Transcript

Once a week the students have an opportunity to go book shopping, and I think if you asked a number of them this may be their favorite part of the Daily 5 program. We take one rotation at one point throughout the week and the children meet me at the perimeter of the carpet and then they have to decide what four books they're going to take out of their book box. And at that time as well they also are asked to do book recommendations. They show us the cover and they tell us the author of the book, then they're responsible for letting us know why they like the book, or if it's a non-fiction selection, something that they've learned from the book, and then they have to finally let their peers know where they would find the book, because sometimes books can fit into different genres. 

So perhaps there in, it's a funny book but it's a dog book as well, so they have to let their friends know where in fact they'll be placing the book back when we return the books. So we put on some pretty fun music, and they go back and fit their books into the genres. There's a lot of talk during this time as well, they're asking one another for recommendations, where do you think this book should go, so they're really becoming familiar a) with the selection of books we have in the library, but b) becoming aware titles and genres and collections of books specifically. After the books have been returned, then the shopping begins. And that's when the music goes up just a little bit louder and they walk around the classroom just like at a book store, and they talk and they pick and they really have a great time. It's evolved into something that actually takes a full rotation because then they return to their book boxes, they don't have the same quiet parameters that we establish around Daily 5. 

So they can sit at the carpet, they can show one another what books they've found, what they're excited about, they start reading to one another, again without the parameters of the Daily 5 in place, it's a little bit more relaxed for them. But eventually, they all just quiet down because they're so engaged in what they're new selections are. It is a lot of fun and it's something I hadn't done prior to implementing the Daily 5 process. 

The key, particularly at the beginning when the children are selecting their own books, is to just make certain that you've taught I Pick Properly, how do you pick a book, just to make certain, particularly for accuracy, that they're choosing books that are appropriate to their level. This is a little bit of a different approach in that the students aren't all going to level 12 because that's where the teacher says I read and only being able to select books from that level. They may in fact be interested in a book that's two levels below their instructional reading level, but it's of interest to them, it's a topic that they're interested in, so they have an opportunity now to choose based on interest. I will check in with their book boxes regularly, especially when we're just introducing this idea of book shopping to ensure that the time that they're spending during Daily 5 with their books is valuable time and productive time; it will in fact improve their reading skills. If they've selected something that's too hard, they quite often know it, and we just do a quick change. But again, once it's established and in it's place, it's a wonderful, wonderful way to spend the first half hour or 45 minutes of your day.

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