Independent.
A gathering place is a MUST and most classroom teachers already have this established in their classroom so it is nothing new. I so agree with Stepahnie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, "Gathering kids in front for instruction, releasing them to pracitice, and then bringing them back to share thier thinking represents the steady flow that is at the heart of effective teaching and learning." It gives our students that brain and body break that they need.
My students got a "kick" out of the I-PICK Good-Fit Books lesson. (Hee! Hee! I just had to add that.)They really related to the shoe lesson because they understand the purpose of shoes and why we wear them. One thing that I will probably do more of that I did not do last year is returning to this lesson and reteaching/reviewing for my students after each quarter. I would like my students to be more reflective of the choices they are making with their books. Whether they need easier books, stay with the books they have, or they need to challenge themselves, I want them to be able to figure that out on their own. I will probably need to do some coaching on this but I really think the students can learn how to do it. I also will be using the different reading material that they suggested on pg. 32 dealing with comprehension and know the words. AND also letting their peers share their good-fit books with the class. (Most kids love to read out loud to the class at the gathering place.)
Setting Up Book Boxes ~ Last year, after our first lesson, I let the students go out into our classroom library and choose two books that they could put into their Seat Sacks. (I used Seat Sacks instead of Book Boxes)It worked okay but I've decided to try something different this year. Mrs. Patton's Page had a great idea for Open House Night. Our school has Open House two nights before school starts which I love because the students can come in, put their backpacks on their desks, look around the classroom and get a feel for their new classroom home. I think it's great for the parents also because they have a chance to talk with me and get any questions answered. So during Open House this year, I am going to have the students go to the classroom library and pick out two books they would like to read the first day of school. While the students are doing that I will have a chance to visit with the parents and answer any questions that they have. I thought that this was such a great idea. Thanks Mrs. Patton for sharing your idea. Then on the first day of school, the students will have two books on their desk and they will have a book box on their table to share with their classmates. I am going to use Figure 3-5 Sample Selections for Book Boxes as examples of books that I will put into the boxes. I want the children to get a feel for what books are in our classroom library and let them see if they can figure out what book is a Good-Fit book for them. I did not do this last year and as a reread this chapter again I thought, "Why did I not do that last year? What a great idea!"
Anchor Charts and Repeated Practice (Stamina) are a MOST HAVE for this process to work for you. I would return to my Anchor Charts all year long. I would make my Anchor Chart out of the big chart paper and then after a couple of days (after school), I would make a smaller version of the chart and place it in the work station where they get their materials for a visual reminder of what to do. I did save my big anchor charts in case I needed to remind the whole class what the expectations were for being Independent at that Daily. Figure 3-8 Ten Steps to Improve Muscle Memory is an important document that I kept on my clipboard for the first quarter of school. It was a reminder to me that I needed to build the muscle memory with my students. The last paragraph with repeated practice (pg. 38) I highlighted this section because this happened to me. I know in a past post I wrote about how my first round of Read to Self was only 1 minute long. I signaled for the students to come back to the gathering place. I use a bell. We checked-in by going over the anchor chart as I pointed and we talked about how long we read. We then tried Read to Self again. I sent my students back to where I had placed them and this time it was only 30 seconds. I signaled for the students again, checked-in with the students, and then let them know their time. We tried it one more time that second day of school and the students made it for two minutes. We gathered, checked-in and graphed our stamina. The students were very excited that they made it for two minutes. They felt success and I was still smiling with no frustration brewing at all. I LOVED IT!!
The last section of this incredible chapter of information, Correct Model/Incorrect Model, was a fun part of the lesson for the students to participate in. They enjoyed watching each other do the model correctly and incorrectly. It was just like Gail and Joan said, "The students found the modeling of the wrong behavior very entertaining." It works like magic with most of your students.
I hope you enjoyed reading some of my insight into how it went in my classroom last year. I am very interested in hearing how others are going to implement the D5 into their classrooms or reading reflections of teachers that have already tried it. If you would like to join our Book Study, please come over to Crazy for First Grade and link up with us.
Until Next Time,
Happy Blogging
I think modeling is so important. It is often something I forget, or do it too quickly. I became one of your newest followers. I would love to have you come and visit my blog!
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Thanks for becoming a follower. I too some times forget or do the modeling too quickly because there is sooo much that we need to get done in a day. I have to remind myself to breathe and take it slowly.
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