Do you have your book?{If not click on this picture or here to get it asap!}
Do you have the desire to make changes to make your classroom’s literacy to make your students responsible for their learning?
Do you want to teach your students to read not monitor behaviors?
Do you want procedures and routines in place to make your students better learners and better readers??
I do! And so do my best gal pals at
Freebielicious.
Are you ready to start the
First, let me tell you a little about my journey with The Daily 5.
The county I am blessed to work in started talking about using this system for guided reading about 3 years ago.
They gave us the Original Daily 5 book as well as the CAFE book.
The loved how independent the students were who used this structure. They loved the results of the students who used this structure.
I stupidly read the CAFE book first and was LOST.
{Don’t do that… read this one first.}
I kept thinking:
MY KIDS CAN’T DO THAT!
{Note: This is usually what I say when I don’t want to TRY to do something.
It is the easiest excuse to pull out and resort to.}
Then, I read the Daily 5 book.
Everything made sense.
I wanted the type of classroom I was reading about in the book.
When you know better, you do better.
I owed it to my students to allow them to be better…
I owed them a chance to try TRY the Daily 5.
Why not try this…
what is the worst thing that could happen?
In March of 2012,
I changed my 4 reading groups into Daily 5 stations.
Since my students were already trained and reading,
it was very easy to build stamina and get rocking and rolling.
When I decided to let go and give up the control…
AMAZING things happened.
I fell in LOVE with The Daily 5 that instant that I SAW the classroom I read about.
Guys… I was working too hard for my little loves and
they needed to step up and do the work INSTEAD of me.
The next school year I started teaching the structure on the 3rd day of school.
{I saw the big picture from the previous year and
knew where I wanted them to be at the end of this year.}
We worked on building our stamina to read to ourselves.
But with my kinders…
I taught using 4 small groups UNTIL we taught each element of the Daily 5
By October, we were ready to change from small groups
into a free choice board for our Daily 5 stations.
Two full school years later, I love The Daily 5 more so than day one.
I also love the independence of my students using this structure.
It makes them responsible for their learning!!!
There have been some changes to The Daily 5 from their first book.
{I add this because some people wondered if they needed the newest book.
Here are the changes I have noticed thus far…}
– The sisters encourage you to do all 5 areas in a week, not a day.
– Read to Self is still taught first, but Work on Writing is now taught second,
and the other areas are taught based on your students’ needs.
-The 10 Steps to Independence {NEW NEW NEW}
-The introduction to the Math Daily 3 {NEW NEW NEW}
– When referring to work given to students during reading time before The Daily 5,
“But did those things just keep our kids busy,
or were our kids engaged in literacy task that will make a difference in their literacy lives?”
{p 4-5}
– After using The Daily 5, would you like this to be said about your classroom;
“Looking around the room, you may have to hunt a bit to find us.
When you do, you will discover us deeply engaged with a small group
of two or three students as we practice comprehension strategies together.”
{p. 5}
This is EXACTLY how my class looks during our Daily 5 time… even in Kindergarten.
–
“Instead of trying to “manage’ students, rushing around the room putting out fires,
we wanted to create routines and procedure that fostered independent literacy behaviors.”
{p.7-8}
-I love the way they help you to start the year off with procedures and routines.
-Do you choose where your students will go or is it an indpendent choice?
I also want to add that the framework for The Daily 5 is PERFECT
for schedules that are not perfect.
Meaning, if you don’t have a huge block of time
to devote to literacy instruction, this model is ideal for you and your students.
The Core Beliefs this chapter focuses on are the foundation of The Daily 5.
{A lot of this chapter was new!}
-takes time
-each child is worthy of our trust and respect
-we have to have trust in our students’ abilities to do activities for a set amount of time
-we teach students to use stamina instead of giving them busy work
-sometimes trust is hard for us as teachers, but it is needed for our students
-“Trust is believing the best in others, even when actions or behaviors seem incongruent.” {p.23a}
-“The eevnironment of the community becomes intricate with each shared activity and lesson.”
{p. 23}
-“A sense of community empowers students to hold others accountable for behaiors, learning, respect, and kindness.”
{p. 24}
-This also pertains to the development of students. We need students to accept that different students can be on different reading level and read different books.
-I have found that the idea of giving students a choice of where to go is hard for teachers.
When i made the choice to let my students choose where they go, everything changed in my classroom. It was AMAZING the difference in my students. They LOVED it. This is one way they KNEW I respected them.
-highly movitating
-“Allows students to take ownership.” {p.25}
-Opportunity for choice can be earned. This is big for me. If you can’t make a good choice, I will help you and support you in this area until I feel you can. I support those who need it and I take away that support as needed too.
– This can be as simple as choosing a spot to work in, noice levels, etc.
-No day is perfect.
If you to step back and go over the rules again for a particular problem, please do it.
-“After ten minutes of direct instruction, the brain must shift in order to refocus.”{p.29}
-We need our instruction to become 20/80. 20% of our instruction is spent teaching students, while 80% is spent practicing skills and concepts.
-“Extended amounts of time for student practice is the key.’ {p. 30}
-Students can tell when their brains need a break. they get up to get water or go to the bathroom, or even choose to bother others.
-The breaks can be a physical break from work, movement activity to help their brains continue to work, a brain break to help students refocus, or a shorter lesson.
-Learning how to take a brain break is also something that is taught!One thing I plan on using for my Brain Breaks are these:
I made this pack with Dr. Jean.
It contain 66 brain breaks with a sports theme…
Sooo… What do you think of the first two chapters?
I am personally loving the changes I am reading about…
because those are the changes I have already made to The Daily 5 in my classroom!
I have an idea for a freebie for the next chapters.
Chapters 3-4 are NEXT Friday, June 13!
Check out this linky below to see more post about
I am most excited about reading how this works with kinders. I read the first book before I had a classroom and was lost really as I had bo connections to refer to. Now reading this book after teaching a year I am seeing the need for change and higher thinking and expectations for me and my students.
I am most excited about reading how this works with kinders. I read the first book before I had a classroom and was lost really as I had bo connections to refer to. Now reading this book after teaching a year I am seeing the need for change and higher thinking and expectations for me and my students.
I too am excited about this book study! I read the second edition a couple months ago and plan to implement the Daily 5 in my classroom starting in August, but I am really nervous and have lots of questions! I will be following this study to help me feel more comfortable and prepared. Thanks for doing the study! 🙂
After my first year of teaching kindergarten, I am looking for a way to develop more independence in next year's kindergarteners. I can appreciate your comment about running around and putting out fires. That exemplifies how I felt about my center time this year. I am waiting for my book to arrive and I am excited about creating an independent and productive classroom environment!
I am in awe with everything I am reading. I did not implement Daily 5 last year and was scouring for an effective literacy block. I teach 3rd grade and am looking for meaningful ways to get students fired up about reading and writing.
There a few questions I have about the Daily 5 and I am hoping someone can answer.
I do a lot of interactive notebook for language/reading. Would this not be included in daily 5?
When do I give reading assessments if I am doing Daily 5 everyday?
I think the book is amazing so far and I just want to make sure I am understanding everything fully!
I love giving students the choice of their activity!
You can make it work for you if that is a tool you want to use.
I just use my 10 minute whole group time for assessments and if I need a little time from Daily 5 time I use it. You aren't assessing that often. Another way is to informally assess during small group time. As Mary said you make it fit your time and schedule. Take a little from here or there!
I am a 2nd grade teacher and have heard about and seen Daily 5 mentioned in places like Facebook/Pinterest/Blogs. However, I've never read the books nor had a formal training. Can Daily 5 be used in 2nd grade as well?
Yes! My whole county uses it in elementary school, k-5.
Just ordered my book but I will be caught up by next Friday!
I teach kindergarten and have used the daily 5 the past 4 years (2 with kindergarten and 2 with first grade). I love it. I love how it empowers the youngest of learners to fall in love with reading! I love the changes in the book and look forward to you sharing more of your thoughts! Thanks!
I purchased my copy a few weeks ago and have been busy highlighting and tagging the pages! I used Daily 5 with my Kinders this year and was VERY pleased with my students progress. My test scores showed considerable growth. I am thrilled with this new edition as it includes ideas for Math Daily 3. My favorite thing about this structure is that it can be created to be flexible for the needs you and your students have. I am excited for this book study…and look forward to seeing other teacher's ideas!! =)
Love the flexibility of the new book!
Jennifer
First Grade Blue SKies
I had great intentions of using Daily 5 this year with my kinders. As I started teaching stamina, I just didn't feel like my kids were "getting it." I wound up going back to a normal grouped guided reading model. Any suggestions on teaching stamina to kinders? I always had one student talk and ruin it for the rest!
Any suggestions would be wonderful- I really want to try again next year! Thanks!
Gina
Getting them to build that stamina is the HARDEST part. Those friends who ruin it for everyone are the ones who I sit by when we are all reading to self. YES, i pick up a book and read it to myself too. Sometimes, that friend has to go into the hall and practice with a friend as well.
It makes me feel so much better to know I don't have to fit it all in!!!!! And, I can't wait to get to the chapter about Math Daily 3.
KaSandra
MemoriesMadeinFirst
I had the wonderful opportunity to hear the 2 Sister present the Daily 5 and CAFE in St. Louis last month. They are AMAZING! I love how they are constantly re-evaluating the process. I started doing the Daily 5 two years ago after participating in the linky book study and have loved it…especially the way the 2 Sisters suggest building stamina. I look forward to integrating the CAFE strategies into the framework this year. I'm enjoying everyone's comments after reading the new edition.
So in love with Daily 5. Just added a link to your post over on our latest post! Got to get us a copy and study along with you!