The Daily 5

Where did the week go?  We have been up to all sorts of wonderful learning!  

I have been implementing The Daily 5 with my advanced literacy group!  It has been so fun!  If you haven't heard about The Daily Five, you should check it out!  I first read about it on A Teeny Tiny Teacher's blog, but have seen several ideas on Pinterest.  So, I decided to give it a try.  Although there is a lot on-line, it doesn't do it justice.  So be sure to read the book!!  

At this point, we have introduced Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Read to Someone.  My biggest challenge it that I have this advanced group of students for a short 30 minutes until we break into small Read Well groups for an additional 30 minutes.  The best solution I have come up with is to implement the Weekly 5 instead.  I want to make sure my students truly get the most out of the activity they are participating in so they are not rushing through all 5 activities daily.  What would they really gain from that?  If anyone else out there has a better idea, please share it!  

Anyhow, my students and I have been extremely happy with the outcome!  They enjoyed filling their book bags with good fit books (in place of book boxes) and cracking into their writing notebooks.  One of the most enjoyed lesson my students refer back to often is determining what a good fit book is.  They love to remind me of how Nate's shoes were WAY to big and not a good fit for me.  Thanks to the 2 sisters, I now have a wonderful analogy that very clearly illustrates how to pick appropriate books! 

During our work on writing time, students have really flourished! On the first few days, I heard things like, "but I'm not done" and "I finished my whole story."  At another point throughout the day, one of my home room students asked, "Can I please work on writing?  I want to finish my story."  Unfortunately, it was math time and I had to say no.  One of the other first grade teachers came by and shared how she is seeing some of the skills like underline the words you don't know how to spell fall into other learning areas.  That my efforts and instruction in The Daily 5 have been impactful!  I am just so happy my students are this motivated to write!

Pictures will come soon!