Choices Within Read to Self
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Read to Self is a non-negotiable in our classroom. Each and every day, students know they must choose Read to Self during one round of Daily 5. To help keep students motivated, I have added three extra Read to Self options that require little or no additional work on my part:
They are:
1. Revisit Read-Alouds: After we share a book together, I hand it to one of our classroom recorders, who adds it to our read-aloud record sheet and then puts it in the Revisit Read-Aloud's tub.
Two students may choose this tub per round. They love poring over titles that have been read aloud to the class. I like that this tub gives everyone a chance to reread something we've shared together (instead of favorites being secretly sequestered in personal book boxes for ages and ages). When the tub gets really full, I move the earliest-read titles to their proper classroom library tub or offer them to students for a personal book box selection.
2. Big Books: Many of us have a collection of these in our classrooms. I use the best ones for focus lessons and leave them out for a Daily 5 choice. Younger students love finding a spot on the carpet to read these monstrosities.
3. Special Subject Tub: This tub comes in handy for any content area that we study. For instance, in February it holds all the books I can find on polar animals. In the spring, it houses rain forest books. Other months feature our science unit themes which are Insects, Balance and Motion, and Solids and Liquids. Other times it features all the books I can find by the author we are studying during writer's workshop.
When students check in and wish to use one of these extra options, they say, "Read to Self—Big Books" or "Read to Self—Revisit Read-Alouds." I keep track of these choices, just as I do the other Daily 5 choices, on a clipboard. BB stands for Big Books. RRA is Revist Read-Alouds. SST is Special Subject Tub. The special coding helps me to know who has had the opportunity to use these added options, but I know they are synonymous with Read to Self.
These three additional reading resources can help some of my students find books easily!
