Daily 5 Reading Rotation

The end of Term 1 so time to reflect on my Reading programme and think about any changes that are needed.

What went well: 

• the class love Daily 5 and the structure of the rotation where they know where they are going and what is happening next
• they enjoy the variety of activities - the iPad-Padlet photo & caption, Steps, Listening Post, Handwriting/ Publishing or spelling and guided reading with T
• activities are independent and children are encouraged to problem solve or ask a friend to help 
• my planning is much more in depth and follows the Reading progressions made by the Curriculum taem last year
• I am coming to terms with teaching children reading at the lower colour levels after usually starting at Orange or Turquoise most years previously
• the children are learning that it's okay to revisit a text and to discuss and interpret the story so that a book can last a few days
• I am keeping up with Running Records for children who are 6 for 6 year netts and for those due for National Standards anniversary reports (ie turning 7)

Changes/Next Steps:

• I need to try to fit in at least 4 reading groups or rotations most days as time goes so quickly and distractions happen so that some days I only get through 3 groups
• it took a while to establish routines! how to Listen on the listening post, how to EEKK and silent read/Read to self, setting up Steps, and showing how to use Padlet
• L&A observations/feedback and suggestions from Toni in the last week before the end of term mean that I will trial having the children read a text before they come to a guided reading session - I will need to show them how to record their attempts at "tricky" words
• this will hopefully make more productive use of Teacher time
• I will use the Gerald Duffy skill/strategy checklist that Toni gave us as a basis for my planning
• I will make sure that the children who have not been "producing the goods" on their Padlet page are monitored more closely and are made more accountable - having a buddy peer assess their work
• I will change the Padlet writing activity in a couple of weeks to recording fluency reading using Audioboo - reading a text or poem - then listening to it and giving feedback to themselves or a buddy

Audioboo - another favourite to use again in 2014

248 boos for 2013! Wow what a lot of fun and it shows how popular and easy this app is to use. We used it as an activity in our Daily 5 reading rotation - read a poem and record on Audioboo using the iPad, listen to your recording and self assess whether you want to save it or rerecord - or listen to someone else's boo. 

Everyone few days we would choose a few boos to listen to and using our 'Star and a Wish' system we would assess them - by the end of the year the children were quite used to hearing their own voice without feeling embarrassed and were taking on board the advice of their peers.

A Star = something good about the reading
A Wish = something to improve for next time

The children would often choose to embed a boo onto their Kidblog page or would often want to tweet it.

The other use for Audioboo was to record the children reading during a running record. I never did play it to a parent during a meeting but it was useful for me or for a child to listen to the change over time - comparison from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.