"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."
~ Walt Disney ~

Daily Literacy Stations

Read to Self Read to Someone Listen to Reading Work on Writing Word Work

This year, during book clubs (guided reading) the children will be engaged in Daily Literacy Stations. The stations come from "The Daily 5", a program developed by Gail Boushy and Joan Moser that centers around students being fully and independently engaged in reading, writing and word work activities while the teacher is working with small groups.

The heart of this program is the children's independence. When first introducing the program the teacher models for the children and then allows them time to practice. During this time the children are learning how to build reading stamina, choose a "good fit" and work independently. This modeling and practice period lasts about four weeks, but the results are immeasurable!

Each day, the children will do 3 of 5 stations. They will be required to complete "Read to Self" each day as it will serve as our independent reading time. The other 2 stations they complete will be their choice. This year, I have added a "Reading Response" station in which children will be writing and reflecting on the books they are reading. This will take the place of "Work on Writing" as we will be doing the majority of our writing during Writing Workshop.

Read on to find out where we are in the program, see pictures of the stations in action and read feedback coming straight from the hearts of your children!

Read to Self

During Read to Self the children work on reading independently.
We learn there are three ways to read a book:

1. read the pictures
2. read the words
3. retell a story you know

We also learn how to choose a book using the acronym, "I PICK"
I I pick
P Purpose (Why do I want to read the book?)
I Interest (Is the topic something I'm interested in?)
C Comprehension (Do I understand what I'm reading?)
K Know (Do I know most of the words?)

Here are the kids with their first "good fit" book picks of the year. They chose the books all by themselves using the "I PICK" strategy we covered in class.

To help us with the "K" (Know Words) in "I PICK" we also learn "The 5 Finger Rule." The children open to the first page of book and begin to read with their hand open at their side. Each time they have difficultly with a word they put a finger down. If they put 3-5 fingers down, the book is too difficult. If they do not put any fingers down, the book is too easy. If they put 1-2 fingers down, the book is just right!

Read to Someone
During "Read to Someone" the children share the joy of reading with another classmate.

We learn how to sit when reading to someone using the acronym, "EEKK"

E elbow
E elbow
K knee
K knee

We also learn 4 ways to read a book to someone:   Read the same book: partners take turns reading sentences or pages I read, you read: the more fluent partner reads a sentence and the other partner tries to read the same sentence using a similar tone Choral read: partners read together at the same time Read different books: partners read different books, taking turns after each page

Listen to Reading

Listening to reading is an exciting way for us to listen to fluent reading, practice tracking print, learn new words and explore a variety of literature!

We learn three ways to listen to reading:

Computers: Listen to "Living Books" from a disk or listen to "e-books" on the internet
Listening Station: Listen to a story in a small group while following along with the book
Individual Listening Materials: CD player, Walkmans, Discman, extra tape deck

Work on Writing

We learn that there are many different types of writing we can work on during our Work on Writing Station. Some of the forms we discuss include:

simple sentences
friendly letters
short stories
recipes
lists
cards
book reports
non-fiction articles
diaries
to-do lists

Word Work

During our Word Work station we get a real hands on experience! We use all kinds of manipulatives to practice making red words, names, months, days and vocabulary words. Some of the materials that we use include:

clay
magnets
foam letters
dry erase boards and colored markers
stencils
bumpy boards
cut and paste activities