Friday, August 14, 2009

The Daily Five

Okay, so I've been on hiatus. I have still been teaching, and reading, being a mother, wife, and etc. On top of that though I had been taking classes to renew my license and that really drained me for some reason. Now I am back ready to blog, and ready to continue growing professionally, not because I was made to do it but out of desire.
Stenhouse Publishers sent me the Cafe Book by the "sisters" to review. I got about halfway through the book and realized that I didn't have much schema about the The Daily Five. I was missing a large puzzlepiece of this book. So, instead I picked up The Daily Five and began reading it over the course of a couple of days. I learned a lot, and found it to be a very good read. After reading The Daily Five I picked up The Cafe Book and it has been a much easier read. Expect my review in a couple of days.

The Daily Five had a lot of good quotes that I had read over the years but had forgotten their meaning. As you all are beginning the start of you school think of your room arrangements, your communities, and your explicit instruction. How will these words guide your preparations?

"Just adding more time and space for independent reading is not enough. I'm advocating a carefully designed, structured reading program that includes demonstrating, teaching, guiding, monitoring, evaluating, and goal setting along with voluntary reading of books students choose... When an independent reading component is added, test scores go up." -Regie Routman

"Eventually, I realized, of course, that nothing was wrong with "these kids." They don't get it because I hadn't shown them how. I'd told them to be respectful, thoughtful, and kind, but I hadn't shown them what that looks and sounds like."
-Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades

"Whe we follow routines day after day, our students can use their energy to grow as readers and learners rather than to figure out what we expect them to do. And we in turn, can focus our energy on teaching, not managing, our independent learners."
-Kathy Collins

Don't forget to plan for establishing routines, and developing routines!

3 comments:

Duane said...

Hi Sarah its Duane way out here in Nevada. I was looking at this very book today trying to decide if I should order it or not. I may have to reconsider my decision now. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it. I hope you have a great year!

Katie Dicesare said...

Sarah-
Glad to see you posting again. Missed reading your thoughts.

Unknown said...

Good morning. We as a school are looking for other schools outside of Irving ISD here in Texas that we might collaborate with.
Knowledge of anyone here in Texas?