Daily 5

Daily 5

The Daily Five is a way of structuring the language arts block so every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy activities. These researched-based tasks are ones that will have the biggest impact on student reading achievement, as well as help foster children who love to read. Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given independent practice time to read while I provide focused, intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students.

The components of the Daily 5 are:

Read to Self: When students choose Read to Self, students read good-fit books independently from their book boxes. Students take their book box and find a quiet place to read around the room.

Read to Someone: When students choose Read to Someone, partners take their book boxes and read just-right books together. Students make decisions together about where they want to read, what they want to read, and how they want to read. Students are carefully taught to "check for understanding" when partner reading. This helps us improve our comprehension.

Work on Word Work: When students choose to Work on Word Work, they will be working with various spelling and vocabulary building activities.

Listen to Reading: When students choose Listen to Reading, they will be listening or reading books online and taking comprehension quizzes. They will also listen to books on "tape" through MP3's.

Work on Writing: Students will have mini lessons on particular writing skills and writing genres. They will then participate in Writer's Worskshop using the 6 + 1 Writing traits.

There are specific behavior expectations that go with each Daily 5 component. We will spend our first weeks working intensely on building our reading and writing stamina, learning the behaviors of the Daily 5 and fostering our classroom community. I will also spend time learning about your child’s strengths and assessing their needs as a reader in order to best plan for their instruction.

Your child will be taught to select “Good Fit Books” or books they can read, understand and are interested in, which they will read during Daily 5. They will spend most of their time actually reading, which research supports as the number one way to improve reading.

I am excited about giving your child the opportunity to be involved in a structure that will have a positive effect on their education.