The Daily 5

Daily 5 takes place during the majority of our reading block! I am by no means an expert, so please check out the revised Daily 5 Book. Disclaimer: I have ordered the revised book, but have not gotten to it yet.  It is on my to-do list for the summer.  Two weeks left, but who's counting!

I have it structured similar to what "The Sisters" suggest.  We do a 15 minute rotation while I pull students to read with me. That is followed by a mini-lesson.  We usually get through 4 rotations in a morning. Our rotations include Read to Self, Read to Partner, Word Work, Writing and Listening/Computers. 

During Read to Self,  the students have individual boxes of leveled books to match their reading level.  We talk about strategies they can use during read to self.   The emphasis is on students reading the ENTIRE time.
Next us is Read to Partner.  I structure this a little differently than the sisters.  I have the students work on reading from their poetry notebooks, our Wonders Reading book, the weekly leveled readers or fluency passages.  Students have the option of reading together or alternating pages. 


Word Work is the perfect place to work on our phonics pattern.  They practice spelling words with spelling tiles, stamping and dry erase boards.  Reading words with the phonics pattern is also practiced through a game.  The connection of reading the sound and writing the sound needs to be made. 

The writing center is a work in progress.  I tend to give an assignment that could include a Thinking Map to plan their writing, a journal topic or a specific writing assignment.  "The Sisters" give more student choice during this time.  I really believe what works for the students and teacher in each classroom is what is important.


Last, but not least is the Listening Center which I alternate with Computers.  At the Listening Centers, students listen to and read Books on CD and yes, even tapes!  (OK, I feel like I am REALLY old!!) On computers, students read books from Raz-Kids, leveled readers on The Wonders Website and take Accelerated Reader quizzes. 

The mini-lessons that are in between each rotation have generally come from our Wonders curriculum.  As I said in this post, this year will be a different ball game.  We will be pulling from supplementing Wonders with additional resources. The mini-lessons can consist of a reading strategy, phonics skills, phonemic awareness, modeling Daily 5 activities, vocabulary and grammar lessons.

If you missed the other posts in this series, you can read about Fitting it All In, Intervention Groups (and a GIVEAWAY) and Reading Workshop by clicking on the links.

If you have not entered the GIVEAWAY, Wednesday is the last day.  Tomorrow we will venture onto Writing Workshop. Hope to see you back:)