Daily+5

The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades. Let’s run down the list of similarities here, shall we? Gail Boushey and Joan Moser were classroom teachers when they wrote the book and tell about systems they created with their own students, they don’t advocate one ‘right’ way to teach that requires you to throw out everything else you do, and they show you how to teach your students to run the classroom. The tone was conversational and easy-to-understand. I loved the ongoing discussion of how their teaching practice has changed and evolved over the years. Not only does this make the sisters seem like real people who didn’t start off as master teachers on day one, but it gives permission to the rest of us to grow and let go of ineffective practices we’ve become attached to. I also love how the book emphasizes the element of choice for children. **This truly is a student-centered way to run your literacy block.** But mostly, I love the way the sisters emphasize modeling and practice for routines. This is something I’ve been droning on about for years, but I’ve never seen the concept so perfectly explained for the context of literacy routines. Even if you’re not using the Daily 5, the procedures the book advocates for teaching children to be independent is applicable to whatever literacy tasks you have them regularly complete…and would work for math routines, too. The explanation of how to model and practice is definitely the crown jewel of The Daily 5. There were two aspects of teaching routines in The Daily 5 that I had never thought about. The first is doing 3 minute practice periods to build stamina. My practice periods were usually starting at 10 minutes for 3rd graders, but the sisters point out that you must stop before any children have a chance to get off-task: start small so they can be successful and train their ‘muscle memories’ to complete the procedure correctly. The other new concept for me is the premise of not managing with eye control or proximity (my two favorite techniques) when practicing literacy routines. This was a radical idea in my mind: //What, no raised eyebrows and the ‘um-i-don’t-think-so-buddy’ glare when a kid starts picking at his shoelaces instead of reading?// Not during the Daily 5 stamina-building sessions. **Instead, you’re supposed to stop the whole class and revisit the anchor chart so kids can reflect on their own practices. We’re talking student ownership on the next level. (This ties directly to our Growing Success Document)** Obviously since I’m obsessed with teaching routines and procedures, I really keyed in on that aspect. As for the Daily 5 elements themselves (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work)… The concepts aren’t anything revolutionary, nor do the sisters claim they are–they’re just best practices that focus on authentic reading rather than teacher-contrived busywork. These elements have been going on in classrooms for a long time under many pseudonyms, and they work. They started making the switch from assigning reading activities to having kids READ after studying Regie Routman’s Reading Essentials. I strongly recommend this book as well, and it heavily influenced the sisters, too.

Daily 5 For Dummies - Recap of how to implement:


=** Reading Strategies: **=

[|Reading]

= Reading Fluency: =

[|Readers Theatre]

=** Unit of Study **=


 * [|Unit of Study] **

= Overview of Reading Strategies: =

[|Overview of Reading Strategies]

= = =**First Steps Tie to Curriculum:**=


 * [|Curriculum Ties]**

=**Use of Poetry to Teach Reading:**=


 * [|Poetry to Teach Reading]**


 * Unit of Study for Emergent Readers Using a Big Book:**


 * [|Unit of Study - Emergent Reader]**


 * How to Teach Reading The Fist Steps Way:**


 * [|How to Teach]**


 * Unit of Study - Making Connections - Emergent Reader:**


 * [|Unit of Study - Connections]**


 * Unit of Study - Scanning - Junior / Intermediate:**


 * [|Unit of Study - Scanning]**


 * Unit of Study - Summarizing - Junior:**


 * [|Unit of Study - Summarizing]**


 * Curriculum Mapping with Reading:**


 * [|Curriculum Mapping]**


 * Unit Plan:**


 * [|Unit Plan]**

Demonstration Classes in SW1:
Seventh Street: Valerie Tabler - gr. 1 and Christopher van Hoeijen. 1/2

Sir Adam Beck: Wendy Bishop - gr. 3 and Stacey Lortz - gr. 3/4 and Laura Elliott - gr. 1/2

John English: Claire Stepken - gr. 3 (French) and Steve - gr. 1/2

George R. Gauld; Michael Carvey gr. 3, Stephanie Pincombe - Special Education Primary

Twentieth Street: Margaret McCutchum gr. 1/2,

Wedgewood; Walter Kyle - gr. 3, Catherine Piper Kindergarten

This is an example of a Daily 5 schedule.










The website - Daily 5 - has an interactive version of the CAFE Menue - you can get lessons and teaching ideas.
[|Press Here]



Picture of book, ISBN: 978-157-110-429-8 Cost: $25.00


[|Press Here]

The CAFE Book - ISBN 978-157-110-728-2 Cost: $25.00
[|Press Here]



Word Centre:














Reading To Self Centre:




Yahoo Teacher Blog
[|Press Here]

=Anchor Charts:=





=Teacher Recording Sheets:=







= = = The CAFE Strategies: =



=Books to Use to Teach this Concept:=



=Prediction Strategy:=