarten? How will you go about it and what are some ways to make sure it is "kinder friendly"?

I have a ton of stuffed animals that are characters from many of the popular books (I Love Kohl’s for doing this).  They can get an animal to sit with them when they read at first.  I know this is more of a read to a friend strategy, but at first I think it will make reading to self less intimidating.  I also have mentioned their All About Me book they put together to bring to school during the first week of school.  It is great because they can all read about themselves!  I have a special book case they go into so they can always pick their special book about themselves to read.  It is critical that they are given an opportunity to be successful right from the start, and that book they bring from home really seems to help.  We will also discuss reading to self during morning meeting starting the first day.  I have tons of pillows, kids size beach chairs, a beach umbrella they can sit under, I have cut off two rocking chairs and made them kids size so they can have lots of different areas of the room they want to explore with a book!  I want them to snuggle down with a book and really enjoy the atmosphere.

4)  How will you/do you build the children's belief that this IS important? What can we do to encourage the ones who do not value it and create disruptions for others?

Again, I think it is about making them successful.  No one wants to fail, and letting them read the All About Me book they bring with them creates success.  I have also been collecting a lot of non-fiction books (lots of boys really love these, real pictures of real tangible things can really entice some kids to enjoy books because they don’t have to follow a “story” but can understand reading about “real” things is reading and RESEARCH.  My aren’t they smart to be doing all that already!).  I always ask the kids the first day of school what they want to learn about and then it is my job to get books specifically about their interest.  The kids can’t believe that I would go to the library and pick out books special, just for them.  I also write it down for them to take to the library (both school and public) so they can had it to the media specialist (some are shy and don’t want to talk).  I make special book marks for them featuring their interests so they don’t forget what they want to read about (I might put pictures of dinosaurs, princesses, animals, whatever they list onto the bookmark).

5)      How valuable is Checking In and Reviewing with kindergarteners? How often will you do it? When will you do it? What are some different ways to "check in"?

I want to have a morning meeting and an afternoon meeting to check in with the class.  I will check in with small groups and individuals at different times during the day.  This is something I have never done formally (remember, Daily Five is new to me) so this is an area I need to introduce to myself this year.  I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to say about this.