Why my school is doing Daily 5 this year, and why yours should too!

My Story of the Daily 5

I'm one of the lucky ones! Daily 5 has been a part of my teaching reality since I was finishing up my certification year at Michigan State University. Under the helpful guidance of my internship teacher, I watched her unfold Daily 5. I got to slowly dip my toe into it before I backed up to cannon ball in! I loved, loved, loved it!

When I was on my own in my first year, I had a pacing guide and a basal with little wiggle room. I found that quickly the basal didn't reach all my students and the small group packs that came with the program, although "differentiated," didn't provide the resources or the structure I needed to truly meet the needs of my readers.

I was beyond thrilled when I interviewed at my school, and my principal was excited to hear more about Daily 5. He gave me the green light, and I never looked back! Two other teachers at my school also adopted it in their classrooms, and this past year, I helped to train another teacher so she could launch it as well. Daily 5 allowed me the flexibility to authentically teach! Within its structure, I launched book clubs, literature circles, held reading and writing conferences, and had the opportunity to give meaningful assessments to individuals as well as progress monitoring. What were my other students doing you might ask while I was working on these objectives? They were all meaningfully engaged in their own literacy tasks WITHOUT WORKSHEETS! They were meeting in their own book clubs before discussing with me, practicing readers' theater, reading books of their own choosing, writing what they wanted, peer editing and revising, taking AR quizzes, and reading out loud with each other.

This year, with three blissful years of teaching using Daily 5 under my belt, I had the wonderous opportunity to provide professional development for the Kinder, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teachers at my school to teach them how to implement Daily 5. (Fifth grade was already an implementer herself!) It's truly a dream come true to see such an effective teaching structure like Daily 5 implemented school-wide, and I wanted to share with you not only the benefits that I have found from Daily 5, but also my tips for starting it in your classroom, and a professional development presentation which I used at my school and that you are free to show your staff to help them start Daily 5 in your school as well!

What is Daily 5?

The beauty about Daily 5 is that it isn't a curriculum-in-a-can program! Instead, it's an expertly thought-out STRUCTURE for you to use to teach reading and writing! When the 2 sisters, Gail Boushey and Jane Moser, thought out Daily 5, they wanted to give teachers a structure which they could use to keep students engaged in learning and doing literacy. As they stated:

“We are literacy evangelists, and our most fervent belief is that the
best way to become a better reader or writer is to practice for extended
periods of time each day. Therefore, as we designed the Daily 5, we
were committed to making sure the tasks were authentic and would
lead to measurable growth, as well as help boys and girls become
lifelong lovers of literacy” (Boushey & Moser, 2012, p.173).

Within Daily 5, there are 5 main activities students practice independently with the opportunity for teachers to work with students during each activity and to offer whole group mini-lesson between each activity.

The Daily 5 tasks include

1. Read to Self (independent student chosen and read texts)
2. Read to Someone (partner reading with student chosen texts)
3. Work on Writing (students writing on topics they choose)
4. Word Work (students independently practicing word spelling or patterns)
5. Listen to Reading (students independently listening to books on tape, CDs, or eBooks)

Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2012) Big Ideas Behind Daily 5 and CAFE'. The Reading Teacher, 66, p.172-178.

Why it capitalizes on best practices

Daily 5 capitalizes on a wide variety of best practices of literacy! Here are the ones that have most impacted me in my teaching, and that I have found to be most helpful for other teachers at my school.

• It promotes Independent Reading practices: Students are explicitly taught how to do each activity with autonomy, told why each activity is important, and through the program are slowly given practice to build upon their existing skills.
• Student Engagement in meaningful, and authentic literacy practice is prolonged.: Throughout Daily 5, students are always engaged in doing real reading, writing, or having discussions. Time is not wasted through worksheets or sub-par basal stories.
• Students are motivated to read and write with the high variety of choice: There are many elements students can choose from including which book they want to read, who they want to read with, which activity they want to do, what they want to write, and where they want to sit to do it. As we know as educators, choice is a BIG MOTIVATOR for our kiddos, and Daily 5 certainly doesn't skimp on it!
• It allows for differentiation and small group instruction: The fact that there is so much choice allows for student chosen differentiation, and a teacher can easily offer book suggestions for students, group them by need, meet with them, and provide tier 2 interventions in the classroom! The structure is completely setup for this type of instruction and it's encouraged within the book as well!

Secret Start-Up Tips

When starting Daily 5 for the first time, I've found these tips to be most helpful for teachers whom I work with that are new to the wonderful world of Daily 5.

1. First and foremost BUY THE BOOK! There are many things you want to save on in your classroom, and believe me, I'm all about the Dollar Tree, but you cannot do this program effectively without buying the book! You can get either the first of second edition on Amazon for pretty cheap Second Edition or First Edition. Look at it as a major investment! Within the book, it gives you the exact sequence of lessons, specifically what you need to write on your anchor charts, problem shooting, and their complete tips on how to do this program! You will want to read, highlight, reread, tab, and reread those sections so you can successfully launch their program. (My school actually bought each new teacher their own book!)
2. Amp up your library! You need to make sure you have a wide variety of texts to choose from in your classroom library as your students grow in their reading throughout the year. You can check garage sales, ask for parent donations, or even ask your school library for loaners.
3. Get some book boxes! I was not able to spring for the fancy plastic book boxes, but my favorites were IKEA Flyt Magazine Files. They come in packs of 5 for $1.99, and perfectly fit my kids' books and readers' notebook. For an extra long-lasting tip, make sure to tape the bottom to reinforce it with packing tape.
4. Organize your Readers' Notebooks. You want to think of the tools you want your readers to have at all times. I've seen some people use a composition notebook and pasted various logs, graphic organizers, goals sheets in them. I personally just liked using 3-pronged plastic folders. I filled them with goal sheets, a reading log, book genre information, letter writing topics, and 40 pieces of loose leaf for them to use during Work on Writing. I also printed out a portable word wall they can use and add to as the year went on. Pinterest has tons of options for any of these items, so make sure to check there!
5. Get your cute Daily 5 signs! Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest all have adorable templates and already made Daily 5 classroom packs! I know you can find some for free, because of beginning of the year promotions and there are some free ones on Pinterest. It just helps to make your classroom look a little sharper as you're getting Daily 5 going, and one less thing you have to make!

Presentation to give to Faculty and Staff

As a final bonus, I've posted a presentation I made for my school this year to help teachers get a bit more oriented to Daily 5 after they read their books this summer. Feel free to click on the link below and use the presentation for your staff development or to show your principal if you're interested in implementing Daily 5 at your school!

How to Daily 5 Presentation

Thanks again for stopping by, and until next time!

Yours in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista