Daily 5 Update

According to our class Days In School Chart we are in 33 days! I finally feel like the mounds of work are dwindling and I am able to leave the classroom at a decent hour.  Luckily there has been no surf, so I have devoted more time into my class.  I know that sounds horrible, but if there are any sort of waves near me I leave school as quickly as possible  to be in them!!


I wanted to share with you how my Daily 5 rotations have been going this year.  I started out slow by taking it step by step just like The Sisters advise.  We started with Read To Self and really worked on that.  The book bags have been a great help and I love that they don't break or fall apart when the kids drop them.
We worked on choosing our Just Right Books and I displayed this cute poster in our reading center, along with our rotation chart for exchanging books.




The kids love the book bags and it is amazing to me how quickly they progressed and are reading to themselves.  They don't wander around the room, go get drinks or head to the bathroom. They sit there and read. Often they get so excited about what they are reading they want to share with a friend, which leads to our next area Buddy Reading.

The Sisters call this Read To Someone, but that sounds a bit boring  so I changed it.  This class loves Buddy Reading.  We worked on this as a whole group for awhile and they really have it down.





To make it easier during our Daily 5 time I set up these buckets with lots of book pairs from the library.

The buddies grab a bucket and find a quiet spot in the room to read.
(I got those cute little Daily 5 labels from a link on Pinterest)

Word Work is another favorite choice.  I have given lots of options for this area and I ask that they work by themselves to make sure they are on task and doing the work.  They can ask for help from a friend if they need it, but it is amazing how engaged they are, especially when they make their own choices!




Work on Writing is one area that has taken some time.  I started Writer's Workshop this year and it has been very successful, but it did take time to get the kids to make choices about what they wanted to write.  When they have their own choice, they suddenly draw a blank. So I gave them some options during this time. They can finish something they have already started, they can write in one of our Message Books, or they can choose a Topics To Write About card.


I saw this on Lori's blog Teaching With Love and Laughter and I just had to have it!!  Click here to go to her great post on this!!  My kids love choosing a card, taking it to their seat and writing about it.  What I love is that they can physically take this little card (the size of a business card) to their seat and look at it to keep them on task.  So simple, yet very effective!!

The most popular area is Listen To Reading. This fills up quickly because the kids get to go on the computers.


Right now they are going to either Starfall or Silly Books.  I haven't really focused on setting up more sites for them to go to.  Our school also uses Kid Biz which focuses on non-fiction articles which they listen to and answer questions about.  This is very difficult for many of my students right now, because they need lots of practice with non-fiction.  It is perfect though for those new CCSS. 

But the problem is this is my noisiest center!!  They are all over there talking and laughing and it disrupts the rest of the class.

Well I am excited to tell you that my Donor's Choose project for individual CD players just got funded!!  Hurray! Now I can have students choose a player and go sit somewhere on their own to listen to stories. 

My biggest problem with my Daily 5 has been giving the students their choice of where to go.


I love this clip chart. I made it simple to see the pictures and they clip right on it to have a spot.  Well this took FOREVER for them to get. They all clipped on Listen To Reading even though there was no spot. They stood there staring at it for 10 minutes before making a choice.  I almost decided to just make a chart as to who would go where! I just couldn't take the fact that so many were just standing around for almost the whole time.  Well after lots and lots of practice they have learned to  make a choice and get started.  I just pop on my teacher hat (a big straw beach hat) and get started with my group. The kids know that when my hat is on, they cannot disturb me!  The kids who were standing around discovered that they had wasted their time and didn't get to do an activity. They were bummed, but the next time they chose a lot faster.

 We also had to really work on how to fill out their chart to know where they were supposed to go.


Many of them had no concept of what to do with this.  So we had to go step by step and write our name, the date and talk about it over and over again. I had to physically show many of them exactly how to fill it out. Once they finish all 5 areas then they can go where they would like to. Some are still confused with it, but it's coming along.

All in all I am happy with the way my literacy block is going.  I think all the students are highly engaged and really like all of the activities.  I had an EA walk in one morning and I didn't even see her come in. She dropped of some papers onto my desk and told me about it later.  She said she looked over and I had my big beach hat on and was working with my group, while all the of the other kids were hard at work.  She said "Wow, I would love to be in your class, it looks so fun!!" That made my day:))


Now if I could just get my math time to be as engaging!!







25 comments

  1. Your D5 time sounds very similar to how mine is going! I really do love it! I used to have my students clip their names to the choice they were going to, but it ended up taking wayy to long! I just stopped doing that altogether. My kids just use a checklist similar to what you have where they cross off what they have done. They know they have to complete all 5 dailies before they can go back to repeat one. They also have to do all the options in each Daily 5 before they can repeat it again. For example, they all want to do Scrabble in Word Work, but they have to do all of the other options in WW before they can go back to it.

    I can't wait to hear more about how it is going in your classroom! I'm planning on blogging about it in my room soon! :)

    Heather
    Sensational Seconds

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    1. Thanks so much Heather! I love your blog, you have some really cute ideas!

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  2. I really do love how those bags turned out!

    Most of the classes I sub in that use D5 tell their kiddos which centers to go. One has a clipboard and the kids say where they are going and I had to check off on the chart and then we came together for a mini-lesson between each group and off they went.

    I love that you wear a hat! I've hear feather boa, princess crown, turning on a light. Love it!

    Journey of a Substitute Teacher
    and
    Endless Pinabilities!

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    1. Thanks Tanja! I wish I had a pic with me in my hat;) The kids learned so quickly how to help each other instead of coming to ask me a question.

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  3. I love how you set everything up! Looks great!
    ❤Teri
    A Cupcake for the Teacher

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  4. Well we have been in school for 9 days so this post is perfect. I loved your summer posts about Daily 5, I have the book,I have made posters and signs but I still feel hesitant to make the jump. This posts helps a lot to clarify and the pics are great. I love the buddy signs and suggestions. Your bins and activities look great and have given me the nudge I think I need to start this.....I think this particular group I have this year would really benefit. Thanks for a great post Corinna !!

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    1. Aww, thanks Diane. I wish I had a few more pics. I plan to post again this week on my guided reading groups to help add to this:)

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  5. I love all your organization! What great ideas here! I would love to be a student in your class, I'd have so much fun!
    Amy Howbert
    Little Miss Organized
    amyhowbert1@gmail.com

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  6. Thank you for sharing how it's going for you. When you are meeting with your small group/conferences, are you doing your basal? How long are your choices? I teach 4th and we use Open Court Reading - the stories are just so long to get through in a group time, and then having to redo it over and over doesn't work. I've been doing full group for the weekly story, and individual conferences during choice time... but I don't know if that's really a good thing or not...

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    1. Emily I have 4 groups that I meet with. I am only able to meet with 3 per day and we are using the basal right now. I plan to use A-Z readers for my higher level kids soon. I plan on doing a post this week about how I run my guided reading. What is working for me is that I am able to meet with my struggling readers and focus more on their needs. My higher level guys are getting more enrichment with me than skills. I hope this helps. I will definitely go into more detail this week!

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  7. Corinna, it sounds like it's going super well. I'm impressed. I'm pinning your clip chart. I wonder if my ones could handle that?

    ❀Barbara❀
    Grade ONEderful
    Ruby Slippers Blog Designs

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    1. It takes lots of practice Barb!! I was getting so frustrated as they were all fighting over what to do and where to go. I sat down and started to make a schedule and I just couldn't. I decided to give it more time and it has gone so much smoother.

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  8. Thanks so much for letting us peek inside your classroom! You sure have lots of great stuff going on! Also, thanks so much for the shout out. I'm so happy you love the writing topics cards!

    Ѽ Lori
    Teaching With Love and Laughter
    luvyorkies@gmail.com

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    1. Thanks so much Lori. You have made my Writing time so much fun!

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  9. HI Corinna! Thanks for the post about your Daily 5. I just started this with my kiddos and loved hearing about your ideas. We haven't yet gotten to the "choice" portion of the Daily 5. I love the writing topic cards. I just received those yesterday and can't wait to add this to my writing area.

    Have a great week!
    Krista
    stellar-students

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    1. ONce it all starts to flow Krista you will love it! Just be patient, practice and review a lot!

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  10. Aloha!
    Thanks so much for sharing all of your ideas! I just attended the Two Sisters Workshop in Honolulu and launched my first lesson today. I hope it is okay that I put your poster on my blog with your website. I thanked you and told my readers to check you out!
    Thanks again,
    Kathy Thomas

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  11. Thank you sooo much for sharing how your Daily 5 is going. It looks like so much fun! I finished the lesson with shoes on Good Fit Books yesterday and we are building Stamina for Read to Self. I look forward to seeing how it will all come together. :)
    THanks again for sharing!
    Hugs,
    Georgi

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  12. For your Daily 5 checklist, do you have an example of how a completed one looks? For example, if they only visit 3 of the centers on Monday, do they do the other 2 on Tuesday before repeating another one? Do you rotate them between Daily 5 activities after a certain amount of time - say 20 minutes? Or, do they rotate on their own?

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  13. I love love love your Daily 5 clip chart? Is it available for purchase? I'm starting Daily 5 this year and have a beach themed classroom, this would be perfect. Your blog is awesome!

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    1. Tara I don't have it available to buy since the Daily 5 is not my idea. Here is a free clip chart that you can use :) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7dWHUDnj1O5WXMybnhYOUNkRGc/edit?usp=sharing

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  14. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm ... i just commented and it made me sign in, and now i see my comment is gone. =/

    i was just saying that i, also, love your daily 5 clip chart!!! but i see that a lady loved it last month and you haven't commented back, so i guess it's not available.

    i am about to start daily 5 with my kinders, and NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET !!! <3

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    1. Aloha Denise! The chart that I have posted is no where to be found in my files, lol! But here is one that I have created that you can use ---> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7dWHUDnj1O5WXMybnhYOUNkRGc/edit?usp=sharing

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Mahalo Nui Loa For Commenting!!

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