Daily 5!!!

I am super excited to share with all my bloggy friends about how the Daily 5 has been going in my classroom!!! Lets start off with the basics, if you haven't read the following two books you should definitely start there:

  

These books give you a lot of great information about how to launch the CAFE and Daily 5, but the hardest part for me was how to launch them together.... you know at the same time!! I heard this was crazy, but why wouldn't you launch them together...I mean you are stopping to read in between different parts of the Daily 5, which is a perfect time to introduce a strategy from the CAFE. My second grade team and I work long hours over the summer to create a launching guide that combined the Daily 5 and the CAFE. It really helped us, because we had everything pre-planned  down to the books we would be reading!

The book talks about i-charts for each component of the Daily 5, which I think are soooo important. this really helped my kids to understand what they were suppose to be doing, along with us constantly modeling. Here is a picture of how I display my i-charts in my classroom:

I will go back and refer to these if a I have a student or group of students who don't do a part of the Daily 5 correctly that day. During their own time (aka recess) we will talk about what the i-chart says and they will practice again. I know some might think this is cruel, but it has really gotten the point across to some of my students who thought they could just slack around after the launching time was over.

A second major part of the Daily 5, is to have an interesting attention getting sound. I of course searched high and low for one and found this GREAT rain stick at US toy!

It is crazy how this gets the students attention in one turn!! I actually use it for our math rotations as well. The kids have really responded to it, so it was totally worth the 20 bucks I spent!

The next part of the Daily 5 is to have a set area for each component. I have labeled my areas, thanks to my bff making these cute labels!

This is my small group shelf, which is not a part of the Daily 5, but I do guided reading at my back table while my students are participating in the Daily 5. 

Work on writing tubs match their table colors. I have the supply person from each table go get their folders before we start Daily 5 therefore they have them on their desk already when they get to writing. 

Word work area. The students have to do the activity on the shelf on the left first. The activity on the right is from Abby's Spelling Unit. I pre-cut, copy, etc. so the kids just take a bag and they have all the supplies they need to make the project. Usually the kids really want to do this, but I have trained them that they have to do the other activity first!! 

Check out Abby's store by clicking here!

My students participate in read to someone on the carpet. I have tried to let them pick their partners, but it just didn't work out. I have therefore made a list of who they will read with each day. Under my chair I keep their checking for understanding bookmarks to practice with their partner. Since putting it all together this has been the most frustrating component  because the kids want to talk too loud. It seemed no matter how much we practiced and modeled they still are too loud when they do it on their own. I am getting a student from a local college on Monday to help out during reading and I think I know exactly where I am going to put her! ;)

My students do listening to reading on the computer. I have found it was really helpful to put the directions on how to get back on the site by our icon. Many of my students "accidentally" click the little x and then they are logged off. They know if they can't get it back on, then they have to just go back to their desk and read. 

I don't have an icon for read to self, because they do that quietly at their desks. The following is a picture of how I keep track of where everyone goes and at what time/day!

We really wanted each student to participate in small group and read to self everyday, therefore we do not let them choose where they go. We have a reading day and a writing day or a day one/day two. 

Day one: small group, read to self, listening to reading, and read to someone

Day two: small group, read to self, word work, and writing

As you can tell all but one of my groups have read to self after small group, that helps me know that they will be practicing the new guided reading book we gave them. This is also the order each group goes in, but each group starts in a different component; for example:

Day one:   

Group one: small group, read to self, listening, read to someone

Group two: read to someone, small group, read to self, listening

Group three: listening, read to someone, small group, read to self

Group four: read to self, listening, read to someone, small group 

We only have 4 rotations a day for 20 minutes each. This is what we based our stamina on, when we were building stamina each day! 

I have been truly amazed at how my students are engaged in their own reading and writing. I think Daily 5 has worked wonders at our building. One thing I think it is important to remember is that the Daily 5 and CAFE are not a curriculum, they are a tool or resource. My teammate and I plan each week what strategy from the CAFE we are going to teach along with the books. 

Here are the strategies we have taught so far or during the launching phase. Also not all reading strategies are in the CAFE. This week we will be taking about summarizing, but there isn't a specific strategy for summarizing. The following is a list of the strategies we have taught and the books we used to teach them:

Checking for Understanding: David Goes to School

Cross Checking: First Day Jitters

Tune into Interesting Words: Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words

Back up and Reread: The Teacher from the Black Lagoon

Retell a Familiar Text: David Goes to School 

Good Fit Books: In those Shoes

Monitor and Fix up: The Best Books to Read

Voracious Reading: Reading Makes you Feel Good

Prior Knowledge: Spaghetti in a Hot dog Bun 

These were all strategies we introduced during the launching phase of both the Daily 5 and the CAFE. Many times in the CAFE's launching guide it says to review all strategies  in which we would pick a book to go along with one of the stories listed above. For example we also read some of the other David books after we read David Goes to School. They were then able to relate to those books and use many of the strategies we already learned. During the launching phase are theme was centered around All about Me and then went into our Space theme in September. We found it easy to use these strategies in a variety of books, not matter what your theme for the month is. 

Click here to get your own CAFE label strategies for free!

If you want more specific word work, CAFE, and Daily 5 ideas check out my pinterest at Kelley Cirrito! 

Happy Sunday! I have parent teacher conferences this week, so only a 3 day week with the kiddos! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]