Daily 5: Launching Read to Self


Well, it's halfway through the first full week of school and I am trying to get as many routines and procedures up and running as I can, while also remembering to take it slow and ensure that we are building our stamina.

In past years, I have definitely rushed through so many of these steps trying to get to the next thing and I end up paying the price for it later. Practicing the slow-and-steady approach that's laid out in The Daily 5 has really helped me across the board, not just in reading!

We launched The Daily 5 this week and have talked solely about Read to Self. I wanted to let you in on some of our initial minilessons. If you're like me, the visual piece is HUGE when learning about or tweaking a new idea, so I hope these help!

First up, our anchor chart (I-Chart) for Read to Self:
I always add in a character asset that I want them to practice during that time- for Read to Self, it is "Responsibility" since kids certainly have the temptation to goof off or doze off instead of read :)

I also added in the last bullet point in "Teachers are:" because I wanted kids to know that I will not be interrupting their reading. This was an "aha!" (or "oops!") moment for me when I was rereading the book this summer because I am definitely guilty of wandering around and giving quiet praise to the kids who are doing what they are supposed to be doing. I wanted them to instead be building their responsibility without my constant doting, so I included this reminder for them, but mostly for me ;)

We first talked about I-PICK as well as the "Five Finger Rule". I got these lovely signs from The Teacher Wife and attached them with ribbon so they look sosososo pretty in our room :)

I introduced the "Five Finger Rule" when it came to the last letter- Knowing all of the words. We used some Whole Brain Teaching gesturing to go through the levels.
 
  • When I read a book (hands open like a book), I open to any page and start to read.
  • When I come to a tricky word (hands up on either side of your body and shrugging your shoulders), I put up a finger
  • 0-1 fingers (hold up a fist, then the index finger) is too easy (brush our hands off to the side)
  • 2-3 fingers (hold up 2, then 3 fingers) is Just Right (hold up two thumbs up)
  • 4-5 fingers (hold up 4, then 5 fingers) is too tricky (hold up both hands in front of us like "stop" or "slow down")
We used this opportunity to practice Mirror & Teach-Okay and it went really well!

If you would like a copy of my "Five Finger Rule" sign, pick it up for free HERE.


We talked a lot about Just Right Books. I made an anchor chart and compared it to riding a bike- I'm in Colorado and that's the main form of transportation for adults and kids in this town :) I left the mouth expression off and as we talked about each level, I added it in with Sharpie based on the students' suggestions after we had defined what it felt like to ride a bike and compared that with reading. It was a great lesson and we had lots of fun with it!
One of my girls said that it feels like you get "sucked into your book and don't want to stop" (love it!), so it was a great intro to voracious reading- a CAFE strategy- and it may even be our Word of the Day tomorrow ;)

I hope this helped and that your Daily 5 launching is going smoothly and wonderfully :) We are up to about 7 minutes of stamina, so we're moving right along!

To see more of my Daily 5 posts, click HERE.



15 comments

  1. great post. Can't wait to build our stamina. We are at 5 minutes.

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    1. Thanks so much :) Isn't it exciting when 5 minutes is such a huge accomplishment? Can't wait to hit the double digits though!

      ~Stephanie

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  2. This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing what you are doing so far!

    Janaye

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    1. Thanks so much, Janaye! It's been a fun first few days- I love how the Sisters lay it out so simply in their book :)

      ~Stephanie

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  3. FABULOUS post!! Thank you for all of your awesome insights and resources:) LOVE the girl on the bike!!! Did you draw her or buy her? I want it!!

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    1. Thanks so so much :) :) I used a Scrappin Doodle girl- I love them and she was WAY cuter than anything I could come up with :) :) There's a link in my sidebar to SD's store- I think she was a part of the Olympic pack.

      ~Stephanie

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  4. Yay!! I am so ready to start launching Daily 5....I feel like I've been talking about it forever! Looks like you are off to a GREAT start!! :)

    Marianna
    Delightfully Dunn


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  5. Thanks for sharing! I am helping the teachers at my schools with building stamina. I pinned some of your charts.

    Have a great year! :)
    Antoinette

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  6. Great charts...bookmarked for future use! Thanks for the cute ideas for an important concept.

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  7. I love your how to choose a book charts! Awesome!

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  8. I launched Read to Self this week too! I will admit... that we use Read to Self more than the others. We made our anchor chart too! We even created gestures for the Read to Self Rules. They love it!

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  9. I'm going to attempt some of the Daily 5 this year in my classroom- Thanks so much for your blog posts! I love seeing how other teachers implement ideas- I have a lot of the same concerns that you did, and your ideas are fabulous to help alleviate them:)

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  10. Thanks for all your great ideas! I loved the Five Finger Rule poster but when I downloaded it, some of the smaller words in the middle of the poster were missing! I was wondering if you could tell me what the 2 sentences are in the middle. It starts with "Choose any page in the book.....".
    Thanks!

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  11. This is so great for a beginning teacher like me because I had no idea what to do or to look for as I begin CAFE and Daily 5! Thank you!

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  12. Also I LOVE the idea of including a character trait

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