For some unknown reason, my dear friend and co-worker, Allison Franzen, wanted me to help her with a Daily 5 presentation for other teachers in the county. We have worked together on this a couple times before, because we both love the Daily 5, but it makes me a little nervous to think about teaching other teachers. I am no expert, but it has changed the way I am able to teach, so good news should always be shared, I think. And this literacy/classroom management system makes such an amazing difference -- so I thought it might be helpful to add a little "how-to-launch" to my blog, even though others have covered the topic very well. Daily 5 is just a way of structuring the reading block so that every child is engaged in independent and meaningful literacy activities.
In my kindergarten, I start the first day of school by establishing my "Gathering place" -- which is the carpet in front of my whiteboard.
I will already have book baskets prepared, loaded with an ABC book, a color book, Ranger Rick magazine, a number book, an ABC Letterland Chart, and a familiar storybook.
I have chimes that hang from my ceiling, and I teach them to stop whatever they are doing when they hear the chimes. Since the first part of Daily 5 is always "Read to Self" I teach them the 3 ways to read a book:
I demonstrate that with a great book, like "No, David."
I create the sense of urgency by telling them how wonderful it will be to read your own books about things that interest you.
Now we make the first Anchor Chart or "I Chart" -- they will brainstorm ideas about behavior, and I will write it down on a chart.
The next important step is modeling the behaviors we have listed. I will also choose a child to demonstrate the undesirable behaviors. When I am pretty sure they understand the procedures, I will place the students around the room, give them a basket of books, and let them practice.
At the first sign of undesirable behavior, I ring the chimes and bring them all back to the carpet to check in and talk about how they did. This may only be about 2 minutes-- or even less -- but that's the way we start to build stamina. I will chart it on a graph and eventually they will be able to read for about 20 minutes -- independently -- and it is amazing!
After they build some stamilna -- maybe 8-10 minutes, I will start adding the other parts of Daily 5.
Word Work
Read to Someone
And I teach them how to talk to each other about the books they are reading.
Work on Writing
and Listen to Reading -- sorry, no picture for now.
Daily 5 gives me more time to work with individuals and small groups while the rest of the class is engaged in meaningful literacy learning experiences. You don't have to worry about setting up "centers" or busywork, and everything can be adjusted to fit the way you like to teach. I would never have believed that 5 year old children could stay in one spot and work independently for 20 minutes -- it is incredible but wonderful when it is working!
