Daily 5 CAFE

This week we started introducing the Literacy programme called the Daily 5, which encourages an independent and focused approach to Reading and Writing.  We started by discussing the concepts involved, talking about what it would look like and what rules we thought we ought to follow.  We talked about the 3 ways to read - read the pictures, read the book and retell the story.  We also discussed the iPick concept, where the children focus on choosing books that they can largely read independently.  We had a go at the first step of 'Reading to Self' each day this week and increased our stamina for reading silently on our own each day.  The children LOVED being able to choose their own books and I am very lucky that our lovely Librarian has allowed us to borrow extra books and that I have a nice stash from my own family who have out-grown them.  We have magazines, picture books, fiction and non-fiction books, easy chapter books and chapter books, so we have a good range.  I have asked the children and parents to donate any books that they no longer have a use for and have added a few more books to our collection.  I have loved being able to discuss each step with Kate Smith in Room 11, who introduced her class to the Daily 5 programme at the beginning of the term.

On Tuesday, our next step was to add 'Read to Someone' on Tuesday, where the children chose someone to read with.  We discussed how to choose an appropriate buddy, how to decide which book to read, how to question each other about the story and how to coach our buddy if they needed assistance with reading.  We talked about the benefits of reading with someone else - that it was fun, we could learn to read with expression, to read the punctuation, to read fluently and best of all, to get better at reading by practising with someone who could help you, give you feedback (and feed forward) and discuss the comprehension of the story with you.  I was very impressed with how the class dealt with this potentially social opportunity with great maturity and treated the whole exercise sensibly and gained a lot from it.

On Wednesday we discussed Writing, which we are experts at anyway and have been able to write for a sustained period of time for a while now.  We did not combine this with the Daily 5 choices yet, but we are prepared for that to happen once we get a bit more confident.

On Thursday we all listened to a few of the stories that I had downloaded onto the iPads in our classroom.  Again the children loved the story and even coped very well when the story finished in the middle (they had been warned).  I have found that while I have been able to find heaps of stories, many of them are incomplete, which could become an irritation for the children.

Currently we are doing a lot of swapping of books.  I have asked the children to try to remember to shop for their books before school to try and lessen the amount of time it takes to get sorted for each session, but it is hard to dampen their enthusiasm and excitement for getting new books.  Again, I have been impressed with how they have grasped the concept of iPick and choosing books that are appropriate for their reading level.  They readily discuss whether books are at a good level for them and if they would prefer easier / harder books.

So far, I am loving the enthusiasm and excitement that this programme has generated for reading in our class and am looking forward to seeing it running properly and being able to conference with the children about their learning.  Kate has put me on to Pinterest, which has been a boon of resources, as has Twitter, where there are an unlimited sources of inspiration.  Keep checking in to see how we are progressing here in Room 17!!