My reading block changed in the middle of the year. When I first started school, I had no idea what I was doing. About September/October they wanted us to start closed reading, but I still didn't know what that meant. After some research and the goal to get more organized about my planning (i.e. annotating BEFORE my kids read it so I know what I want them to notice), I liked this method a lot. Then in January/February they wanted us to start literacy/reading center rotations. My cooperating teacher last year did centers, so I already knew I loved them, but I didn't know which centers I wanted to incorporate. Daily 5? File folders? Task cards? Phonics? Spelling? Small groups? And when do I apply all of the information I learned about close reading? I was stuck in a thrown together modge-podge of things I should be doing but don't know how to do them well.
One aspect of my reading block that I love is read to self. I was introduced to the Daily Five while student teaching and read the book last summer. Read to Self is pretty self-explanatory. Students sit down and read a just-right book by themselves. Today my students have Read to Self time when they finish their work early and at the very end of the day during dismissal.
Pros: Students are reading. If you want to become a better reader, read. They can sit down with a good book that they have chosen and read it.
Cons: It can be easy for students to have no accountability during this time. Fake reading is one of my biggest pet peeves. Also, if students doesn't know exactly what kinds of books they like, they won't enjoy reading.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Where to store their books. I have book boxes for students to keep their books. I got them from Lakeshore Learning through Donor's Choose. The book boxes are good because it gives students ownership of their books and a place to store them so they take better care of the books. Students can take their book box with them wherever they go for Read to Self time. The book box can hold all of the books they are currently reading.
2. Give students options. I read an excellent article about book boxes by Genia Connell on Scholastic about how students should have multiple types of reading materials they are reading. There are different types of reading materials for different moods. Magazine articles may not be academically challenging, but they are something you as an adult might read sometimes. You are teaching students how to become a better reader so that when they are adults, they know how to read. Magazine articles and comic books are something students should be abel to have the option of reading sometimes during read to Self.
3. Hold students accountable. I don't 100% know how this should look, but I've been toying with the idea that students have to answer 1-2 questions about what they read and turn it in as an exit ticket at the end of Read to Self time. If you have ideas, please comment. When students are held accountable, they take their work more seriously. This is not a time for you to get osme work done or to keep students busy while you meet with a small group. You want yours students to become better readers by reading during this time.
4. Set the mood. One last thing I would say about read to Self time is make the room feel comfortable. When I read at home, I like to have a cup of coffee nearby with some cookies, only lamps around me (no big lights), and soothing piano music. Students like the feeling of calm. I teach inner city kids right now, who you would think hate classical music. It's their favorite thing and the music they most often request. Our favorite CD is "Dark Night of the Soul" by Philip Wesley. No matter who you teach, students love calm, especially during something like Read to Self.
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| Here's a picture from when my dad came to read to my class. You can see my windows are always open. We usually have the lights turned off because plenty of light comes through. You can see our book boxes along the wall and on top of the bookshelf. |
Here are some more blog posts about Read to Self if you would like to read more information about it:
- This post by Third Grade Thoughts is great. It's all about how she launches Daily 5: Read to Self using the strategies from the book by the two sisters.
- Besides being just a beautiful classroom tour, the blogger from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits spent her summer organizing her classroom library and leveling it. This past year my library was organized by genre, but I think I may change it up and organize it by level because my students struggle with choosing a book that is too high levle for them and then fake read it because they can't understand the words.
- You can of course go to the Daily Cafe website and read all about read to Self, as well as the other components of the daily Five.
I think the most important thing is students have some time during the day to read by themselves in a quiet and calm space. Whether you do the Daily Five and this is part of your rotation; you have some time at the beginning, middle, or end of your day for students to read; you allow students 20 minutes after lunch to read; or another time of day I have not thought of, it's important you have a time established for your students to read by themselves.
I hope this post helped you in some way. I don't have my literacy block planned for next year, but I do know that I will incorporate read to Self in some way.
Thanks!
RA
