Word Work is the center where students work on developing their skills in phonics and grammar with meaningful and purposeful work. 

This work should consist of many different kind of work that can be hands-on, differentiated, and targeted towards the phonics and grammar standards that students are learning in their Readers’ Workshop time.  Students can work to complete this center in a small group setting or they can work independently.  Putting in hands-on activities in this center can make it much more enjoyable for the students.  You can even crossover different subjects into this center.

Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts and Reagan at Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits have many awesome resources for Word Work depending on your grade level.

Day #1:

Surprise, suprise! I will bring all my students to a whole group lesson about the expectations of Word Work.  We will create another T-Chart together about what it looks like the when the "Students" are practicing Word Work and what the "Teacher" is doing during this time.  I will take a few moments to model what I want those expectations to look like, then I have the class model and practice those same expectations.  I then partner them up (just for practice) and have them go about into the room to find a place with their partner so we can practice our stamina.  We also graph this stamina.  When in 1st grade I started with 3 minutes but in 3rd grade we start with 5-6 minutes.

**You may notice that my friends in the picture are not necessarily sitting in the EEKK position, this was taken later on in the year after they had been practicing Read to Someone for quite sometime. :)

Day #2-5:

Read to Someone is practiced very similarly to Read to Self, with the exception that students are reading with each other in pairs.  Students use the books in their book basket, which usually contain at least 1 book on their independent reading level assigned by the teacher and 2 books of their own choice.

Students sit in the E-E-K-K (elbow-elbow-knee-knee) position position or some form it while one student reads the books.  Students can switch reading responsibilities back and forth during this time so each student has the opportunity to practice their reading skills. 

Students are also engaged in conversation and even sometimes completing an assignment for one of the books they chose to read together.  The biggest benefit from this center is that students are sharing their skills they are learning in Readers’ Workshop with each other and can have a deeper level of collaboration and conversation.

First 5 Days of Read to Someone

Day #1:

of Read to Somone.  We will create another T-Chart together about what it looks like the when the "Students" are practicing Read to Someone and what the "Teacher" is doing during this time.  I will take a few moments to model what I want those expectations to look like, then I have the class model and practice those same expectations.  I then partner them up (just for practice) and have them go about into the room to find a place with their partner so we can practice our stamina.  We also graph this stamina.  When in 1st grade I started with 3 minutes but in 3rd grade we start with 5-6 minutes.

**You may notice that my friends in the picture are not necessarily sitting in the EEKK position, this was taken later on in the year after they had been practicing Read to Someone for quite sometime. :)

Day #2-5:

First 5 Days of Read to Self

Day #1:
I will bring all my students together as a whole group and introduce and model the "3 Ways to Read a Book" (Read the pictures, Read the words, Retell the story) and create an anchor chart with them.  Here is an example anchor chart from Reagan Tunstall over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits.




We will then brainstorm a T-Chart with two sides "Students" and "Teacher" listing out the behaviors of both.  We will then practice good (and not so good) studnet behaviors.  Once we review those behaviors we will begin working on our stamina.  In first grade, we only started with 3 minutes, but in 3rd grade we will begin at 5 minutes.  We even use a graph to track our stamina progress!

Day #2-3:

We will meet again as a whole group and repeat our modeling and practice from day 1.  We ALWAYS review our T-Chart and practice those behaviors.  We continue building and tracking our stamina.  If the day before went well we would raise it 1-2 minutes.  

Day #4:

I continue to review the expectations of Read to Self with everyone but on this day I usually introduce and teach students how to choose "Good Fit Books."  We would create an anchor chart together and record the different ways to choose books that fit our personally reading skills and needs.  Last year I created something similar to 3rd Grade Thought's anchor chart.  After this we will continue working on our stamina.  

Day #5:

At this point, unless a few students need to practice the expectation a little more, all we do as a class is continue building and tracking our reading stamina.  

Well there you have it!  My first 5 days introducing Read to Self.  If there is ever a moment when my students are losing track or accoutability while we are building our stamina, I never hesitate to go back to the T-chart and review/practice with students the expectations of Read to Self.  Practice, practice, practice makes perfect! :)

I hope that this helped with your ideas of how to implement your Daily 5.  How do you implement Read to Self in your classroom?  You can comment below and share you thoughts and ideas!