Shopping for books!

So, at a quick glance, it may look like chaos! And I'll be honest... sometimes, it feels like chaos. But if you really tune in and take time to observe, you will see what is really happening.

Every Friday for roughly 30 minutes (one Daily Five session,) we all take the time to revisit our book tubs and shop for new books. When we finish shopping, we find a spot around the room to really dive into the books we've chosen to be sure they are a good fit. If they aren't, we can go ahead and put them back before we choose a different book. By the time the 30 minutes is over, we are all around the room, reading to ourselves.

I've toyed with the idea of changing the way we shop. Should I have small groups shop first thing in the morning? Should I have them shop at the end of the day, while we're packing up? Could we shop every other week? I have heard many teachers talking about different ways of handling how kids exchange books for their book tubs lately, so I've really thought about why I do it the way that I do. I also talked to my friend Trish and others on our Daily Five Twitter chat. And here's what I came up with...

What's really happening during this organized chaos is conversation. It's collaboration. It's thinking about who we are as readers. It's time to recommend books to our friends. It's time for me (the lead reader) to suggest books to my growing readers. If we didn't shop all together, I'm afraid we'd lose this time for these kinds of real connections. I'd miss watching books go from hand to hand, reader to reader.

And why the need for a weekly shopping time? By shopping each week, it keeps my readers motivated and keeps their reading stamina high. As a reader, I know I am always tuning in to new things to keep my interest peaked. I have to expect that same feeling from my little readers. They always have the option to keep books they're still reading or books they want to spend more time with. But I encourage them to switch out the majority of books, especially those they've read several times. Sometimes longer books or chapter books stay in tubs for a couple of weeks... and that's ok.

Shopping is a valued time and valued activity. It is the way in which I help guide and teach my first graders to pick those good fit books that are going to move them along in their reading journey. So, with two days of school left... this is what is on my mind! I know it will be a sad, sad time when I tell the boys and girls they have to reshelve all of the books from their book tubs. But I'll remind them they are always welcome to come back if they need some good books to read!

Ambiguous

I think we have to be careful with our words
BEST PRACTICE
and think about who is listening when we use them
RESEARCH BASED
or how they may be interpreted
FIDELITY
by those who just like to toss out those catch phrases
DATA DRIVEN
so that they can capture our attention
ACCOUNTABILITY
before we quietly close our doors
RIGOR
and teach our children.


*Ah, this helps me to let out a big sigh of relief. Had to put it out there. I also cross posted this at my other blog. :)

Guided Reading and Daily 5

After a great conversation with my friend Nicole (@OhioNicole) yesterday, my mind keeps going back to something that we talked about. I know that I've been talking a lot about conferring with individual readers and dabbling in using strategy groups with my first graders. However... the Daily Five absolutely can and does work well for those classrooms using the traditional guided reading format!

For the past three years, I was meeting with guided reading groups as my first graders were engaged in their Daily Five choices. The Daily Five provided the structure for the authentic reading and writing tasks while I provided the small group leveled literacy instruction. It worked well for me and my kids! Because we had the Daily Five structure in place, I was able to meet with groups without having to stop and redirect off-task children. I didn't have to stop and plead with my little learners to quiet down. Thanks to our I-charts and the time we spent building our stamina, those incidents were few and far between.

For the past 15+ years, I have been meeting with guided reading groups as the main focus of my literacy instruction. My principal for many of those years worked for the Wright Group and presented workshops on guided reading. It was the end-all, be-all of our literacy instruction. It was only after reading the CAFE book, Preventing Misguided Reading, More Than Guided Reading and many other professional resources that I started realizing that guided reading as I knew it had become too scripted, too over-valued. For a while in my classroom, it just didn't "feel right" any more but I couldn't put my finger on it. After those professional reads, I felt like I was finally coming out of the tunnel.

I'm still learning, but I am conferring with readers individually in my classroom now. I'm using guided reading if and when my readers need that supportive structure (and some definitely do!) I've learned that over the course of the past 15 years, children have changed... and I needed to change, too. That being said, I still see the value of using the guided reading structure as a part of my literacy instruction.

I guess what I needed to say is this... Guided reading can definitely work with the Daily Five. Many districts and teachers are doing this very successfully!

Looking for resources?

I get lots of my inspiration and answers from fellow Daily 5/Cafe fans. I thought I'd share two of my favorite online spots!

The first one is hosted on Gail and Joan's site (which is SO worth the money!) New-ish to members is the Discussion Board. You can post questions and have conversations about both Daily 5 and Cafe. They've added a new Literacy Coaching board, too!

The second is the Daily 5/Cafe chat on Twitter that I co-host each week. We meet on Fridays at 7 pm CST on topics that are voted on by all of our participants. This is a great place to gain new ideas, resources, and to troubleshoot!

What are your favorite places to visit? 

Changes...

For the first time ever, I've felt a need to limit the amount of children who do Read to Someone during a particular session. My class this year is just loud. And while they are usually actually reading and talking about what they're reading... it's just loud.

Starting about 2 weeks ago, only 6 children can do Read to Someone at a time. We average 3 sessions daily, so this means 18 out of 22 kids still get to read to someone each day. Plus, I'm conferring with individuals and more often that not, I ask them to read aloud to me then.

I think this may have increased the motivation to read to someone, too. Now it's a more "coveted" Daily with its limited number. This makes me happy because I really do see great benefits in having them read and talk about it with peers! It also helps build fluency in an authentic way.

So... changes. Still keeping the oh-so-important element of choice but making it manageable. When we're ready, we'll go back to letting it be a choice for more than 6 at a time!

A Glimpse into our Individual Book Tubs...

Friday is our official "shopping" day! For the past two weeks, we have started our shopping time by counting up how many books we have in our book tubs. Then we count how many of those books we actually read this week. That number is the starting point for deciding how many books to choose. This is starting to sink in as they are becoming more and more responsible with their choices. And it turns out that each book tub is as unique as each individual reader.

This little friend has discovered Magic Tree House books. He has decided, like many of us that he would like to read more books in the series! After I took this picture, he did put back 3 of these titles when he realized he probably couldn't read them all in one week!

This book tub belongs to my little friend who loves princess books so much that she even wears princess underwear (as she told us last week!) She has decided that she is going to try some new kinds of books this week. She went with a variety of fiction books including picture books and chapter books.

This little reader is a HUGE fan of animals and nonfiction books. As much as I try to encourage her to step to the side and try something new, she just really wants to learn about animals! We have grand conversations about saving the world, one animal at a time. How can I deny her that?! She is passionate and driven to learn about animals, so why not give her the tools to help her to just that?

This lttle friend isn't quite sure what she would like to read! She is really interested in "boy stuff" as she tells me, but she noticed one of her friends with a Judy Moody book in her book tub. I think that might have inspired her to try that one and the Lucy book.

One thing I am really proud of as I look at these pictures is the variety of books in my students' book tubs! This is yet another example of how different we all are as readers. I love that their book tubs are filled with picture books, chapter books, fiction books, nonfiction, poetry, and now, even magazines! I truly believe this is helping my children to build their reading lives and increase their knowledge/skill base, too. Not only are they choosing books "at their level", but they are becoming more independent as they choose books from around the room and learn to justify why that is a good choice for them.

How are your students doing with their book choices? Are they growing and expanding their reading lives?

Thoughts on 3 Ways to Read a Book

Occasionally, people have questioned me on the use of "3 Ways to Read a Book." They wonder how I can justify "reading the pictures" as real reading. They ask how retelling stories is helping children to learn to read. Upper grade teachers wonder about the value of reading pictures when their readers are engrossed in longer chapter books. I have always tried to justify this by saying that it makes all of my little friends feel like real readers. In reality, it is exactly what real readers do!

I inadvertantly put this theory to the test in a recent project I started at home. My lesson came when I decided to put together a small entertainment shelving unit. It stands roughly four feet tall, has two shelves, and one drawer. Before beginning, I thought it might take me an hour or two but that I was fully capable of putting it together myself. And then I started.

First, I read the directions that came in the box. I understood all of the words I was reading... with more than 99% accuracy! I knew all of the words in the directions, but it still wasn't making sense to me. I was trying to do what the directions were telling me to do, but I just didn't get it.

Next, I reread the sections I didn't understand. When that still didn't seem to help, I retold what I had read to my helper (thanks, Mom!) Explaining it to her seemed to help... a little. Between the two of us, we were able to read and reread our way through the first step.

Finally, I had the good sense to use the pictures. What a world of a difference! Between the picture of the finished product on the box and the step-by-step pictures in the directions, it all started to come together. While I was able to read everything on the page, I relied on the pictures to help me "see" what I was missing.

My quick little Sunday morning project turned into a 5 hour ordeal! I'm happy to report that the shelf remains sturdy and looks beautiful. This is a lesson that I will keep with me for a long time. It will help me explain to my students and colleagues the power of three ways to read a book. Now if I could just figure out how to hook up my TV...

-Komos :)