An Overview of Reader's Workshop:
THE DAILY 5: FOSTERING
LITERACY INDEPENDENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES
The best way to become a better reader
is to practice each day, with books you choose, on your just-right reading
level. So, during Reading Workshop in our classroom, students have time each
day to practice, practice, practice! Reading Workshop in our classroom
consists of the following: several focus mini-lessons that allow "brain
breaks", small group reading instruction, individual reading conferences, and
independent literacy tasks.
Students are carefully taught how to
choose a good-fit (just-right) book to read. Each student in our classroom has
his/her special book box to place all just-right books in. Students read
independently (during Read to Self) and also with a partner (during Read to
Someone). At this time, Mrs. Vensko teaches guided reading/strategy groups and
confers with individual students. While Mrs. Vensko works with a small reading
group, other students are highly engaged in reading activities around the room
(see below).
In addition, we use the McGraw-Hill
Florida Treasures reading program and you can see how I incorporate the basal
into the daily focus (mini) lessons.
MRS. VENSKO'S LITERACY
CAFE READING BLOCK:
**MONDAYS - WHOLE
GROUP READING from 8:00 - 10:10: The entire morning is used to introduce the
following from the basal: vocabulary & spelling words, phonics special
sound(s), a reading skill, and the weekly anthology story. In addition, we rip
out pages from our practice reading and spelling workbooks as our seatwork
packet for the week.**
TUESDAYS - FRIDAYS
FROM 8:00 - 10:10
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1st Focus (Mini) Lesson - 10- 15 minute
**COMPREHENSION LESSON**
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During this first focus lesson, comprehension
skills and strategies are taught from the McGraw-Hill Treasures reading
program. The weekly anthology is reviewed at this time as well.
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ROUND 1:
1st Daily 5 Choice/Small Group - (20 minutes)
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At this time, all students do the the following
literacy activity: Read
to Self.Mrs. Vensko meets with her
first strategy group for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, she confers with
students one-on-one until the end of the round.
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2nd Focus (Mini) Lesson - 10 minutes
**ACCURACY LESSON**
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Word work instruction is the focus of this
second mini-lesson and includes explicit instruction in the following: phonics,
decoding, spelling.
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ROUND 2: 2nd Daily 5 Choice/Small Group
(20 minutes)
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At this time, students choose between the
following literacy activities: Read
to Self, Read
to Someone, Listen
to Reading , and Word
Work.
Mrs. Vensko meets with her second strategy group for about 10 minutes.
Afterwards, she confers with students one-on-one until the end of the round.
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3rd Focus (mini) Lesson - 10
minutes
**FLUENCY OR EXPANDING
VOCABULARY LESSON**
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During this third mini-lesson, explicit
instruction in fluency or expanding vocabulary is taught to the students.
Lessons come from the Treasures reading series. The weekly vocabulary words
are reviewed at this time.
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ROUND 3:
3rd Daily 5 Choice/Small Group -
(20 minutes)
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At this time, students choose between the
following literacy activities: Read
to Self, Read
to Someone, Listen
to Reading , and Word
Work.
Mrs. Vensko meets with her second strategy group for about 10 minutes.
Afterwards, she confers with students one-on-one until the end of the round.
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Check-in Sessions - 5 minutes or less
(at the end of each round)
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At the end of each round of guided reading,
Mrs. Vensko rings her chime and signals all students to clean up and check-in
at the gathering place (large carpet). During check-in time, we share reading
successes and problem-solve together if necessary.
This is also time for students to make their
individual literacy choices while Mrs. Vensko records them on her chart.
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DAILY 5
CHOICE DESCRIPTIONS:
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Read
to Self
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When students choose Read to
Self, students read good-fit books independently from their book boxes.
Students take their book box and find a cozy reading spot around the room.
Why do we do this? The best way
to become a better reader is to pratice, practice, practice each day! Read to
Self helps us become better readers and it is fun!
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Read to Someone
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When
students choose Read to Someone, partners take their book boxes and read
just-right books together. Partners are taught to sit "EEKK" style always when
partner reading (elbow to elbow, knee to knee). Students make decisions
together about where they want to read, what they want to read (same book or
different books), and how they want to read (echo or choral). Students are
carefully taught to CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING when partner reading. This helps
us improve our comprehension. While one student reads, the other student
listens carefully and then "checks for understanding". The listener holds up a
check-mark and retells what he/she heard by saying: "I heard you say (who &
what)." This holds the listener accountable. Students are also carefully
taught how to be good reading coaches and to assist partners when they come to
an unknown word or when comprehension is lost.
Why do we do this? Reading with
a partner is fun and helps us become more fluent readers. It also helps us
improve our reading comprehension. A MUST-DO
activity each week is to read the anthology story from our basal with a
partner.
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Listen to Reading
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When students choose
Listen to Reading, they can either listen to stories on the computer or books
on tape. There are many different links on Mrs. Vensko's website which allow
students to listen to online stories. A MUST-DO
each week is to listen to the anthology story from our basal online.
Our classroom is very fortunate
to have three computers with internet access, several small, hand-held
cassette players, and a variety of books on tape. All books on tape are
organized in a book bag and labeled by genre. Students can choose a book bag
and listen to a story for pleasure in a cozy reading spot around the room.
Why do we do this? Listening to
books on tape is fun and helps us to become more fluent readers. It exposes us
to a variety of genre, too!
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Word Work
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When students choose Word
Work, they explore and work with our weekly spelling and vocabulary words. A MUST-DO
activity each week is to RAINBOW
WRITE
our spelling words. After this is complete, students can choose from
the following word work options: spelling task cards, magnetic letters and
cookie tray, spelling stamps, word ladders & letter tiles, making words bags,
reading rods, wikki stix, and white boards.
Why do we do this? Work work
allows us to learn about words, to expand our vocabularies, and to become
better spellers! Our
writing is important to us and correct spelling allows our readers to have a
better understanding and appreciation of our writing.
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Work on Writing
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Work
on writing is taught in a completely seperate literacy block from Daily 5 each
day. All writing focus lessons are taught during the Writer's Workshop block
from 11:00 - 11:45 daily. Please check out my writing workshop page on this
website for more information as to how I structure my writing block. Thank you!
:)
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What Does Mrs. Vensko Think About The
Daily 5?
I have recently made the switch from
literacy work stations to The Daily 5 and I'm SO glad that I did! To be
honest, it took a VERY long time to get this structure started in my room, but
the wait was worth it! The students are SO engaged around the room in
independent reading tasks! The most important reason why I love this structure
is that it is SO teacher-friendly and SO easy to manage!! I have not yet
created a single activity this year! What more can a teacher ask for???
My students LOVE this part of the
day,and I truly believe the reason is because THEY choose WHAT activities they
will complete that day and WHEN they will complete them (during each of the 3
rounds). This structure allows students to really take ownership in their
learning. In addition, the Daily 5 structure allows my students more time to
practice what they need the most -- READING!!
I highly recommend this structure to
anyone who implements small group reading instruction. Buy the book and give
it try! You won't be sorry!
I'm very excited to add the CAFE Menu
to my reading workshop. The idea of meeting one-on-one with young readers and
pulling strategy groups is so exciting!
I LOVE this quote about independent
reading workshop as stated
by Regie Routman:
"Just adding more time
and space for independent reading is not enough. I'm advocating a carefully
designed, structured reading porogram that includes demonstrating, teaching,
guiding, monitoring, evaluating, and goal-setting along with voluntary reading
of books that STUDENTS choose....When an independent reading component is
added, test scores go up.
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Here are some great resources to help
you get your own Reader's Workshop started! All of these resources were
created by Stacy Vensko. Feel free to use them for your own classroom needs.
Please ask permission first and be sure to provide a link to my page if you
plan to use any of these resources on your own website. Thank you!
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Here is a reading rubric that I created
to assess my students during our Reader's Workshop. This will be used as a
reading grade twice during each 9 week grading period.
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Reader's
Workshop Rubric
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This file may be helpful to those of you who
want to implement CAFE along with a basal reading series. Here is a chart I
created that combines the CAFE reading strategies and the McGraw-Hill
Treasures reading series (Florida Edition).
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Chart
for CAFE and Treasures
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Here is list of my Word Work activities.
On this sheet, you will find directions for all of the activities. Before
students can complete these activities, they must complete their assigned
spelling workbook pages and rainbow spelling.
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Word
Work Directions Sheet
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Here are my spelling task cards that
I use as a word work option. Some of the ctivities on the cards are NOT my
original idea, as I have collected many over the years. They can be printed
out on 4x6 index cards and open as a PDF file.
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Spelling
Task Cards
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Here is another list of Work
Work directions for students to use during Daily 5.
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More Word Work
Directions
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