Reading Instruction

In the full day kindergarten a balanced instructional approach is

used in order to provide students with a wide variety of
opportunities to interact with language. Children are engaged in
interactive read aloud, shared reading, guided reading,
independent reading, partner reading, small strategy groups as
well as individual reading conferences with a teacher.

Interactive Read-Aloud and Shared Reading

Through interactive read-alouds and shared reading the teacher
is providing specific instruction through modeling and
demonstration. During these lessons students are participating!
They are thinking, sharing and discussing what they are learning.

Guided Reading and Small Strategy Groups

Guided reading groups allow the teacher to work with a small
group of students who are reading on a similar level. The group
works on a teacher selected text in order to focus on one or two
teaching points per session. The small group enables the teacher
to provide targeted support for students at they practice the
skills they have learned. Small Strategy Groups differ in that
they are used to teach or reteach explicit strategies students
need to learn. Students may be reading at different levels and
apply the strategy to a text they are currently reading.





Independent Reading and Partner Reading

When children read to themselves independently or to a partner
they choose books that are just right. Children build stamina
each day as they practice reading to themselves, spending
increasingly more time each day reading. In the beginning of the
year kindergarten students choose from preselected books made
available by the teacher.

Daily 5 Rotations

We use the Daily 5 structure to organize all the work we do
during our literacy block in Kindergarten. This structure teaches
children independence and gives children the skills needed to
create a lifetime love of reading and writing. Daily five consists
of five tasks. Each task and routine that accompanies that task
is introduced independently. Children are given opportunities to
practice the task and see what if feels like to complete each task
independently. Once they know what it sounds like and feels like
to complete a task they work on building stamina.

The five tasks are:
Read to Self
Work on Writing
Read to Someone
Listen to Reading
Word Work

When routines have been established and the children are
independently working through the Daily 5 rotations it enables me
to work with small groups or to meet with students one-on-one.
It is my experience that the children LOVE their Daily 5 time.
The Daily 5 structure allows for students to be engaged in
meaningful literacy work throughout our reading instruction time.
One thing you will notice is the lack of worksheets coming home.
Young children are experiential learners. They need to interact
with content, peers and teachers to learn. Worksheets keep
students busy but dont result in the learning outcomes I want for
kindergartners. I want them to read, talk about books, work with
words and have fun learning to read.