Throughout the school year you have heard about Daily 5 either through our classroom newsletters, additional notes sent home, our blog, or your child. We have finally established a consistent Daily 5 routine and the kids are deeply engaged in this literacy block. It's our favorite part of the day!
We have two rounds of Daily 5. Each round begins with a 10 minute mini-lesson where we practice specific reading strategies, phonics skills, or grammar lessons. The first graders then choose what two choices they would like to participate in for the day. They can choose between Read To Self, Work on Writing, or Word Work. (Kids will begin Listen to Reading as soon as we return from Thanksgiving Break.) Students are dismissed to begin their first round of independent work. After 20 minutes, we all return to the SMARTboard to participate in another 10 minute mini-lesson. Students then get started on their second Daily 5 choice for the next 20 minutes. They love being able to choose their own learning and I am so impressed by how deeply engaged they are during Daily 5. One of my favorite parts about Daily 5 is being able to meet with small groups of students every day during these rounds. I love reading with the first graders and watching them grow every day!
Below you will find the kids in action. Please feel free to ask your child about their favorite part of Daily 5 or what they learn during this hour of our day. Also celebrate with your child! They are doing incredible things in first grade!
We have two rounds of Daily 5. Each round begins with a 10 minute mini-lesson where we practice specific reading strategies, phonics skills, or grammar lessons. The first graders then choose what two choices they would like to participate in for the day. They can choose between Read To Self, Work on Writing, or Word Work. (Kids will begin Listen to Reading as soon as we return from Thanksgiving Break.) Students are dismissed to begin their first round of independent work. After 20 minutes, we all return to the SMARTboard to participate in another 10 minute mini-lesson. Students then get started on their second Daily 5 choice for the next 20 minutes. They love being able to choose their own learning and I am so impressed by how deeply engaged they are during Daily 5. One of my favorite parts about Daily 5 is being able to meet with small groups of students every day during these rounds. I love reading with the first graders and watching them grow every day!
Below you will find the kids in action. Please feel free to ask your child about their favorite part of Daily 5 or what they learn during this hour of our day. Also celebrate with your child! They are doing incredible things in first grade!
Kameron and Jacqueline's group joined me at my table for one of our Daily 5 rounds today!
During our small group time together, we practice phonics skills for that particular week, review sight words, and read just right books.
During our small group time together, we practice phonics skills for that particular week, review sight words, and read just right books.
The kiddos take turns reading one page at a time. We have been working hard on pointing to the words and really streeeeetching out sounds slooowly in words. First graders want to read stories quickly (and skip words as a result) rather than looking at each sound in the word. Taten and Gabe did a great job stretching sounds in words today!
When students misread words, I often stop them and ask "Does that word look right? Sound right? Make sense?" They then use our beanie reading strategies to help decode unknown words. Once they figure out the unknown word, they are encouraged to re-read the sentence now that they know the words. Re-reading a story helps build fluency (smooth reading).
We also stop and ask questions throughout the story. It is important to ask questions and to have your child ask questions to help build their comprehension (In first grade, we want kids to understand what they are reading, rather than simply say the words).
We also stop and ask questions throughout the story. It is important to ask questions and to have your child ask questions to help build their comprehension (In first grade, we want kids to understand what they are reading, rather than simply say the words).
Brinna chose to Work on Writing at her desk today. I loved seeing her re-read her story! During Writer's Workshop we focus on re-reading our stories to make sure they make sense and are readable for our readers. I am so glad Brinna used her learning from Writer's Workshop during Daily 5 time today.
Taylor chose to Read to Self on the teacher's chair today! Each kiddo is assigned a "book shopping" day, which means during our morning warm-up they pick new books to place in their book boxes (2 books from our class library and 3 books from our class just right library). I spy a class book written by the first graders in Taylor's book box. :)
Joely and Mackenzie both chose to Read to Self at the writing table today. Although we have three choices (Read to Self, Word Work, and Work on Writing), first graders are asked to Read to Self during at least one of the two Daily 5 rounds. Many friends even choose to Read to Self for both rounds! Our class is full of enthusiastic readers!
Freeman chose Word Work on the monkey rug today! There are 6 Word Work baskets that have two Word Work options inside of them. Inside of this particular basket, Freeman can choose to build words with a marker on the whiteboard or build words with magnets on the pizza pan. Each basket provides different choices for the kiddos and different lists of sight words for them to practice building and writing. After they build a word, they record it on a sheet of paper.
Melanie chose to Read to Self at her seat today. She chose to read just right books to help her become a better reader all by herself. Can you tell this first grader is excited to read? :)
Mickey chose to Work on Writing on a writing desk today. The kids always have the choice to pick letters or story booklets to write, but the other choices vary depending on the time of year. Right now first graders have the choice to write a Thanksgiving story using Thanksgiving words or draw and write about something they are thankful for. Mickey chose to write about something he is thankful for! The first graders work hard on adding detail and doing their neatest handwriting during this time. I am so proud of the writing they do!
Kyle chose to do Word Work during the second round of Daily 5 today. He also had a basket with a whiteboard and magnets/pizza pan. The more exposure kids have to words, the more likely they are to remember them and apply them to their daily reading. The purpose of Word Work is to help students understand how words are built, recognize and remember common popcorn words, and practice making the words so they are able to spell them correctly in their writing.
Lillian chose Read to Self for both rounds today! Ricardo chose Word Work during the second round. In Ricardo's Word Work basket, he had stamps and a chalkboard. He chose to practice his words with the chalkboard. Great work friends!
Michael chose to do Work on Writing with a clipboard today in Daily 5. Maisen chose to do Word Work. In the basket Maisen chose, he had the choice to build words with stamps or write them on a mini magna-doodle. These boys got right to work and did a wonderful job building stamina!
Miya chose to get comfortable on a pillow while she did Read to Self. Chloe chose Word Work today. In her basket she had a mini magna-doodle and extra markers to write the Sitton 40 and 100 words on the whiteboard easel. The kids love spreading out around the classroom and having privileges such as writing on the easel during Daily 5. These special privileges make learning even more fun!
Aidan found a great place in the classroom to practice his Word Work today. In Aidan's Word Work basket were large magnet letters that could be used anywhere in the classroom. Great job finding this perfect location, Aidan! I also noticed that Aidan made a word with "th". First graders know what "th" says! Encourage them to practice this sound at home or find this sound in books that they read. "Th" is everywhere!
Addison found a cozy corner to do Read to Self today. Addison used her beanie reading strategy bookmark to help her read unknown words. Each kiddo made this bookmark to use while they read. They keep it right in their book boxes! I love to see kids use their bookmarks and try to figure out words they don't know on their own.
I hope you are as proud of your child as I am! Our Daily 5 time provides independent learning as well as the opportunity for me to meet with children in small groups to help meet their individual needs.
Interested in donating books to our classroom library? We are in need of more just right books for these growing readers. Please feel free to send in any books you may not be using at home. We'd greatly appreciate your donation. Thank you!
Interested in donating books to our classroom library? We are in need of more just right books for these growing readers. Please feel free to send in any books you may not be using at home. We'd greatly appreciate your donation. Thank you!