Your Daily 5 Questions...My Answers

I'm on vacation this week, but I am scheduling some posts so I don't leave you all lonely!  I have recently been e-mailed by several people asking questions about Daily 5.  As I was answering each one, I thought that I should create a blog post about this because if one person is asking, there might be five more wondering.  So here goes...Questions are in bold, my answers follow.  

My thoughts are that I want to do both- the Daily 5 (or daily 3) AND reading workshop.  Do you do that in your classroom?

The Daily Five and The Book Whisperer are excellent books.  Those are definitely my go-to books for reading framework and instruction.  I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say Daily 5 and reading workshop, in my mind, they are essentially the same thing.  Have you read The CAFE Book, also by the Sisters?  It is the "instruction" piece to Daily 5.  

I was wondering how your day goes.

I have a two hour block for reading that consists of two 20 minute lessons (or one long 40 minute lesson, for new material), and three Daily 5 choices.  During the Daily 5 choices, I pull small groups for instruction.  Sometimes the small groups are strategy based, but more recently I have done strategy-based guided reading.  My district has Good Habits Great Readers, and although I don't use the series exactly as it is intended, I do like how the guided reading books and lessons are strategy based.  It fits very nicely with CAFE.  

How would you break down a 1 hour block for daily 5?

I don't know if Daily 5 is the best option for you if you only have one hour.  I would think your "mini-lessons" would need to be a bit longer since you don't get to see your students that often.  Maybe you could spend half the time in a whole-group lesson and the other half working with a small group.  While you're with your small group, the rest of the class could be doing independent reading with a book of their choice.  Have you read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller?  She offers a lot of great insight about reading instruction, and especially choice reading. 

nErDcamp Battle Creek!

Anyone on Twitter and follow Colby Sharp?  He's a teacher from Michigan and co-founded the Nerdy Book Club with Donalyn Miller.  You know, The Book Whisperer.  Well, he and his wife have also founded the first (hopefully annual) nErDcamp, that is taking place this coming Thursday, July 11 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Has anyone ever been to an EdCamp before?  I had never heard of them until recently.  Many teachers I follow on Twitter have been to them and tweet from them using a EdCamp location-specific hashtag.  From what I understand, EdCamps are FREE professional development organized by teachers for teachers.  They are sometimes referred to as "unconferences" because it is exactly the opposite of a conference your district or administrator requires you to attend.  There are also no scheduled presentations or topics.  The session topics are brainstormed on the day of the conference by conference participants.  

So what is nErDcamp?  nErDcamp is the first ever EdCamp organized by the Nerdy Book Club.  It is a literacy-specific EdCamp.  I was just checking out the Idea Board on the nErDcamp blog and there are lots of really neat topics cropping up!  Last I heard, there are over 200 participants registered!  

So why am I telling you about this?  Well, for starters, my good teaching buddy and I have decided we are GOING!  Less than four hours away from our homes?  We cannot pass this opportunity up! Neither one of us have ever attended an EdCamp before, so this will definitely be a learning process, but hopefully a very beneficial one.  I don't even know why I just said that.  It definitely will be a beneficial one.   Forget the fact that we are Buckeyes traveling into Wolverine country.  We can put our differences aside for a few days.  

If you live in the area (or within a driving distance of the area) you should definitely register to attend!  If I haven't convinced you enough, read Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Come to nErDcamp.  Anyone already planning on attending?  Hopefully we can meet up!  

The Book Whisperer-Reader's Notebook

Link up with Beth @ Thinking of Teaching to see what others are blogging about!

1) Have you used Reader's Notebooks in the past? If so what did you like about it?
Last year was the first year that I used Reader's Notebooks.  I started it after Christmas break when I realized I needed something more to see how students were reading and comprehending.  We "journaled" as I called it at the beginning of every class, to a prompt that I assigned.  This was the only part I didn't like.  Some of the prompts that I used were not appropriate for the genre that some students were reading.  

2) If you have not used Reader's Notebooks how do you plan to incorporate them this year into your reading program?
I do plan on changing my Reader's Notebooks a little this year.  I'm still not completely sure how I want to do it, so I'm excited to read other's thoughts!  Each student will have a spiral notebook that will be placed inside their Literacy Binders.  I know others use composition books, but lets face it, spirals are 10 cents (or less!) a piece and I've never seen comps for less than 50 cents.  Plus, when cleaning my basement for a yard sale this summer, I found an entire tote full of spirals that I forgot about.  So, spirals it is!  Inside the literacy binders, I will give a list of prompts for students to write about.  I know I will have to do a lot of modeling with the prompt writing.  I don't know that I will set aside journal time, or just expect my students to do them at some point during a Daily 5 choice.  I would love it if I could get students to do this, as not to waste precious lesson time, but I do worry about those procrastinators!  

3) How will you schedule the Reader's Notebook due dates in order to be able to effectively read and respond authentically to all your students?
I teach 60 students reading, so last year I graded one class every other Friday.  It wasn't the best system, so I think I will assign days to 6 students per class to read their notebooks.  That would be 12 students a day, but still better than 30!  I think the hardest part will be responding to each one.  I think if I know my students appreciate my responses, it will be a lot easier!  I also know some students will need that response from me in order to keep reading and writing, so that will also be some incentive for me!  


I'm so excited to read what everyone else's thoughts are on Reader's Notebooks!  Make sure to link up with Beth!

The Book Whisperer-Chapter 4

Because we do The Daily 5 & CAFE in my classroom, we spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year talking about how to choose good-fit books.  The Sisters use the acronym I PICK.  Here is the poster I made that hangs near my bookshelf.  

The reason for the shoes is because I do a demonstration about how some shoes are not a good fit for me.  I bring in my husband's work boots, my son's shoes, dress shoes, flip flops, etc.  I talk about how some are too big (too hard), too small (too easy), and some are just not right for the situation (i.e., flip flops to go running = a book you just don't like at the moment).  


My students have total control over what books they are choosing to read in my classroom.  The only requirement is that the book be in their AR range, because (much to my dismay) we still have AR in my district.  


Donalyn Miller writes about her requirement that students read 40 books a year.  At first I thought that sounded like a lot of books for fourth graders, but after looking at my class' AR results from last school year, I see many of my students read over 40 books.  Granted, many of those books were picture books because our school librarian had them read picture books to get started on AR and they couldn't get out of that habit.  I am not allowing that to happen this year.  There is a definite time and place for picture books, but I don't want my fourth graders reading them all the time.  I also like Miller's solution that books over 350 pages count as two books.  I might lower that for my fourth graders.  Maybe books over 250 pages?  


Miller has a genre requirement for her 40 books, and I think I would alter mine a little bit.  Just off the top of my head, my genre requirement might look like this:  


Realistic Fiction - 5
Historical Fiction - 2
Fantasy - 5
Science Fiction - 2
Mystery - 4
Informational - 5
Biography, Autobiography, Memoir - 5
Poetry Anthologies - 2
Chapter Book Choice - 10


The students that I work with crave structure.  Many times, it is necessary for their success. If I were to take this genre requirement a step further and split them into 9 weeks (i.e., 1st 9 weeks-R.F. 2, Fantasy., 2, etc.) is that taking away student choice?  Maybe I'll just be able to monitor my students' progress toward their genre goals through conferences and not have to worry about it.  I can definitely see this being a learning process for both myself and my students.  


I am so very much enjoying reading this book!  I actually feel very validated knowing that what I've been doing is the best for my students.  I'm very excited to discuss reader's notebooks in the coming week!  

The Book Whisperer-Chapter 3

Somehow I missed the book discussion on chapter 3, so I'm going to  post today about chapter 3 and tomorrow about chapter 4!  


Chapter 3-There's a Time and a Place
Donalyn Miller writes about reading being the cornerstone to her class.  "Reading time is for reading," she writes on page 50.  When I started practicing The Daily 5 in my classroom two years ago, I was so impressed with how much time was spent reading.  Fortunately, my first year of teaching was the only year that the majority of my reading class was not spent reading.  This is when I thought we had to teach the basal series, and didn't have much guidance from administration.  The following year is when we were given a literacy coach and we quickly realized reading class should be for reading.  Miller writes, "What are the effects of intensive reading?  Better writing, richer vocabularies, and increased background knowledge in science and social studies."  I have personally witnessed this in my classroom as well.  On page 52, Miller writes, "Because reading has more impact on students' achievement than any other activity in school, setting aside time for reading must be the first activity we teachers write in our lesson plans, not the last."  This is such a powerful statement.  Sometimes, we are overly focused on writing the lesson plans and scheduling fun learning activities that time for reading has been left out.  


Miller points out times that we as teachers can carve out time for reading.  She suggests tossing out the bell ringers and warm-ups, and just allow the students to read during the first part of the day.  I'm personally not ready to give up on my Language Dailies as a warm up yet.  I do feel they serve a good purpose-students review parts of speech, punctuation, etc. and it serves as a weekly mini-lesson on these topics.  I've also found in previous years that my students need some sort of structured activity while I'm doing check-in.  I'm afraid asking them to read is just not enough.  My students do read after they've completed their dailies, though, which is another time for reading that Miller suggests.  She writes of the fancy early finisher folders that teachers have for students to do when they are finished, and suggests they are time wasters.  I agree with her on this one.  My students know that if they are finished with work early, they are to read.  I think my absolute favorite part of chapter three was when Miller suggested students bring their books with them on picture day.  Picture day in and of itself stresses me out.  We never know when we're going to be called down, and when we are it's a mad rush to get students lined up according to height.  Then, once we get down there, of course they're not waiting on us, there's another class (or two!) in front of us.  So, there I am left to manage the behaviors of not only my class but usually half of the other two classes.  Miller suggests students take their books with them to read during the picture day wait-time.  She said this idea was born out of her always carrying a book with her no matter where she goes.  I take books with me everywhere I go, too, and I must say, my iPad has completely changed my life when it comes to that  No more do I have to worry about lugging around a 700 page book!  


The end of chapter three is dedicated to having a place for students to read.  I am so much like Donalyn Miller in her thinking, that it's eery!  She writes about how many leaders in reading education suggest we need to create a "reading sanctuary" in our classrooms, and how she would get frustrated when she could not come up with a reading oasis for her students.  I don't have the space or money to create this sanctuary in my room, and I really don't think it's necessary.  My students love to read in unusual places-under their desks, in a tight corner, laying on the floor, etc.  There are no fancy seats or corners in my room.  I bought carpet squares at a local remnant sale last year, and you would've thought we had hit the lottery!  


I am still continuing to love this book so much!  It really gets me energized to start the school year!  I made the decision that I'm not going to spend a bunch of money on school supplies this year, but use the money on books instead!  A post about my trip to Half-Priced Books is forthcoming!  

The Book Whisperer-Chapter 2

Everybody is a reader.  

The title sums it all up, doesn’t it?  Everybody is a reader.  Even people who do not distinguish themselves as readers, read.  In college, we had an assignment once to record everything we read in a 24 hour period.  We were reading lots of things and didn’t even think of it as reading.  I think this would be a fun exercise for older students, just to get them to realize how much of our lives revolve around reading.  

I realize that I’m probably not in the norm here, but I loved the book frenzy!  My class had a book frenzy last year on the first day of school, but it wasn’t on purpose.  I just didn’t set clear expectations and it got out of control!  I will call it a happy accident because my students were excited to explore the books in the room.  This year, I will make sure I get a little bit more involved with recommendations and have my students offer up recommendations as well.  I think choosing books on the first day of school is so important because it sets the tone for the entire year.  Students will know that reading is the priority in this classroom.  

I definitely prefer the more positive terms Miller applies to our young readers than those used in the past.  Though we would never tell a student they are a struggling reader, it’s kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy thing.  On page 25, Miller says of developing readers, “these students have the ability to become strong readers.”  As teachers, we must believe this, or else what are we doing?  Miller then tells the story of Kelsey, a developing reader whose name was on “the list.”  We all know this list, don’t we?  I related so much to Kelsey’s story because I have a similar story with a similar student.  

Dormant readers are those who can read, have success in reading, but don’t enjoy reading.  Miller points out that many times these students move through our classrooms unmotivated and uninterested in reading, and that in many cases it’s not a concern so long as they pass the state tests each year.  Although this is true, it saddens me very much.  I hope to change that this year in my classroom.  

I found the story of Randy, an underground reader, very interesting.  Randy is the student who ended up failing Miller’s class because he didn’t complete assignments.  He just wanted to read.  I question if Randy’s story happens more with boys, because in my experience my underground readers are also very good students, always wanting to please the teacher.  Miller says she let Randy down by failing him.  Haven’t we all felt this way about a student before?  

At the end of the chapter, Miller describes conditions for learning.  While reading this, I recalled that in college I always said I wanted my classroom to have wall-to-wall books.  This was before I knew the harsh realities of school funding.  If I had unlimited money to spend (or any money, for that matter!), I would buy books:  lots and lots of books!  

I am very much enjoying reading and responding to this book, and I hope you are too!  I’m even going to ask our literacy consultant if she would like to do a book study with the staff this year using this book!  

Chapter 1-The Book Whisperer

Can I just say, I L-O-V-E this book!  Of course, I couldn't just read chapter 1.  I kept reading and reading, until I realized I wasn't reading this book like I would for a book club.  I was so lost in the book and couldn't get over how much I could relate to it!  I got all the way to chapter 6 before I forced myself to stop, get out the pen, and start writing down my reactions.  

In the first sentence of chapter 1, Donalyn Miller describes her first memory of learning to read.  She describes her mother teaching her to read the highway signs as they traveled on road trips.  I connected with Ms. Miller immediately.  When I was young, we took a lot of road trips with my parents and grandparents.  This was how I first learned to read too.  My grandmother would let me sit up front and be the "navigator" on the trip for my grandfather.  What great memories...

I like on page 10 how Miller describes herself as a reader.  Although I've always had a love of reading, I don't know that I've ever used it as an adjective to describe myself.  

On page 11, the quote "No matter what else I had to offer them [her students], I could offer my enthusiasm for books."  I have always felt this way...but have I done it?  

Miller's wake-up call was when she had spent an entire summer creating a unit for the book The View from Saturday and it turned out to be a disaster.  I too have spent countless hours, weekends, and summers creating novel units.  Most have also turned out to be disasters.  Though, at the time, I didn't recognize it.  Only looking back now did I realize my students were also robots--just doing the work that was assigned, and not truly loving the book.  I will say, though, that my novel units were for literature circles, and not the whole class.  I knew that there was no way I could teach using one novel with the varying ability levels of my class.  Still, I was removing student choice.  

Another quote that stuck out to me was "teachers teach how they were taught."  Interestingly, I have very little recollection of being taught reading.  My reading memories are at home, reading with my mom.  I do recall reading a whole-class novel about the Australian Aborigines in high school, and I remember thinking at the time, why are we learning this?  It did not connect to our lives at all.  

The rest of the chapter focuses on how Miller got on the right path for teaching reading.  She noticed how students' interests sparked when they were given the choice in their book selections.  We practice Daily 5 and CAFE in my class, and both are centered around student choice in books.  Miller says, "As long as my teaching was about my activities and my goals, students would be dependent on me to make decisions and define their learning for them." (p. 16).  This reminds me of one of the CAFE premises, where students set their goals.  

Miller also talks about spending time with her principal and a veteran teacher, Susie Kelley.  Does everyone have a "Susie Kelley"?  I know I do.  She is our fabulous literacy consultant, and her office is right next door to me, so I constantly pop in to pick her brain!  

In the last section of the chapter, where Miller discusses setting up a reader's notebook and taking on a workshop approach.  She knew she was on the right path, but that it still wasn't working for her, and she was frustrated.  I definitely know this feeling.  All teachers must find out what works for them and their students.  One person's tried-and-true may not work for you.  Although I absolutely love the Daily 5, I certainly don't do it just as "the sisters" do it.  Or, as my teacher-friend across the hall.  We all have to modify to meet our needs and our students' needs.  

The last quote I want to discuss is on page 18, "reading shows you how to be a better human being."  This is my ultimate goal for my students.  

A Random Thought...

I've learned recently about myself that if there is a book in the house that I am interested in, I would much rather read that book than watch TV. You would have to know me personally to know how big of a deal that is: watching TV is my biggest vice.
The question arises then, how do we get our students to that point? I'm hoping The Book Whisperer has some answers!