Read to Self

Our class has been busy learning A LOT of routines in the past two weeks.  One of the biggest things we'll be learning is how to use Daily 5 in our classroom (see WeDailyFive for more information).  One component of Daily 5 is "Read to Self."  IT'S.  JUST.  THAT.  Pretty simple - the students read to themselves for a given amount of time.  You wouldn't think it would be too hard to train - but, it is!

Here are some of the things we've agreed upon when doing Read to Self:

1.  Get your book box.

2.  Find a spot to sit away from friends.

3.  Read quietly (whisper or in your head)

4.  Be independent.

5.  Read the whole time.

6.  Stay in one spot.

The first day we tried this, we only read for a few minutes.  Can you believe we're shooting for 30 WHOLE MINUTS?  On a side note, when we're learning something, we know that we have to build "stamina" in order to get better. SO, every day we try to read for a bit longer than the day before (We all know it would be SUPER hard to just sit and read for 30 minutes straight without practicing!)  So far, we're up to 20 minutes!

We have six "good fit" books in our book box to keep us reading during Read to Self.  By "good fit," we mean that they are just right for our independent reading.  Two are a bit easy, two are just right (we call those "Goldilocks books"), and two are a bit more of a challenge.  We've also learned that, if a book is difficult, reading can also include reading the pictures and retelling the story if it's a familiar one!

We are learning SO much in this GROWING CLASS!