Writing -daily 5 styles

We began a new way of spending writing time this term. I wanted to be able to target some specific groups and I also wanted to be able to bring in an aspect of writing for fun - writing for the sake of writing. My favorite part of our version of Daily 5 reading is that children are required to read, and only read. They have different ways to do this - read websites, read e books, read books, buddy read, listen to reading etc. now with writing I have tried to replicate the same, with some surprises.

Suddenly, I have children who can't wait for writing time (just like those who can't wait for reading), and that's fantastic. One reluctant boy in particular is chomping at the bit to write. He's working on a series of PowerPoint books on various topics from jet liners to submarines. He is a reluctant writer, with poor handwriting, poor spelling, poor punctuation....the list goes on. But now he loves writing. He is working on his writing goals (currently simple punctuation, and good sentences) but he is doing it through his own writing choices.

An observing teacher commented the other day on 2 groups of girls who were pair writing animal facts on posters. Do they even know what a good poster is? Do they have criteria for this, you don't just want a heap of rubbish.... My reply was- they were writing, they were remembering their capitals and full stops, as that is their current goal, and they were enjoying writing for its own sake. So to me those children were succeeding at the lesson. The face value of their finished piece of work may have been simple, but the fact that they enjoyed the writing process and talked to others about what to write, how to write it, etc was extremely valuable part of writing.

My daily 5 styles writing is working a bit like my daily 5 styles reading. Children's perspectives on the subject are changing. Children are more motivated to start and finish something. I get to work with groups on targeted lessons. The children are remaining focused on personal goals, and can discuss them reflectively. These are all the great things- along with the time to just do.... No hidden teacher agenda, no deadline, no topic chosen for you. It is children in charge of their own writing learning.

Great so far.

Reading rocks - (daily 5)

After coming across daily 5 early last year, I became excited. I had been looking for a way to do reading time in the classroom justice. A way to incorporate reading to, silent reading, skills work and teaching sessions. Daily 5, and "the sisters" ideas just made sense to me.

So last year I decided to give it a go and began,  the quite long journey, to train the children how to become independent learners. I followed "the Daily Five" book quite closely, using the language of reading that 'the sisters' incorporate. WOW! I was a little skeptical, but the change in my students attitude to reading was great. That was enough for me to decide that I wanted to continue a similar program this year.

Our school goal this year is to increase reading mileage, and what better way than to read. I have adjusted down to just a daily 2 so far - read to self and read to someone. It took a long time to establish the routines in term one, we had camp, my weekly release, Easter and then I was off school for two weeks with my son. So it has been a long journey. 

But finally, this week, despite cross country practises interrupting us, we got in a few good sessions of my newly named Reading Rocks daily 2. As I looked up from the group I was working with I could see the kind of reading classroom I wanted. 6 children were bent over the yellow table with our student teacher deep in conversation about a book, 2 children were tucked in a corner reading on the iPads, 4 children were working on our 'River of words' using the words they are learning through Tune into interesting words and creating a display for everyone to add too, 4 children were quietly reading to someone and the rest had found a spot and were (on the most part) drowning out everything reading a book.

Now we haven't got this perfected by any accounts yet, as we are just developing how we should be working towards our next steps, but I had my first glimpse how daily 5 could work, and work wellwith children   leading their own learning. My only worry now is, thinking about having to restart this journey with new class the next year...

Hopefully the fact that my colleagues are beginning to become interested too, is a good sign.