9.18.2011

Daily 2.5

Sooooo,
I feel like this is more
where I'm at when it comes to the
implementing the Daily 5...ha!

In my defense...I read Cafe and The Daily
Five right before school started. I 
instantly LOVED them and wanted
that for my classroom, but I was a little hesitant.
Mainly because it would be different than what
I've done before and we use Open Court Reading.
I was/am unsure of how it can all
mix together.

I started the school year teaching Read to Self
first and then Read to Someone. Those
were not too different to implement since
I have always had a silent reading time.
It was great to take more time this year
teaching expectations for reading with a partner
since we do it a lot in my classroom.
I also {heart} teaching EXPECTATIONS
because I am kinda picky...at least that's
what I tell me students!

Anyways, my moment came about two weeks ago,
when I didn't have any doubts about whether
or not I was going to dive all the way in
with the Daily 5.

I was feeling frustrated with our reading program. 
There are some parts that I like.
But, it needs to be WAY more fun.
That day I was also reading the parent surveys 
I had just received back and one of the 
first questions was, "Does your child like to read?"
It broke my heart how many "NO's" there were and they
were often followed by, "because they are struggling and get
frustrated."

I knew at that moment that I had to try something
different this year, and if anything is going
to work with along our reading program
{that I have to teach with FIDELITY.
Does your school district use that word
as much as mine? Probably not!!!}
the structure of
the Daily 5 would possibly
be my only hope.
The Daily 5 sounds FUN.
My students need to have FUN reading and
they need to LOVE reading.

So that's where I'm at. :)

One thing my students are doing great at is
during Read to Someone. They are fabulous
at stopping to check for understanding.
I actually think they ENJOY doing it:)
I made these cards for them to use
to remember to stop at the end of
each page and check for understanding.
 Each pair of kiddos grabs one before 
they find a spot to sit.
They help the kids a lot because it prompts
them the sentence starter of, "I heard you read..."
in case they forget how to start!
Walking around the room and hearing them say those
words and then retell what they heard
is so rewarding as a teacher:)

If you'd like a copy of the Check for Understanding cards
click the download link below!



I need to introduce Listen to Reading, but we don't
have the supplies yet, so I think I'll just have to
move on to Writing and Working with Words.
I got the idea to use CD Walkmans if I can
get enough of them {maybe 4 or 5} donated.
Has anyone used these before?
I just thought the mobility of them would be
good for my classroom since I don't have
a space for an entire listening center.

I am excited that I'm going full force with this and
hoping to see some great results this year:)

I thought I'd write about this to see if there is
anyone else out there new to using the Daily 5 this year.
If you are, I'd LOVE for you to leave a comment and tell
me how its going for you!
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7 comments :

  1. I haven't used Daily 5 in my classroom, but after hearing all the blog teachers having such success I think I need to see if I can implement it next year.

    Thanks for sharing the Check for Understanding cards. I'll definitely be using those in my reading group classes :)

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  2. I just started this year with D5 and Cafe. I've only done read to self, but intro to read with someone this week. Thanks for the check for understanding cards! How are you doing adding to Cafe strategies? I need help with that. Suggestions?

    ✿Erika
    2B Honey Bunch

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  3. I am implementing the daily 5 with my second graders this year! I LOVE it....we are finally up and running- after 6 weeks of practice and expectations. I only do 3-4 rotations a day and I'll admit at first I was panicky because of the chaos. All of last week- when we first started really "rotating" and the kids actually had a choice - I rotated around the room and observed and helped...by the end of the week- we had it down and I was so proud! I'm excited to actually start conferring....
    I'd say take it at your pace and do what works best for your kids...it will all fall into place.

    www.love2reed@blogspot.com

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  4. I am also a newbie to Daily 5 this year! I am attempting to implement it in my 2nd grade classroom. We also used Open Court reading and I found it just as boring as you did. I started Read to Self last week. My students can tell me the expectation, we made the i chart, and we are working on building stamina. We've only gotten to 7 minutes. I decided while we were working on that to introduce Read to Self. I also don't have listening stations yet, but I was thinking walkmans, or a listening center. I'm really looking forward to the independence daily 5 will foster, as I have a lot of very needy students right now! I will definitely use the check for understanding cards, I will definitely use those! I'll be looking forward to checking back to see how things are going!

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  5. It's encouraging to hear from you guys and how its going for you! I had a great day today introducing Work on Writing and the kids are excited about it:) Thanks for reading and commenting!!!

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  6. We are good to go on Read to Self and Work on Writing (they LOVE these two!). We have been learning the expectations for Read to Someone the past week or so. I love hearing them checking for understanding with their parnters :) Word Work is going to be pretty easy to introduce because they've been doing different spelling activities all year :) I have a listening center (but they all would have to listen to the same book-no fun!). I am hoping my projects on donorschoose/Limeades for Learning get funded so we get our mp3 players and walkmen :) (I have soooo many books on tape it's not even funny!!)

    It is nice to see where everyone is at in implementing Daily 5! I absolutely LOVE it!!

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  7. I just came across your lovely blog. I, too, am at an Open Court school, where we are also expected to teach with fidelity. I would love to hear how you made Daily 5 work in combination with Open Court. I am looking forward to starting the Daily 5 this year, but am having trouble imagining the big picture. If you have a couple extra minutes (I know--that's rare at the beginning of the school year!), I would appreciate it if you could send me an e-mail explaining what your schedule looks like and how exactly the Daily 5 works in your classroom!

    swood1987@aol.com

    ReplyDelete