...this week. My first grade sweeties were barkin' at the moon this week. One little guy said "We're really wild today, aren't we?" Uh, yup.
I wanted to share with you how I do Read-to-Someone {Partner Reading} in my classroom. We do a modified version of Daily 5. I've blogged about it a few times. Just search "Daily 5" on my blog to read about that.
Monday through Thursday we do Daily 4 and save the 5th component, Read-to-Someone, for Friday. Something you might not know about me - I'm a recovering micro-manager. Over the years, I've been letting certain things go that I wasn't always able to. {It's OK if your water bottle isn't on the upper right corner of your desk}
Read-to-Someone when I'm trying to do guided reading groups?
Just can't do it.
I change everything up on Friday's and I love it! I look forward to those days where the whole day just has a different flow to it. The kids love it too.
We start Read-to-Someone by me sharing my observations with the class from last week. I write on two sides of the paper. On one side I record what they've done well and on the other side I record what they might need to work on {I record those generically - I don't mention names}. Really, I'm keeping notes because it keeps them focused and doing what they should. My notes are mostly complimentary and are written knowing that I will be sharing them out loud and want to focus on behaviors {both reading behaviors and behavioral} that I want to see from everyone. I do note other things that are more for me - I just don't share those with the kiddos.
Once I do that, I do a quick mini-lesson. Mostly, these mini-lessons focus on comprehension, fluency & expression. One day we worked on how our voices should sound when we come to periods, question marks or exclamation marks. Another day we talked about using a teaching voice when reading nonfiction. Today, our focus was retelling a nonfiction text. They all go to their partnerships with a specific goal or task in mind.
I can't stand it, I have to come clean. I told you I'm a recovering micro-manager. I always pick my kids partners. I just can't bear the thought that somebody might not get picked or always be "the one" leftover. Oh that just tugs at my heartstrings. I pick partnerships either with Stick Pick...
Or using my "old fashioned" {according to one of my kids} sticks. Have you seen this trick?
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| That's a toilet paper roll! |
Once they have their partners, they get their personal bookshelves - this is where they keep the books they've read all week during Read-to-Self...
...find a cozy place to read...
...and I walk around with my handy dandy clipboard, coffee in hand, taking notes. You should hear my classroom - each. and. every. time. Without fail, I can almost promise you, 100 percent of my students are on task and uber engaged. It's magical.
I tried doing Read-to-Someone the other four days during the week - but I just couldn't manage it. Inevitably, they were too loud, too silly, or too whatever...but not too into what they were supposed to be doing. I don't know - it might work for you, but this REALLY works for me.
We end each partner reading session with a compliment. My first graders are really good at giving great, specific compliments. We've practiced and practiced not just saying "I liked your reading" or "you did good". We started off using prompts - but now they are great at coming up with their own. Here are the prompts we used at the beginning. If you grab it - leave a comment letting me know what you think.
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| Mini Anchor Chart |
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| Mini Anchor Cards - Pick both up by clicking on the picture |
Once we've finished making each other's hearts sing - we get ready to "go shopping".
I assign each student a "magic letter". This ensures that they will fill {6 books} their personal bookshelves with books that are at their just right level. Typically, their magic letter is a level or two below their instructional reading level. I want these books to really fit them so that they can practice fluency, expression and comprehension throughout the week.
I do, however, want my firsties to practice knowing how to choose a good fit book on their own. After all, library books and bookstore books don't have your magic letters on them. So, we talk about IPICK a lot and each student is able to pick two "dessert books". These books are from anywhere in our classroom library.
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| Chart from Cara Carroll @ The First Grade Parade |
And there you have it! If you're doing Daily 5 what do you do differently from The Sisters that just works for you?
Happy weekend everybody!
