Trying out Reading Tubs

Although I have supported Daily Five for the past couple of years, there has always been something(s) about it I didn't like.  I've changed it so many times that it hardly even resembles Daily Five anymore.  Last week, the girls on my team got the wild idea to try Reading Tubs instead of Daily Five.  I was so interested and excited that I stayed late on Friday afternoon trying to get it all set up for this week.  Here's a first peek at Reading Tubs...

Reading Tubs are structured just like Math Tubs.  The children are grouped into four groups (for now by reading ability, but they could definitely be mixed ability).  I decided to label my reading tubs A, B, C, and D so I don't confuse the kids.  Each child will go to one reading tub a day, for four days.  Three of the tubs have a Word Work activity.  The fourth tub with be computer (Starfall, BookFlix, Storyline Online, or Tumble Books). 

After students are finished with their tub, they will have a second choice available.  The four choices are a reading game, listening to books on the iPod, read to someone, and computer (Tub D will stay at the computer the whole time- no second choice). 



Here's my Reading Tubs chart



Here's my Math Tub chart

 Here are the materials for reading and math:

PROS:
- shorter time spent- I plan to give the kids 35 minutes to work on Reading Tubs, instead of the 45-50 minutes we are currently spending with Word Work/Listening choices of Daily Five.

- less transition- Transitions are a struggle for my class this year.  Instead of the whole class moving at once to a new choice, each child will move when he/she finishes the work.

- fewer materials needed- Currently I need at least 5 sets of a Word Work activity, and even with that my children have to work with a partner.  When one group doesn't finish Word Work on time it messes up the next group of children who should be using those materials.  With Reading Tubs, I can create 4 sets and all children can work alone and not have to worry about someone else needing their materials.

CONS:
- less time for listening choices- With this system the children will only go to a listening choice if they are finished with their Word Work.  Hopefully this will be motivation for them to finish early, but if not they will miss about 10 minutes of listening time.


I had parent/teacher conferences all day today, so I haven't actually tried out Reading Tubs yet.  I can't wait to get started with them tomorrow.  I'll let you know how they go.