Buggy for Second Grade: Daily 5 Book Study: Chapter 2

Today I am here to talk about chapter 2 of The Daily 5 Second Edition. When I first saw the title of this chapter I got super excited because I like to see where things start and lay the foundation for my students. This chapter was great and I am super excited to share my thoughts with you! P.S. I also think this chapter could be great to share at professional development about culture building in your classroom. "The sisters" really brought everything the D5 stands for home in this chapter!

Chapter 2: Our Core Beliefs: The Foundation of the Daily 5

Trust and Respect:

*I liked the very first quote in this section: "Meaningful learning requires respect and trust between teachers and students" (Boushey and Moser, pg. 22). I TOTALLY believe this to be true...if our students don't trust and respect us then how do you expect them to learn anything and visa versa. We have to lay this foundation at the beginning of the year and continue to build trust and respect as the year progresses.

*When it comes to the D5 we have to understand that once we teach our students how to read and write independently we must trust their abilities. We have to trust that they will do the "right thing" during D5 and aren't doing the "wrong thing" to be mischievous. If we find students who aren't reading and writing independently we as teachers need to take time to reteach them the expectations and provide them more opportunities to build stamina. This was an "ah ha" moment for me while I was reading. I needed to remind myself that all students progress differently and some students might need more time to be successful with the D5.

*I love the idea of checking in with students before, during, and after the D5 that might still be having trouble getting through all the rounds. This is a great way to build confidence and redirect in a nonthreatening way.

Community:

*While I was reading this section I found myself nodding my head A LOT! If you build a sense of community students will hold each other accountable. I found this to be true first hand in my classroom last year. When a student would get off task and before I could redirect many times another student in the class would remind them of the expectations and the I-Chart for that component of the D5. Building a sense of community also helped with the transient population I had at my school. Whenever we would get a new student (every other day it seemed!) I could pair that student up with a peer to help them through the D5. Usually after a week with each other the new student was able to participate in the D5 independently.

Choice:

*This section made we really think about how I want to implement the D5 next year in my classroom. Last year I did not allow my students to choose which component of the D5 they went to every day. We had a set rotation that included small group and Read to Self every day. We did four rounds a day, therefore two rounds were small group/read to self and then the other components of the D5 made up the last two.

*I know choice is good for students and is a great motivator for them to take ownership in their learning, but it seems like it would be a little chaotic. The more I read the more I realized and agreed that choice is such an important part of the D5 that I need to embrace it and try it next year! Any ideas on how you have organized and managed choice in your classroom with the D5? Hopefully I will get some more ideas in future chapters.

Accountability:

*Accountability in the D5 is a two-way street. Teachers need to hold students accountable but students should hold the teacher accountable for teaching them what the D5 looks like, sounds like, and provide them time to build stamina/practice.

*Students should be held accountable for choosing an appropriate spot in the classroom to read, picking "good fit" books, voice level, etc. It is ok to step back and review expectations of the D5 by reviewing the I-Charts you created at the beginning of the year with your students. I found myself doing this after long weekends or holiday breaks.

Brain Research/Transitions:

*"The sisters" spent some time looking at brain research to determine how long their whole-group focused lessons should be (I call them mini-lessons in my classroom). The age level of your students equals the number of minutes your students should be able to stay attentive. Due to these findings the sisters have shortened their whole-group lessons.

*In my classroom I did a whole-group lesson for 30 minutes, which included phonics/phonemic awareness and read aloud with vocabulary and comprehension. I did this all before we would go into our D5 rounds. Students would rotate after each round without me bringing them back together. At the time this worked for my students, but I would like to try how "the sisters" suggest next year. I think my students would benefit from doing one round and then coming back together for a whole group lesson. This allows students a break from the D5, therefore hopefully allowing them to stay focused throughout the whole reading block.

*"The sisters" suggest 20 percent of the time should be spend teaching our children and 80 percent should be focused on students practicing the skill. I think this definitely fits the model of the D5.

I really enjoyed this chapter of the book! Make sure to head over and see Kim tonight to see her take on this chapter in the upper grades.