You have probably heard your student come home and say something about our Daily 5 time. You may be wondering what it is…and what it is not. This week’s posts will focus in on what it is, how we use it, and why we use it. Today, we are going to focus in on what it is and the options that are more closely aligned with reading.
The Daily 5 is simply a framework for exploring English Language Arts (reading and writing) during our ELA block of time in the morning. It is formed around the concept that the best way to get better at something is to be immersed in and environment where you are constantly practicing the concepts being taught. It is also based on the premise that students are much more motivated to do something they chose to do than they are to do something that is simply assigned with no choice involved.
When we use the Daily 5, there are five different options the students have a choice to take part in during the block of time. We use the first weeks of school to teach them what each of the options looks like, what they are practicing, building their endurance at the option and fostering independence. While the teachers are seeing different reading, spelling, or phonemic awareness groups, the students will be practicing what they have learned at the options they choose. After about 20 minutes, new groups are called and new options can be picked.
Three of the options really focus on reading. Their names and what they are can be found below:
- Read to Self – The Read to Self option is a time for the student to quietly practice reading to themselves. They learn to be silent, still, seated, and reading the whole time. To help with this, we have worked with how to pick a good book and what to do when we are done with a book.
- Read to Someone – The Read to Someone time is an option where the student can ask another student to read with them. We have worked on what it is like to whisper read, sit EEKK, and help each other out when reading. The students continue to build endurance in this option…and are almost there!
- Listen to Reading – The Listen to Reading option is a time for the students to simple listen to some fluent reading at their level. This year, we will be using RAZ – Kids in order to do this. With this program, the students can listen to a book, read it to themselves, and then take a quiz on it. Be looking for more on this in this Friday’s The First Grader.
Be looking here on Friday for a look at the last two options – Work on Writing and Word Work. We will also look at the log sheet the students will be using to keep track of what options they have been doing.