In a nutshell, students participate in 5 different activities throughout their reading block -- each that can be appropriately differentiated to suit their individual needs. Many teachers over on Pinterest have created some pretty spectacular anchor charts, clearly depicting the expectations for each of the following:
- Read to Self: Students are held accountable for selecting "just right" fit books.
- Read to Someone: Students sit with a partner and practice building fluency and comprehension.
- Listen to Reading: Students listen to books on tape/CD, computer, iPad, or Kindle.
- Word Work: Students play word games and manipulate letters. These are those tried and true center activities that I've seen functioning in many an elementary classroom. I'll admit that plenty of the worksheets/activities/exercises are a whole lot of busy work that result in a towering pile of papers, so Daily 5 limits said activities to only those that are purposeful.
- Teacher Time: This would be your guided reading session.
Based on my own research, many teachers pair Daily 5 with the CAFE program, an acronym for "Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary." These crucial skills then become the focus of a minilesson that spearheads your literacy block. Please take a peak at this website that details FAQs about this program.
If you're interested in Daily 5"ing" your literacy block [Keep in mind. this program is well suited to support any curriculum...I've seen teachers in West Hartford implement it seamlessly with Harcourt's Storytown!], check out some of these resources:
- Daily 5, by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser
- FREE Daily 5 signs
- FREE CAFE signs
- Daily 5 Anchor Charts -- You can "see" exactly what students should be doing at each activity.
- 3rdGradeThoughts' Daily 5 Series: I absolutely adore this teacher who is a Daily 5 guru. The link will take you to a variety of resources she provides, including an explanation of the adorable, yet very practical "Teacher Time Bin" graphic, included at the top of this blog.
Any Daily 5 experts out there? What are your thoughts on this popular approach?
Andrea, the Daily 5 is definitely the way to go! Teachers at my school have implemented it as well and have seen exceptional results. Being a special education teacher, I often don't have enough time with the kids to implement the entire Daily 5 strategy in one chunk, but instead, focus on one or two aspects of the program per session, which works great too. Also, I snuck a look at 3rdGradeThoughts...amazing blog! I am now a follower as well. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're a proponent, Jamee! Initially, I wasn't sure if Daily 5 was just used with the primary grades, but it sounds like it's working for middle school students too!
DeleteSince I am not in elementary education nor in reading, I've never heard of this. What a cool idea! I've actually used the idea of rotating around 5 centers in small groups with my middle-schoolers - I know elementary classrooms use this strategy all the time, but it's virtually unheard of in secondary ed! I like that this is specifically designed for literacy - I'd love if someone came up with a Daily 5 for the 5 skills of World Language: reading, writing, speaking, listening, & culture. Hey, maybe I will ;)
ReplyDeleteI use the Daily 5 in my 1st grade classroom, although it looks a little different as we follow Teacher's College as our curriculum. But it's interesting for me to see that even though we're using the Daily 5 it's embedded and worded differently. It simply reinforces that we are using five of the most important aspects of reading in our daily instruction!
ReplyDeleteI work in a private school and have never heard of the Daily 5- though I practice it's philosophy. Thanks for sharing this website. I can use many of the dittos offered and ideas to grow my already exsisting literacy activities into something even better!
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