Saturday, February 18, 2012

How to Start the Daily 5 in Your Kinder Classroom ~ Part 1

I have been implementing the Daily 5 into my classroom for 3 years now and absolutely love doing it.  If you are not sure what the Daily 5 is, it is a structure.  In summary, it's what the other kiddos are doing when you are working with a reading group.  Students choose which of the five they want to work on during each round.  The five choices are:

Working on Words
Working on Writing
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Listening to Reading

I wanted to share my journey with you about how I introduced it to my kindergarteners and got them to work independently.  Here are some pics of us working on our Daily 5 choices recently.  I will let you know through many posts over the next few weeks how to get them to this point of independence.


Listening to Reading with TAG Pens



 Read to Self


Read to Someone - sitting elbow to elbow 


Working on Writing

The first step is to read the book.  



The Sisters also have a wonderful website with tons of ideas. (I was a featured author on there earlier this school year - eekk!)

I also use strategies from The CAFE Book by The Sisters to help enhance my mini lessons for the Daily 5 block. It is NOT necessary to use this book for your mini lessons.  I often use other resources for my mini lessons. 

Before you start the Daily 5, you need to know that you do not need the specified places for children to work.  They get to choose their activity and work place.  Pretty much every place in my room is open for them to work - under tables, inside of baskets, at another student's desk, etc.  If you have a place you do not want them to work, you will need to let them know that place is not a work area.  We will get more into that later.  I just wanted you to know that you do not need to reorganize your room for the Daily 5 to create special places to work.  

You do need to get your library in order so students can choose books easily and know where to return them.  You can read my post about my library here.

You will also need to start finding something for students to use as their book boxes or book bags.  Some ideas are:

Use IKEA boxes


Gallon Bags

Target Book Bins



Ice Buckets



Be Creative!  Anything will work!

Your assignments -

Read the book
Organize your library
Collect some boxes or bags for students book boxes

Okay, that's a lot for one day.  My next post will be what you need to do on Day 1 of starting the Daily 5 with your classroom.

Talk to you soon!

14 comments:

  1. Ooh....definitely getting the book.....I'm tuned in!! Thanks Erica!

    Angela
    The Daily Alphabet

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  2. This is exciting! I did not know what the Daily 5 were... I am going to read your links to get more educated on it. I really like how they can choose where they want to work, anywhere in the room!!!

    Thank you for writing this post!

    Michelle
    Apples and ABC's

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  3. P.S...I am your newest follower! Come over and visit my blog! :)

    Michelle
    Apples and ABC's

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  4. I am so excited to have found your blog! I teach a half day kindergarten, have read the book twice, plus done a book study within my district on this, but I still cannot "see" how exactly to implement this. I will enjoy reading how you have implemented it within your classroom. Thanks so much for sharing!!

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  5. I love the picture of your student in the laundry basket!

    I use Daily 5, too, in addition to literacy stations and the workbook we are required to complete. My kinders have succeeded with Read To Self and Read To Someone from day one; it truly feels like magic when you see it in action! I am using gallon-sized ziplock bags for book bags this year. They are easy to store and convenient to replace. The children can also use them for take-home projects.

    I'm your newest follower!
    ReadWriteSing

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  6. Oh my goodness... the child in the laundry basket is the best! I might just go get some baskets so my kids can read to themselves! =)
    Empowering Little Learners!

    Simply Centers

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  7. Hello!
    I am so excited! I used Daily 5 in 5th grade for 2 years and loved it, but was afraid of the transition to kinder. I'm really excited to read through your process, thanks for sharing!

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  8. I've seen your posts, but have merely skimmed them (sorry) because D5 didn't really apply to my classroom. However, I finally convinced myself to pick up the book and read it this summer. Girl! You should have emailed me and said, "Laura, You NEED to do this!" I know, how could you have known =) Anyway, I just want to thank you for doing this series. It's great to read the book, but I like having something I can look at and actually understand...I teach kindergarten..you gotta keep it simple right? So thanks so much and I'm now catching up on reading 1-5 of your posts. Thanks Erica!

    Laura
    Kinder Kraziness

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  9. Thanks for the step by step! I am moving to a new school next year and they are doing daily 5 school wide. I've heard of it, but I'm not sure what it entails and how to do it in Kindergarten!
    Karen

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  10. I am in search mode! Your blog post is at the top of my Google list when I screamed..."Can someone help me start Daily 5 in Kinder please?!?!" and poof! Your series is a lifesaver. Thank you! From Your Newest Supporter :)

    Teach Love

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  11. Nice blog, thanks for sharing the information. I will come to look for update. Keep up the good work.
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  12. Thanks for the post. I really appreciate the way you have presented your content in this post... I loved it. Educational blog for kids...nice :)

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