One of our summer goals has been to go back through each page on our site and do a little summer cleaning. In doing so we found this early article. After rereading it, we thought this would be perfect time to reflect on the Checking In process and remind ourselves of the importance of Choice and why we so dearly hold onto it for our children.

Checking In and Choice

One pronounced difference in the schedule for students is that they have choice regarding the order of participation in the Daily 5™. Students will choose from 5 different tasks during the literacy block. When you enter a class that uses the Daily 5™ as its literacy system, you see children Reading to Self, Reading to Someone, Listening to Reading, Working on Writing, and doing Word Work. These are all happening simultaneously. You will notice that each child has a strong sense of purpose, pride and accomplishment. The order in which each child does these things can (and probably will) vary each day, according to how that child is feeling at the moment.

When teachers initially hear that children will have the power to choose what they will be doing during Daily 5™, they may become nervous, since they have been used to owning the clock and the schedule along with owning the children's learning. This message to teachers, that they need to own their students' learning, can be found around every corner in education. Teachers are given textbooks and told to "teach this to your children." Teachers are given curriculum schedules which dictate, "You will teach this on this day."

However, When teachers trust students to make responsible choices, students gain control over their own learning. Children who are invited to decide the order of tasks, to choose their own partner, or to choose a strategy that works for them, perceive themselves as more competent and become more involved in their work. Students who are given the opportunity to select appropriate cognitive or metacognitive strategies for comprehension will feel greater ownership of their achievement, (Turner & Paris, 1995). However at times the biggest challenge with choice is how to manage it.

Below is the form we use to help us manage and keep track of the choices our students make each day. We run off a number of them and keep them on a clipboard in our whole group instruction area. Before each round of Daily 5™, whether we do two, three,or four rounds, we have children 'check in' verbally with us and we record their choice on this chart with a coding system; R=Read to Self, RS=Read to Someone, W=Work on Writing, WW=word work, L=Listen to Reading.

Recording their choice on the sheet accomplishes a number of things. When students verbally check in and see us record their Daily 5™ selection, it is like forming a contract for what they will do and helps them gets started right away. This check-in also allows us to keep track of each student's choices so we can nudge them to vary their Daily 5™ choice if necessary.

Daily 5™ Check-in Form

FAQ

Q: Do you have other resources for teaching comprehension?

A: We spent last week in Wisconsin with teachers from Green Bay to Janesville and places in between. It is a beautiful part of our country, with rolling cornfields outlined by soybeans and oats. It made us yearn to be home in Eastern Washington for the harvest that is underway.

While there, our Wisconsin colleagues reminded us of Into the Book, a reading comprehension resource site developed by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and a team of experienced educators

The site provides information and teaching resources for teaching comprehension strategies through videos, lesson plans, audio clips, downloads, and more.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/1087.cfm

Tech Tips for Teachers (Website)

The use of technology is one of the most powerful ways to engage students in learning and demonstrating what they've learned. However, so many of us grew up without technology that we feel a little inadequate when it comes to incorporating this into our everyday classroom lives. The New York Times recently published an article entitled Tech Tips For Teachers: Free, Easy and Useful Creation Tools by Holly Epstein Ojalvo and Katherine Schulten. You will find wonderful ideas in five different categories to make your classroom more "interesting, interactive and student-centered."

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/1059.cfm

Registration Information for 2010 Summer and Fall Workshops

Join us this fall in Arizona, Maine, or Florida; beautiful places to learn together.

http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/754.cfm

New This Week For Members

Interested in becoming a member of The Daily Cafe? Click here for more information.

CAFE - Keys to Starting the CAFE Board

Trish shares four important things to remember when setting up your CAFE menu.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1103.cfm

Introducing Daily 5™ - Parent Letter (Download)

Allison shares how she uses the opportunity of Open House to form partnerships with parents.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1104.cfm

Design - Personalizing Book Boxes

These books boxes are not only inexpensive, but when personalized, make delightful vessels to hold good fit books.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1036.cfm

Math - Exploring Number Order (Video)

Edguardo demonstrates a simple game which helps develop number sense, the foundation of our mathematical system.

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1105.cfm

Video Updates

With the addition of our new video players with higher resolution and full-screen options, we are reposting many videos in this new format. As we make these improvements, we'll announce them in the newsletter. Here is an updated video you may want to revisit. Jenny, a teacher at Gail's school, asked her grandfather to turn some prehistoric encyclopedias into a unique bookshelf. We were so excited by this idea that we just had to share it with you!

http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/members/1056.cfm

Until Next Week!