Foundation Lessons - A Daily 5 Book Study

Guys.  I am so far behind with everything I'm doing lately!  I have been home from the Katmai for a week now.  The first day out was spent in Seward.  It's a cute little town worthy of a visit if you're ever up this way.  Mile 0 of the Iditarod race.  The next two days were spent cleaning up and drying out all of our camping supplies.  Then two days were spent getting the boyfriend ready to go to sheep camp.  He left yesterday morning, and I just slept.  All day.  It was nice.  Haha!

Then there's today.  I've got to get into my classroom before Thursday.  I can go pick up my keys tomorrow afternoon, so I decided to take care of all of my last-day-of-summer plans (i.e., cleaning my apartment for the last time until winter break) today.

Also on today's to do list...

Catching up on this blog!

I told myself when I started it again this summer that I was going to be better.  I was doing so well there for a while, then July happened!  Hopefully I do actually keep it up throughout the year.

I want to talk to you today about the foundation lessons that The Sisters mention.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I love the updates to this edition of the book!  The critical foundation lessons are outlined for your in this chapter.  Brilliant!  For those questioning which lessons you should start with, The Sisters have already laid it out.  In my classroom, I have found that I need more to implement a successful workshop, so I have about three full weeks' worth of "foundation" lessons. (You can see what I mean [here].)  I will share those lessons once I finish writing the plans.  However, The Sisters have provided a great place to start!

Read to Self

By this time, you've already taught Three Ways to Read a Book and I PICK Good-Fit Books.  The last foundation lesson for Read to Self is Choose a Successful Spot.

Some teachers spend the first few days placing students around the room (like The Sisters), while others allow students to choose their own spots right away.  Personally, I prefer placing the students around the room first.  Rather than placing them one-at-a-time, I call groups of four or five students to sit in an area.  This way, I can show them rather than tell them where the appropriate places to sit might be.  After a few rounds of this (sometimes after two or three days), we are ready to talk about how they can choose their own successful working areas.

Work on Writing

You have already taught what to do when we don't know how to spell a word.  From there, the foundation lessons include setting up the notebook and choosing what to write about.

This is where I often find myself digressing from The Sisters' book.  I use a writer's workshop model in my classroom so, where I do allow my students to choose Work on Writing during our D5 rotations, I have a separate series of lessons for writing instruction that I do at a different time during the day.  I'll have to write about that one of these days.  There are TONS of resources out there for how to begin a writer's workshop and how to teach writing.  As much as I do appreciate the work The Sisters put into describing their adapted workshop model, I personally prefer some of those other professionals' opinions on writing instruction and how to get started.  Do your own reading and form your own opinions, though.  The Daily 5 book is a good starting place if you haven't ironed out your own research and plans yet.

Read to Someone

This is where I sometimes get a little overwhelmed.  There is a lot to address here for Read to Someone to run successfully.  So far, you've taught none of these things, and it's a lengthy list.  EEKK is quite possibly my second favorite lesson to teach (the I PICK lesson being my favorite).  Then you'll address voice levels (which I've already done in my classroom because it's a school expectation to do that on the first day of school), check for understanding (a CAFE lesson), how partners read (and I have a book for that.. I'll have to dig it out), how to get started, coaching or time, and how to choose a partner.  See?  A long list!  It's overwhelming just thinking about it!  However, it'll be fine once you get started.

Listening to Reading

Your lessons here will depend greatly on your available resources for this choice.  I have two CD players, three computers, and four iPads in my classroom.  You may have more, fewer, or different resources.  You will need to teach the expectations for using those resources.  Foundation lessons include setting up and cleaning up the technology, listening and following along, and managing fairness and equitable use given the limited number of devices.

That last one isn't usually a problem for my students since they are obligated to make each choice twice during the week.  If they have already chosen Listening to Reading on Monday and Tuesday, they must give other students a chance to have a turn.  Again, your procedures and expectations will greatly depend on your resources.

Word Work

Foundation lessons for Word Work include setting up and cleaning up materials, choosing materials and words to use, and choosing a successful spot.  I am still working on this area of D5 myself.  I made lots of notes while reading, and I have lots of ideas.  I just need to get into my classroom to see about making it happen.

***

After reading this chapter, I did find myself wondering about The Sisters' viewpoints on using reader's notebooks.  They cite Aimee Buckner in the use of writer's notebooks (you can read my blog about that [here]).  Aimee Buckner also wrote a book that I haven't read about reader's notebooks.  I'll get around to reading it soon.  Keeping a notebook is a little more challenging in First Grade, but I think they can do it!  I'll have to think a little harder about it and see how I can make it work.  I'm hesitant about merging the two, but perhaps they could write about their reading in their writer's notebooks too?  I don't know.  We'll see.

The school year is starting for me soon.  If you've already begun, I hope you had a great first day/week!  If you're starting soon, I wish you well on your first day!  Let me know how it goes!

A few photos from our camping trip:

my boyfriend and me in the plane flying over the Inlet on our way to the Katmai Preserve

He takes me to the best places!

the crew and our ride

Upon returning from the Katmai, I had a photo book made with Shutterfly.  I'm sort of excited about it, but it's not scheduled to arrive until next week!

Launching Read to Self - Book Study

Welcome to Chapter 5, Launching Read to Self - The First Daily 5!  I'm back with the book study led by Brenda over a Primary Inspired as we walk through The Daily 5.

First, let me tell you, I am so tired!  I spent the last week down in Louisiana for my niece's birthday.

My sister and me at Spirits on Bourbon & House (the bartender) and me

As soon as I got out of the airport, my sister, her husband, and I hit up Bourbon Street.  This place, Spirits on Bourbon, was on that show Bar Rescue.  I don't watch it, but I'm totally claiming to have been somewhere and met people who are famous! ;)  If you go there, the best drinks are the Resurrection and the Barber Beer.  I can say that because I tried them all! Haha!

My nephew, Dylan, my niece, Leila, and me at the Baton Rouge Zoo

The real reason for my trip was my Little Bit there in the middle.  Her birthday was last weekend.  I'll be headed back in the winter for the other one.  

So I spent the whole week going to sleep at about 2am (because that's only 11pm in Alaska) and waking up between 5:30 and 7:00 each morning (because I was, after all, there for the kids not the sleep).  I am surprised I lasted the week!  On top of that, it was so hot!  At least it wasn't raining.

Anyway.  Back to this book.

I have heard many teachers say that they got a little overwhelmed by the ideas presented in the launch.  "Do you really do all of that on the first day of school?"  "My literacy block isn't long enough to get all of those lessons in!"  "How do I do this with my basal series?"  There were several other questions, but I don't remember them and they didn't all have to do with the start-up.  I'll give my input, but keep in mind that I'm just a teacher, not an expert in D5 by any means.

The Sisters discuss what their first day of school looks like.  They give the students time to choose books to fill their book boxes, they teach the Three Ways to Read a Book lessons (both of them), they go through the 10 Steps to Teaching Independence, they teach the I PICK Good-Fit Books lesson, they teach the Underline Words You Can't Spell lesson (Work on Writing foundation lesson), the Check for Understanding lesson (Read to Someone foundation lesson from CAFE strategies), and the Set Up and Clean Up Materials lesson (foundation lessons from Listen to Reading and Work Work).

Holy mother of I-don't-have-time-for-that!!  The good news:  You don't have to do everything exactly like The Sisters.  We can't all be at that level of rock star status right away, and that's okay.  I personally, don't teach any of that on the first day of school.  Instead, I focus on a few other things required by my school, like the emergency drills (because we always have a fire drill and an earthquake drill on the second or third day) and setting the rules and expectations for class - not to mention a few fun "getting to know you" and community building activities as well as dealing with supplies and such.  I get started with D5 on the second day of school.

My instruction on the first day of school includes no lessons from D5.  Instead, my lessons pertain to the following:

• Introduce the meeting place
• Signal for coming to the meeting place
• Meeting place behaviors
• How to do a turn-and-talk
• Book care
• Handling a book box

All of that seems pretty common sense, right?  Well, I forget every year that my students coming to me are not the students that left me in May.  I get so upset because I feel hopeless.  These kids can't do anything that I'm asking, let alone do it quickly!  So I leave these lessons for the first day of school because I know they need them.  If I get a quick group, we can move on to some of the lessons that I had planned for day two, but I always start with those.  My second day includes:

• Three ways to read a book (part 1)
• Read to self iChart (this includes creating a rubric for guidelines for behavior)
• Listening behavior

If we have time, I continue with:

• Three ways to read a book (part 2)
• Review meeting spot behaviors
• Review iChart, add behaviors
• Respectful manners and language
• What readers read
• Active listening
• Patience and polite words
• I PICK good-fit books
• Practice turn-and-talk
• Work with book boxes
• Book box choices (review I PICK lesson)
• ... 

I obviously don't have time for all of those lessons on the second day of school, but I do them over the course of the first week in that order.  Some classes move faster than others, but I find that all of my classes have needed all of the "common sense" lessons in order to be successful.  My reader's workshop launch usually happens over the course of the first three or four weeks of school because I also have to fit in the content lessons.  I have about 49 lessons in my launch.  Once I get my plans in a more user-friendly format, I'll share.  Right now, it barely makes sense to me.  (I feel like the kids when they are writing... I ask them to read their stories to me, and it's just a bunch of letters... "Umm... I don't actually know what I wrote.  I need more time." Haha!!)

As for the D5 book, I have been making notes on how to best accomplish some of the tasks.  For example, The Sisters have the kids choose some books on the first day.  For the first week in my district, K/1 students come one-at-a-time for Fall benchmark assessment appointments while grades 2+ have already begun class.  I think that, while I'm going over the results of the assessment with the parents at the end of the appointment, I'll have the kid choose books.  Then it'll be ready to go for the first day of school.

As for the book choice, I was wondering about leveling my books.  However, I'm not going to because my con list has always included the fact that books aren't leveled at the book store or public library.  After reading The Sisters' story about Pedro, it's settled.  No leveling the books!  (I teach a lot of ELL students, and I know this will be a concern for them in even our school library.)

For the record, I absolutely LOVE the I PICK lesson.  I do it every year.  It really drives the point home, especially when I have the kids put on each other's shoes!  Lyndsey over at A Year of Many Firsts has a cute "Make It a Good Fit" activity that I've never used because it seems time consuming, but it might be good for a station later or a reinforcement activity on another day.  I don't know.  I'll think about it.  The activity is in her The Daily Five {Free Classroom Resources} pack.

My only question is the K - know the words.  What do you do with the kid that thinks he knows the words?  You know the one... He invents words based on the first letter and just moves on without checking to make sure the word makes sense.  He's just calling words rather than reading for meaning.  He takes the book anyway.  How do you help him stop and pay attention to the whole word rather than making a best guess?

I have decided to make classroom library a choice for D5 stations, though.  Once they choose their book, they can transition to Read to Self.  I'll have to figure out how to make it work so everyone has the opportunity to go once a week.  Maybe two kids for each round?  I don't know.  Another thing to think about.

So back to those questions I mentioned before...

     "Do you really do all of that on the first day of school?"

Like I said before... I don't, but it's whatever you feel comfortable with.

     "My literacy block isn't long enough to get all those lessons in!"

Again, stick to what makes you comfortable.  The best part about teaching is that we are all learning as much as our students every day!  It will work out, honest!  Just follow the sequence as best you can; you don't have to try to cram everything in.

     "How do I do this with my basal series?"

This takes some practice - and probably your grade level team.  You go through the lessons in your basal to find the most important pieces.  Sift through all of the "cute" and the "fun" and the games and the activities, and ask yourself "What am I being expected to actually teach?  What do the students need to learn?"  Teach that in your focus lessons.  Once you get the workshop up and running, you will have plenty of time to teach content.

All that's left to say is that you need to make sure to watch out for the negativity:

This is taking too much of my instructional time!

It does take time... In the beginning!  Once your students are completely independent (which could take anywhere from two weeks to two months depending on your group), you will have so much time for instruction!!

(Haha!! It made me think of this...)

If you have a blog, leave me a comment with your link so I can find out what you think about this chapter.  If you don't, leave me a comment anyway!  I'm looking forward to learning from you!

Did you miss anything?

The Foundation of the Daily 5 - Book Study

Once again, I'm joining all of the great bloggers who linked up with Primary Inspired to talk about The Daily 5 Chapter 2, "Our Core Beliefs:  The Foundations of the Daily 5."

I have to admit, once again, that a lot of my thoughts wandered off to Conscious Discipline while I was reading.  Right out of the gate, all of the mentioned core beliefs fall right in line with everything that I know about Conscious Discipline:

• Trust and Respect
• Community
• Choice
• Accountability
• Brain Research
• Transitions as Brain and Body Breaks
• 10 Steps to Independence

Okay, so maybe that last one was something that I remember from the first edition of The Daily Five, but it still fits in.

"Meaningful learning requires respect and trust between the teacher and students."  That's the first sentence about The Sisters' views on the topic, and I couldn't agree more!  We do teach our students rules, expectations, behaviors, academic content, etc., etc., etc..., but we seem to always fear letting them go to do it independently.  We underestimate them when, in fact, we need to trust them!  By showing them that we trust them to do the right thing, we are giving them the respect they need to feel like we know they can do well!  When they know that we trust them, they will respect and trust us.  Trust and respect make up the foundation for building community!

Truth:  This has Conscious Discipline written all over it!  We need that loving and caring environment for students to feel safe.  That safe feeling keeps the students in their executive brain state, and it allows for them to be in a position to learn.  The executive state is where people (not just kids) can make wise choices, and they can't be in that state if they do not feel safe and loved!

In my experience, allowing students to make choices regarding activities that they'd like to do is the most powerful tool in my tool belt when it comes to time on task.  A person is more likely to complete a task that he has decided to take on himself.  I can use personal experience to reinforce this idea.  I love reading, really I do.  But do you know what I absolutely hate?  Reading.  I want to read a book that I want to read, darn it!  

I recently finished Born to Run, but I had the hardest time getting started.  The only motivation I had to read it was that my boyfriend suggested it and I didn't want to disappoint him by saying it just wasn't my thing.  (I'm sort of obsessed with the Alex Cross series.  That's my "thing."  I thought he knew that about me.  Geez!)  Anyway.  I read a few books when summer began, and I was in my happy place.  It wasn't until he left for work that I picked up the book because I wanted to.  And it was a great book!  I finished it in about two days, and I'm glad I read it.  But it was the worst thing ever when I didn't want to read it.  The same thing happens to me when I'm assigned a book to read for class.  I just don't want to read it.  I'd much rather read something that I chose than something that someone else put in my hand.  Anyway.  I'm rambling here.  

Choice is powerful for students for more than just their reading material (although that does have its benefits).  Allowing students to choose which tasks they want to complete is extremely powerful for motivation!  (I think The Sisters also said something along those lines.)  Even when students are required to choose from a list of options, all of which must be completed, they comply when they get to make the choice of the order of completion.

I honestly could not have said that better!  Students will make a commitment to their learning when they make a choice.  In order to see the results, they have got to learn to hold themselves accountable!

I can't tell you how many "Ah-ha!" moments I had while reading this section.  I don't know why I had so many... I did read the first edition; honest!  But there was so much happening here that made me realize that much of what I was doing was great, but my thinking about what I was doing still needed work.

For example, I stopped using the workbooks from the reading series years ago.  I noticed the same thing that was mentioned in the book:  "... many of the students did not have the ability to fill our the worksheets [independently]..." (p. 27).  Can I just tell you how much I hate reading every single thing on the page aloud just so the kids can complete it?  And then having to reread to individuals that weren't paying attention the first time or just didn't really understand what was going on... Torture, I tell you!  But I still wanted something that students had to complete to prove that they (1) did the work, (2) knew what they were doing, and (3) I could physically have to present should there be any questions about the child later.  But seriously.  Worksheets don't hold kids accountable.  There are so many other things that we can do to make sure they know what they're doing.  Starting with keeping anecdotal notes as data for progress.  Kids keep themselves accountable for behaviors, and we can see them because students are self-managing during those independent work times.  We keep kids accountable for their learning by conferring with them individually and meeting with small groups.  Those anecdotal notes are plenty for keeping track of the learning, and there are other ways to have the kids show what they know (because we are tethered to those pesky grade books).  They can share at the end of the literacy block, do book talks, book reports (but fun ones, not the boring ones that we grew up with), maybe keeping a reader's notebook to jot thoughts while reading... The list is endless.

I have done a lot of random reading over the last five or six years about the brain.  Everything from how video games affect kids' brains to how long a 6-year-old can pay attention.  I have to be honest here, there wasn't much in the D5 book that gave me that "Wow!" feeling, but I definitely found myself nodding in agreement often as I was reading.  I'm so glad that The Sisters mentioned the research on attention spans.  More adults, whether teachers or not, need to know this stuff!  I mean, how many times have you sat through hours upon hours of lecture trainings or classes?  And what did you get from it?  Probably a whole lot of squat.  Now think about those classes or trainings that were more interactive.  Those that provided opportunity for movement (or brain breaks) periodically.  Those that allowed time to talk to the people around you to solidify ideas.  Much more valuable, right?  

We need to give our students short bursts of information, then allow them time to process it.  Now, I know.  Sometimes our lessons just have to be longer than 5 or 6 minutes.  That's okay.  A brain break could be a full-blown yoga session, or it could be as simple as a turn and talk.  This will refocus the brain and allow the students time to process the information.  I wish I could remember the name of the guy that I saw last August.  He was amazing!  (He wrote a book... something about swallowing an elephant or something?  I don't know.)  Anyway.  The information that he gave about the brain was so helpful!  Once a person has given you as much attention as they can, a reaction happens in the brain.  I remember the image on his slideshow of these yellow balls bursting.  Once the yellow ball bursts, the person is no longer even hearing you.  (Well, they hear you and they may appear focused, but their brain just can't take anymore and it needs to refocus.)  They can't learn anything if they can't pay attention.  If you aren't familiar with it, create an account with GoNoodle.  It's free, it's fun, and there are brain breaks available of all lengths, levels of energy, and forms.

I could go on with more examples of why transitions are necessary, but I'll leave you with this:

Transitions do not need to be difficult.

I often just give my students what they need for a lesson one piece at a time.  We use the materials, I ask them to go put the item away and come back to the meeting place, and suddenly like magic they are ready to go again!  All they need is just a moment to not have to listen to you.  That's all.  There are a lot of ways to integrate simple brain breaks.  Perhaps one day, we should have a linky about those!

***

I know this was a lengthy post, and I appreciate you for sticking with me through it!  See you next time when we talk about The Ten Steps to Independence (also mentioned in the foundations of D5, but it's so big that it requires way more detail that just an insert into a chapter)!
(Use the images at the bottom of this page to navigate the book study.

          

How Daily 5 has Evolved - Book Study

Hi, all.  Today, I decided to jump in on a Daily 5 Book Study with some other bloggers.  The book study was launched by Brenda at Primary Inspired, and there are LOTS of teachers joining in!  Even if you aren't a blogger, you can jump in and leave comments.  If you have a blog, link up and share your thoughts!  There will be tips, giveaways, and ideas to get started.  Here's a schedule for what to expect:

So, today starts the talk.  How Daily 5 has evolved.  Confession:  I've owned the first edition for about three years.  I read it and reread it, and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it.  I mean, in theory, it's all great!  I was super excited to get started right away!  In fact, I decided to start in January that year because I read it over winter break!  In action, it was too much too fast too soon.  I have things that the district mandates me to do, and I should be doing them when the principal walks in, right?  I'm trying to be a good sport here... I only just got hired at this school!  So I decided not to use Daily 5 that year.  Or the next year.  I was given the role of Literacy Site-Based Specialist in my building, so I thought that it would be less than professional if I were guiding teachers on how to use the district-adopted reading program but not using it myself.  Boy, was that a mistake!

Then, enter my third year teaching at this school (last year).  My principal knows me a lot better, she trusts my judgement because of the growth that my classes the previous years had made, and she pretty much gave me the reigns in my classroom.  She also agreed with what I was saying about the basal.. It's no good for my kids!  The Sisters even described the use of the basal.  I'm paraphrasing here, but I remember something along the lines of "It's only just right for a small number of the students.  Other students are too high, and still others are too low."  I haven't used the basal the way it was written in probably five or six years.  Last year, I decided to not really use the basal readers at all.  It was challenging, but my students made significant growth considering the barriers they had!

I have to be honest... The entire time I was reading the first chapter, I kept having the same two thoughts.  First, how on earth am I supposed to hold students accountable?  And second, this reminds me a whole lot about everything I just learned about Conscious Discipline!!

As for the accountability, you know us teachers... We need to have something written down to prove that students did the work and know what they're doing.  I don't know why I had such a hard time letting this go... I mean, I haven't used the workbooks that go with the basal in years, so why do I need them to write something down now?  It wasn't until I read Chapter 2 that I was satisfied with not making the students write things down.

As for the thoughts on Conscious Discipline, if you've never heard of it, I highly recommend that you look into it.  The book is cheaper through the Conscious Discipline website than it is through Amazon, so I'd recommend purchasing straight from the company.

I think my favorite thing about the new edition is that it's grounded in research and practice.  The first edition was sort of put out as a set of rules.  "This is how Daily 5 works in the classroom.  Just do it." (Okay, Nike.)  In the second edition, The Sisters really listened to teachers that were trying to do this stuff in the classroom.  They took into consideration research, and not only research by authorities in literacy instruction - but also authorities in brain research!  They took out the "This is how you are supposed to do it," and instead wrote the book as a guideline.  "This is how we do it, but please make it work for you!"

OCD confession:  This is the first book in my life that I've actually written in.  And I wasn't even brave enough to use a pen. Haha!!

I do have to admit that there is one thing that I didn't like about the updates... The format of the schedule.  I just don't like change unless it's necessary, and it took me way more time and effort than it should have to figure out how the schedule was organized... only to find that it there wasn't much of a change at all. Haha!

The good news, though, is that there was actually a change.  It just didn't happen in the "5 rounds" schedule.  The change, which was brilliant for The Sisters to admit needed to happen, was that you can't get to all five rounds each day.  There are other schedules for three rounds and even two rounds. In my classroom, we can do three rounds each day.

The one thing that I try to tell all of the teachers that ask me about this... Remember it's just a framework!  It has no content at all.  That's the beauty of the system!  You use the structure with lessons to support your state/district/school curriculum requirements!  So far, I've recruited two teachers to join me starting in August.  They asked how I get my students to become so independent...  Both of them bought the book, so I'm excited to help them on their journey!

Here is my question to you...  How do you take notes?  In Chapter 1, The Sisters mention the conferring notebook - the Pensieve.  They have transitioned from a paper/pencil method of keeping track to an online conferring notebook.  I haven't looked into the online conferring notebook because, well one, I'm cheap. Haha!  (I know, $24 or $39 per year isn't too much, but it's still $24 or $34 per year. Haha!)  Two, I don't know that I will keep up with it at all!  I don't even like to read books on a screen.  I am not sure how I would feel about toting around my laptop... although it does seem more convenient than a binder.  So, if anyone looks into this or already subscribes, let me know how it works for you!

Until I make up my mind, I have been using my binder system to keep up with my kiddos.  You can get it at my TPT store.  I'm thinking about updating the file to work with my new system of taking notes - on shipping labels!  Peel and stick, baby!  But I'd have to redo the whole file because it was originally created on an old computer that sort of crapped out.  [EDIT:  I did revamp it.]

Anyway.  I'll give my Conferring Notebook file to anyone who comments here this week (20-25Jun); leave me a contact email. Just promise you'll go back and give it some feedback!  One of these days, I'll tell you about how it all gets set up in my binder.

[Thanks to a reader letting me know that TPT wasn't allowing her to post her feedback, I have put a little bandaid on that problem.  By accessing the file in my store, you will find that it is free for a limited time.  Please remember not to mention the freebie when you leave feedback, as it will be a paid item again after this promotion.]

Check back next week as we look deeper into the foundations of Daily 5.  In the meantime, don't forget to look into other teachers' blogs and comments to find some tips and ideas that you can use!  (Use the images at the bottom of this page to navigate the book study.)