The Daily Five {a look at the first month}


Hey there friends!  I am seeing A LOT of back to school posts for this upcoming week so I’ll stay hush when saying that I don’t go back until the 24th! I’m excited but still in denial mode for sure! 😉 Alright, today I would like to answer a question that I get a lot from fellow teachers!  A lot of you ask what daily five looks like the first month of school.  I would like to disclaim that I will be sharing how I run daily five in MY classroom the first month.  It of course is not the only way and as teachers we will automatically adapt things to fit our needs!  I also want to mention that I do not do mini lessons in with my daily five.  We do daily five for an hour straight with building up to four rounds.  Remember, as the reason for daily five is so that I can meet with 4 different reading groups during that time. This will be more of an advanced post so if you you would like to read/hear more about the daily five you can listen in to my virtual presentation by clicking HERE or the photo below!

Below is a look at my classroom during daily five!  You can see how the students are spread across the entire classroom and working quietly and INDEPENDENTLY! It’s up to you if you have students work in pairs or by themselves 🙂  The symbols represent writing, word work, listening to read, and read to self!

Below I will be explaining a four week introduction to the daily five!  I have also typed up the same notes in this document for you!  You can use this to help plan out your introduction tot he daily five!  You can click below or HERE to download it!

 Okay let’s get started!  The first daily five I introduce is read to self!  Along with read to self I focus on building stamina which is huge, huge, huge for the daily five!  Students have to build strong stamina to be able to work independently!  I have found that the more ownership I pass on to the kiddos…the more they “buy in” to building stamina!  The first week I will only be doing one “round” of daily five.  I will ultimately want to get my rounds up to 12-15 minutes but right now we are starting LOW at 2-3 minutes!  When introducing each daily five I will mention doing an I-chart!  If you don’t already have it…you’ll want the daily five book from the sisters as they will give you sample I-charts!  Basically…on one side you will write what the kids should be doing during that daily five and the other side you will write what you do during that daily five {work with students at your table}.

 

Week One: {one round}
Monday-Friday:
Introduce the daily five, introduce the roles of students {work independently}
and teacher {work with students}, introduce read to self {start I-chart},
introduce 3 ways to read a book, and introduce building stamina.  Students will “read” silently as they
building their stamina.  Students will
start at 2 minutes and you can add one 1-2 minutes each day.
*To fill the entire hour I have slotted for daily five my class will work with
playdoh and several name activities/projects.

 

If you need a stamina graph for your class you can download this one for free my clicking HERE or on the photo below!
 

 Week Two: {two rounds}
Monday-Friday:
Round one- review the roles of students {work independently} and teacher {work
with students}, review read to self {I-chart}, review 3 ways to read a book.
Students will “read” silently as they continue building their stamina.  Students will start back up at the last
stamina from week one and you will continue to add one 1-2 minutes each
day.
Round two- introduce work on writing {start I-chart}, students will build their
work on writing stamina by working independently at their tables {I use letter
name practice sheets or writing strokes pages}.
The students will build stamina according to the length of time that
have met round one of that day.
*To fill the entire hour I have slotted for daily five my class will work on my
Introduction to Guided Reading the remaining time.

Work on Writing Activity Packets I use….
Letter Name Practice Sheets-multiple versions

 

Week
Three: {three rounds}
Monday-Friday:
Round one- review the roles of students {work independently} and teacher {work
with students}, review read to self {I-chart}, review 3 ways to read a book.
Students will “read” silently as they continue building their stamina.  Students will start back up at the last
stamina from week one and you will continue to add one 1-2 minutes each
day.
Round two- review work on writing {I-chart}, students will build their work on
writing stamina by working independently at their tables {I use letter name
practice sheets or writing strokes pages}.
The students will build stamina according to the length of time that
have met round one of that day.
Round three- introduce word work {start I-chart}, students will build their
word work stamina by working independently at their tables {I use literacy
center “baskets” or tubs}.  The students
will build stamina according to the length of time that have met round one of
that day.
*To fill the entire hour I have slotted for daily five my class will work on my
Introduction to Guided Reading the remaining time

Below are some packets I use for me literacy center baskets!Literacy Centers for the Year-Themed

 

 Week
Four: {four rounds}
Monday-Friday:
introduce listening to reading {start I-chart}.
I like to then show the students their options for listening to reading
including Starfall.
After listening to reading has been introduced I am ready to start pulling
groups and having students partake in a reading groups.  Before I start dismissing students from the
whiteboard file I like to place them around the room for “pretend” daily five
round.  This helps them visually see what
the room will look like during daily five and we get to practice what it looks
like to retrieve our supplies and put them back correctly.

 

I also like to do A LOT of role playing during these first four weeks.  I will have students show us the right way and wrong way to do things during daily five.  Each day I also ask students to help me finish the sentences like this one…. During daily five we stay ______{in one place}.  We work ______ {the whole time}.

When it is time to start pulling groups I will create my daily five interactive file!  I will make one file for each round {so I would have 4 slides total}.  This way I all I have to do is switch the file to the next slide, students look to see where they are going…and then they head that way!  I do not have students pick where they are going as I have found this is more efficient in my classroom!

 

You can download the interactive file for your classroom right below or HERE! 🙂

 

If you still have questions about how to make the daily five work for your kiddos feel free to comment below or email me at ta******@ho*****.com!  Have a great week!

13 Comments

  3. Hi Tara!
    When you put the students pictures up for what Daily they are going to, how do your students decide which word work activity or listen to read they would do? I have 4 ipads and 2 computers in my room and in years prior everyone argued over where each person went!
    Thanks!
    Brittney
    br**********@gm***.com

    1. Hi Tara,
      For Work on Writing, do you fill the students folders with worksheets on a daily basis? What do they do if they finish the paper before time is up? Love your website, just started using Close Read Lessons!
      Thanks,
      Kelly

      1. Hi there 🙂 I stuff the folders just once a month! I have the kiddos color a picture on the back if completed early. I start with only allowing them 1 sheet a day and then once I know they will do quality work I up it to two sheets a day! 🙂

        Tara

  4. Hi there Brittney! For word work I have two green and two link baskets so I place green or link square around their picture on the smartboard file so they know what color! For my classroom I send one to the computer and 3 to the CD players so I place a special square around the computer friend and the others know they are CD players! 🙂

    Tara

  7. Pingback: Tell All: Guided Reading - Little Minds at Work

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