The Daily 5 Second Edition Book Study: Chapter 1

Happy Sunday everyone! It is has been forever and a half since I last wrote on my blog. I have had a hard time this year not being around students, therefore I have been trying to stay away from blogging. I am turning a new leaf and hoping to be back in the classroom next year! With my hopes up I wanted to start prepping for my future classroom...what better way to do that you ask? To catch up on some current educational reading! 

I first implemented The Daily 5 (D5) in my classroom last year and I fell in LOVE! If you would like to read about how I implemented it last year click here.

Have you all seen that "the sisters" have a new book out?! 

I pre-ordered mine through Amazon. Since it is Spring Break I decided to crack it open and begin reading. When I read any educational text I like to document my ideas, notes, and things to implement in my classroom. I usually do this in a word document that I title with the book's title therefore I can easily find it later. I knew I wanted to start blogging again therefore I thought I would document my ideas, notes, and things to implement in my hopefully future classroom here! 

Chapter 1: That Was Then, This is Now: How the Daily 5 and the CAFE have Evolved

(I liked to make bullets of ideas, hope you don't mind)

How is this book different from the first book? 

*Difference of using the D5 with older and younger students

*Read to Self is the first choice introduced, second choice is now Work of Writing (they will explore this in later chapters)

*What is needed to start the D5 in your classroom

*10 Steps to Teaching Learning Independence

*How to deal with "barometer children"

*Math Daily 3

In the Beginning/What Changed/The Daily 5 Evolved/What Sets the Daily 5 Apart

*These sections are very similar from the first book. It discusses what their reading block looked like before and now. 

*How their management evolved charts, I like these charts a lot and they are especially good for first year teachers. These are a good addition to the book. 

*I enjoyed the t-chart that separates the students and teachers behavior for the D5. This would be a great visual to share with parents or other colleagues interested in the D5. 

An Overview of the Daily 5

(here is where you will first see some new ideas emerge from "the sisters")

*Students participate in D5 during 5 rounds starting off at the beginning of the year. Students have a chance to build stamina 5 different times in one day. 

*Around eight or twelve weeks from the beginning of launching drop off one round of the D5 in order to give students more uninterrupted time to read or write. 

*Spend a few days with only 4 rounds and then drop it down to 3 rounds. Depending on the development level of your students and their stamina level will allow you to make the decision of having your student's participate in 3 rounds of D5 or 2 rounds. 

*"The sisters" included great pictures to educators to visually see what this will look like in your classroom. 

*"The sisters" also suggest students participate in Read to Self and Work on Writing everyday and choosing one of the other D5 choices for the last round. 

*I am still a little confused about how choice comes into play with only have two rounds of D5 everyday and students must participate in Read to Self and Work on Writing. I am hoping this will be cleared up in later chapters. 

How the Daily 5 and CAFE Fit Together

*The CAFE will help you build your mini lessons or focus lessons in between D5 rounds. 

*Students use the CAFE strategies to set goals that the teacher and student monitor during one-on-one conferences. 

MOST IMPORTANT QUOTE: "It is important to remember that the Daily 5 is simply a framework and does not hold any curriculum content. It is about creating instructional routines with students through focused teaching, student modeling, and practice" (Boushey and Moser, pg. 20). 

The D5 is not a curriculum, it is a structure. I think this has been one of the biggest misconceptions I have heard when I talk with colleagues about the D5. 

So far the first chapter has made me excited to read the rest of the book! When I first ordered the book I wasn't sure if there was going to be much difference, but now I realize their definitely will be. I can't wait to read about the 10 Steps to Teach Learning Independence and how only doing 3 rounds of D5 a day will look. 

Happy reading Sunday!