The Daily 5

1. The Daily 5 Facilitating Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

2. “Facilitating” Literacy • The Daily 5 is a management system that promotes literacy independence, child authority, and allows for specific areas of literacy concern to be addressed by the student and monitored by the teacher. This is done through 5 main Themes of Literacy: • Read to self • Read aloud • Listen to Read • Writing • Word Work

3. Goals and Objectives • Goals:The goal of the program and the teachers administering it want children to gain more authority in the literacy choices they make and learn how to specifically address areas of strengths and weaknesses they may have with their Language Arts skills. • Objectives: To individually meet the literacy needs of every child in the classroom while building enjoyment for Language Arts.

4. How it Works • During a Language Arts block of time (90 minutes), children will choose when and what Daily 5 choice they will do that is tiered towards their learning. • Each child will complete all 5 choices everyday but choose in which order and what option they would like to do for that session. ~ 18 minute choice (90 minutes/5 choices = 18 )

5. Assessments to Determine Individual Needs • STAR Reading Program • AR Book Testing • MEAP Scores • Tungsten Reading Program • Dibels • QRI-Testing • Listening to Students Comprehension/Fluency/Decoding Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension/Decoding Fluency Comprehension/Fluency/Decoding

6. The Themes of Daily 5 • Read to Self • Read to Others • Listen to Read • Writing • Word Work (e)= exceptions Children Choose: • What theme • When they perform it • Where they perform it (e) • Theoptions within the themes as well • Who they work with (e) *Because of this, children feel like they have authority to control what they are doing which in turn creates better work and concentration.

7. Read to Self • Through testing, students have figured out their reading level abilities. During Read to Self, students understand that they are to choose a book that falls around their reading level and hits directly on their interest level. Read to Self Options: • Chapter Books • Short Stories • Scholastic News • Magazines • Library Books • Any other appropriate choice

9. Read to Others • During Read to Others, students understand that they are to choose a book that is around both reading levels as well as interesting to both readers. * This is also a time that struggling readers work together to monitor their fluency. Read to Others Options: • Chapter Books • Short Stories • Scholastic News • Magazines • Library Books • Any other appropriate choice

11. Listen to Read • During Listen to Read, students listen to a story or passage while following along with a written format. This allows them to connect with sight words as they hear them. Listen to Read Options: • Read along Websites • Books on tape • Books on CD

12. Writing • During Writing, students are to choose a writing option that will interest them throughout the entire time as well as spark interest right away. Writing Options: • Journaling • Topic Jar • Genre Book Reports • Letter Writing • Persuasive Book Reports • Writer’s Notebook/Stories

13. Word Work • During Word Work, students choose a different option each day so that they will become well rounded with words and create stronger uses with them. Word Work Options: • Sitton Spelling • Fry Words • Partner Spelling • Computer Spelling Games • Cursive Handwriting

14. Things I have Adapted from the program to work for us… • The biggest adaptation is that currently, we only run a Daily 4. We are not using Listen to Read because of lack of equipment. • To compensate for Listen to Read, at times, I will read aloud to the children in a whole group or in small group settings.

15. What am I doing during Daily 5? • Most often, I am meeting with students in small groups based on their most urgent literacy needs. These groups are specifically focused on comprehension, fluency, accuracy, and just with important reading strategies overall. • I also teach a literacy strategy each day that all students will be focusing on for that week that they will have material to be able to practice the skills or strategy taught. • I also monitor Individual Reading of each student at least once a month. (Similar to a Running Record) • This is also the time I use to do my more formal assessments. (QRI-Word Lists, QRI, Houghton Mifflin Assessments) • Most important: I am allowed to meet with students individually more often and address specific literacy needs while providing explicit strategies to help them.