Kindergarten Daily 5 Book Study Part 2

Day 2 of the book study is being hosted by Caitlyn of Kindergarten Smiles

 1.
Do you trust your students? How do you build this trust? Are you able
to trust them and allow them to be independent throughout all aspects of
your day? Are you going to be able to stay out of their way?

I will be honest. I trust SOME of my students; most of them. I do not trust all of them. I work to build trust, but some students are not trust worthy all the time. I like to find what I can trust them with and work with that!

I am going to trust my students with this framework because I am going to teach them and give them baby steps and reward their successes along the way. (baby steps… tiny baby steps for some.)

Staying out of their way is tough… I want to be with them, leaning them, guide them, CORRECTING them. It is tough to hear them read something wrong and not correct them.

2.
How much choice do you give your students throughout the day? (would
love for you to share some examples!) Do you go over your daily schedule
with your students or is it just ‘posted’ in the room?

 This is a great question. I give my students as much of a choice as they can handle correctly but not too much that they are overwhelmed. I have to monitor and observe to see when students are ready for more AND when I need to take something away. 

For example, when I begin the Daily 5 choice board, I will only give them Read to Self, Read to others, and work with a teacher. We will work towards Listen to Reading and Word Work. (Another K teacher told me they don’t even get into the choices until around October, just to give you an idea of when this happens.)

I don’t go over my schedule nor do I post it, but we talk about it and stick to it every day. We talk about it more when something like a field trip changes our routine.

I feel like the teachers set this example for the class. I treat my student how I expect them to treat each other. I hold them accountable to each other because their actions can positively and negatively affect each other.  I feel I create this in my classrooms by first getting to know each student and building that relationship with them. 

I have to work hard with my class on hold each other accountable. They don’t always (usually) know how to problem solve nicely and that is really what accountability requires. I think I also work hard to hold each student accountable for themselves FIRST.

I find this to be true… some children want to learn, some children don’t. I make learning as fun and exciting as I can. I can not make a child do something they don’t want to do. I give more attention to good choices and such, therefore… any typical 5 year old wants attention and will make the good choice. I have seen past students who didn’t take any ownership into their learning. I try and try and try… but honestly, sometimes for some students…
school is their soft place to fall. They know they will get a bathroom, food, and their basic needs met. Sometimes that is what I have to give them before ownership of learning can occur. And sometimes I have student who are not ready for ownership. They need to do Kindergarten for the second time to mature a little. I never give up, but I know this is something THEY have to do.

When I read this book, I was like… nope… not doing this. Not using the word, nor the timer… not.

 Yeah, I was wrong. They like the word “stamina” and can apply it to other things like running a race and working hard. I plan to build stamina in each area THEN going to a choice board. I will start with reading to self and word work. Then I will add Reading to others and Listening to Reading. I will use my choice board for any time when they can chose where they are going. I want them to feel comfortable with the choice board at each step. One thing I like about my choice board is that I can add or take away choices as needed.

My choice board elements are found here.

 I am not sure if I will be making a goal for each area. To be honest, I have to see what my students need and how they react to goals. Sometimes goals work great, but other times they overwhelm my class. I want the goal to be doing the structures and learning, not just reading for 15 minutes straight. (And let’s face it, some 5 year olds are not ready to read for 15 in August.)

On another note, I (without knowing) violated copyright by making products for sale with the terms CAFE and/or Daily 5 in them. I have removed those titles from my activities and personally apologized to The Sisters who created the Daily 5. They were extremely understanding and kind. I can give away items with those terms on it, but not sell items.

Here are the links to my free Daily 5/CAFE items… 
(The CAFE signs are a new addition.)

Grab them here

Grab them here.

On a side note, I didn’t KNOW this before I read both books, but while your students are so busy reading to self, others, listening, word working, etc… they should be practicing using the reading strategies you are teaching them in mini lessons. That is how CAFE ties into the Daily 5. Hope that clears up some things for you guys.