Daily 5 Chapter 5!

1. How will you instill the importance (or urgency) 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?

YIKES! I have not been so good at "listening to reading" in my classroom... Oh, it kills me to admit it and put it in print but it is true. Even before reaching this chapter I was already thinking how I was going to get better at this for the coming year because I know that I need to conquer this challenge. It is not that there is anything particularly hard about this but I have struggled with space and quality materials. Over the years I have tried different places for listening to reading and I really never have had a favorite place. Also, we have some equipment issues for listening to reading. And I also have some resource issues for this as well.

Listening to reading offers a child a chance to hear the printed word. For many children they have not had a rich "lap time" experience at home. I have even noticed that a majority of my students cannot name one person who reads with them at home and they cannot name a favorite book! And what about the children who enter our classrooms and hear English for the first time? I think now I have reminded myself of the sense of URGENCY here...

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 would LOVE a new community device with several earphones and wireless would be wonderful. I would even consider individual cd players. What I do have is a very old school style tape player and headphones and now you know EXACTLY why "listening to reading" has not been a hot spot in my classroom. HOWEVER, I did get two ipads for my classroom and I do plan on using that and my other computers for listening to reading. In the last several months I have seen some great online resources. The problem I struggle with is that we need our computers and devices for other applications and it would be difficult to dedicate these devices to solely listening to reading within our Literacy Block each and every single day. 

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?

I think it is to be expected that children will need to be taught expectations and how to use the devices. I plan on spending several days modeling the use as we listen to reading together in the beginning of the year. As the expectations change and grow over the year, I will model and we will practice the new expectations.

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 listening to reading or will it be their choice?
I have quite a few materials for listening to reading. I need more books on cd rather than on cassette. I just need to continue adding to my collection. There will be a designated spot for listening to reading depending on the device used. Materials will be stored in containers where the children can have access to them and can independently use them.

5. How do you feel about listening response sheets?
I like listening response sheets because it holds a child accountable for his work and time spent with the task. I do not necessarily think that each time you listen to reading it is necessary to record it. I also think the listening response sheets need to change over the year to address different goals.

6. How can this station be differentiated to meet the various learning profiles, interests and/or readiness of your students?
There are several ways to differentiate listen to reading. One way would be the choice of device that would be used to listen. Second, would be choice in the books. And last, the response to listening to reading can be differentiated according to goals for a child or a particular group of children.

Read to Someone
1. Why should students be reading to someone?
Reading to Someone increases reading motivation, fluency and reading rate. As children participate in reading they have opportunities to practice reading strategies and engage in the love of reading. Children enjoy Read to Someone and it usually becomes a class favorite and it gives children the opportunity to discuss books and share thinking.

2. How can your students Read to Someone?
Expectations for Read to Someone are established, modeled, practiced and reviewed just like all the other parts of the Daily 5. Following the same procedures makes teaching this easy. Considering that children will already know how to pick a good reading spot for Read to Self there is not much difference here except for the addition of sitting Elbow Elbow Knee Knee and any other different type of reading mentioned below. I do believe that quality time needs to be spent with teaching, modeling and practicing the different ways Read to Someone can look.

I Read, You Read- Two children reading the same book.
Choral Reading- Two children reading the same section at the same time.
Reading One Book- One book is shared and children take turns reading.
Reading Different Books- Two children take turns reading a page from different books.

Another variation of Read to Someone that children love is what we call Buddy Reading. With Buddy Reading a child can select a stuffed animal to read to. I have seen classrooms with tubs full of choices of a buddy. I have also noticed that many children Buddy Read when they have choiced to do other things...it is popular.

One of my year end Read to Someone choices was Read to Someone- Group Reading. My children loved this and actually started it on their own. Early in the year I made Calendar Chants for my class. We clapped, chanted and clapped the chants all year long. When the children knew all of them I made each child a book from these chants. I never really expected this to be a daily reading choice for Read to Self or Read to Someone. I was surprised because these chant folders were in use from the day I passed them out to the last day of Kindergarten.

When my class came up with this Group Reading idea, I quickly agreed because I thought it was a good idea. What was pretty amazing was that I sat back and watched and listened as they grouped themselves. I heard the conversations and the decision making process and they organized themselves into their own reading groups. Each group had to have someone who was "really good" with calendar chants. They decided and made up the terms...not me. If a group had two or more "really good" calendar chant leaders then one of them was sent over to start a new group. It did not take long before the entire class was group reading and chanting away. I could also hear them discuss how to sit and the other expectations. To say the least...I was proud. I was very proud because what I had taught them for a year made them able to take on this task and do it independently... And when I heard a class full of calendar chants and reading I just had to call it...The Happy Sound Of Kindergarten!

Up Next... Word Work! See you soon friends!