Launching Daily 5 with Wordless Books

We start our Daily 5 routine from day one. It is my very very very favorite day in Kindergarten because it is the day that I get to tell them that they will learn to read this year. They get REALLY excited when I tell them this but I don't stop there. 

I tell them I have a secret and then I lean in and whisper softly, "You can already read...."

Man oh man, they protest! No Mrs. Langley I can't! I haven't learned yet!......I continue on with telling them everyone in this room already knows how to read. 

So I've got them hooked and they are hanging on every word. 

I get out my favorite wordless book...A Ball for Daisy.

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We 'read' the book without saying a word. (It is so quiet!) I show each picture and use a lot of facial expressions to show that I know what is happening in the book as Daisy loses her ball and gets very sad. They follow right along with me and I can see their reactions as things happen throughout the book. I close the book at the end and then ask very quietly, "What happened?"

They can't wait to tell me all about it! I then tell them that they just read the pictures and that is one way to read to book (from Daily 5). We really focus on this first way to read a book for the first few weeks of school and it helps us as we build our stamina. This one lesson effectively gets rid of all of the doubters in the room. I love it! Some of my other favorite books to read the pictures with are David books (the illustrations are just great!) Thanks David Shannon!

and The Lion and the Mouse (also wordless)

This one is really fun too! 

What does our first day look like? After I get done telling them they are readers I place them around the room with a couple of books. Here a few sneak peeks. 

Our first try we lasted about 3 minutes. If you have ever started Read to Self with a brand new batch of kinders you will know that is pretty good! Next week we will really start talking about STAMINA! It all just gets better from here! I would love to hear your ideas for launching Read to Self. Do you use any different books? I'd love to add them to my collection, leave a comment below.