We started "Read to Self" in the Frog Room this week!
The kids have done a wonderful job settling in to our morning routine, and now Read to Self is a part of that. Here's what a typical morning looks like in our classroom:
8:35-8:55: Children arrive, unpack their backpacks and folders, order their lunches, get their pencil boxes, and sit down at their tables to read quietly. During this time, I am taking attendance, gathering any notes from home, walking around greeting the kids and chatting with them at their tables. I love to hear their stories of after-school activities and nights at home!
8:55-9:15: When the morning song begins, the kids know to put their books in their baskets and make their way over to their "Lillypad seats" on the rug. When we're all gathered in front of the Smart Board, our 6 weekly calendar helpers lead us through lots of interactive calendar pages. During calendar, we sing about the months of the year and days of the week, count how many days we've been in school with base-10 blocks, tally marks, coins, and counters, check and graph the observable weather and temperature, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and our Classroom Promise. After that, we move right into our weekly songs and poems. We work on our improving our fluency as we practice singing and reciting together with all different kinds of voices, speeds, and volumes!
9:15-9:45: Reading Workshop/Read Aloud and Mini-Lesson. This is when I read an engaging, high-quality book (the kids have already caught on to the fact that I call just about every book I read "one of my favorites!") to the class and discuss a theme or comprehension strategy that goes with it. I do lots of "thinking out loud" during this time and I encourage the kids to practice using the strategy with me before they are released to try it in their independent reading. I also highlight any new vocabulary words that we may want to try using throughout our day. While they're listening to the story, the kids are also doing "turn and talks" with their neighbors to discuss the book and go deeper in evaluating their own thinking (metacognition).
9:45-10:15: Read to Self. This is when the kids get to take everything we've talked about during the morning (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, etc) and try it out with books that are at their independent level. They can read anywhere around the room (there are enough comfy spots for everyone!) and the only rules are to stay quiet, stay in one spot, and read the whole time. While everyone is enjoying their books, I walk around and read with kids - formally and informally - and pull small groups for specific strategy lessons. This is one of my favorite times of the day, as I really get to learn about each of the children and help them develop as readers!
The video and pictures below were taken on our very first day of Read to Self. I tip-toed around to take the footage, and a few of the kids volunteered to explain the rules of Read to Self for our viewers. They did an amazing job! Please remember: you are welcome to pop in at any time to check out our classroom for yourself -- our door is always open and we would LOVE to have you!
The kids have done a wonderful job settling in to our morning routine, and now Read to Self is a part of that. Here's what a typical morning looks like in our classroom:
8:35-8:55: Children arrive, unpack their backpacks and folders, order their lunches, get their pencil boxes, and sit down at their tables to read quietly. During this time, I am taking attendance, gathering any notes from home, walking around greeting the kids and chatting with them at their tables. I love to hear their stories of after-school activities and nights at home!
8:55-9:15: When the morning song begins, the kids know to put their books in their baskets and make their way over to their "Lillypad seats" on the rug. When we're all gathered in front of the Smart Board, our 6 weekly calendar helpers lead us through lots of interactive calendar pages. During calendar, we sing about the months of the year and days of the week, count how many days we've been in school with base-10 blocks, tally marks, coins, and counters, check and graph the observable weather and temperature, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and our Classroom Promise. After that, we move right into our weekly songs and poems. We work on our improving our fluency as we practice singing and reciting together with all different kinds of voices, speeds, and volumes!
9:15-9:45: Reading Workshop/Read Aloud and Mini-Lesson. This is when I read an engaging, high-quality book (the kids have already caught on to the fact that I call just about every book I read "one of my favorites!") to the class and discuss a theme or comprehension strategy that goes with it. I do lots of "thinking out loud" during this time and I encourage the kids to practice using the strategy with me before they are released to try it in their independent reading. I also highlight any new vocabulary words that we may want to try using throughout our day. While they're listening to the story, the kids are also doing "turn and talks" with their neighbors to discuss the book and go deeper in evaluating their own thinking (metacognition).
9:45-10:15: Read to Self. This is when the kids get to take everything we've talked about during the morning (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, etc) and try it out with books that are at their independent level. They can read anywhere around the room (there are enough comfy spots for everyone!) and the only rules are to stay quiet, stay in one spot, and read the whole time. While everyone is enjoying their books, I walk around and read with kids - formally and informally - and pull small groups for specific strategy lessons. This is one of my favorite times of the day, as I really get to learn about each of the children and help them develop as readers!
The video and pictures below were taken on our very first day of Read to Self. I tip-toed around to take the footage, and a few of the kids volunteered to explain the rules of Read to Self for our viewers. They did an amazing job! Please remember: you are welcome to pop in at any time to check out our classroom for yourself -- our door is always open and we would LOVE to have you!
RSS Feed