Guided Reading and Daily 5

Aloha everyone.  Last week I posted about my observation and how well it went mainly because of my Daily 5 routine in my classroom.  If you have followed me for awhile then you know how much I love the Daily 5 model.  I had a few questions about my routines so I thought I would do a more thorough post for you today.



The Daily 5 model in my classroom is pretty typical of what the authors of the book suggest.

You can visit their awesome website The Daily Cafe for lots of great tips and suggestions.

Lets start with my rotations.  Each Tuesday we begin our rotations.  I pass out a weekly checklist for my students to keep track of their rotations.



They must complete all 5 areas before they can repeat the same activity. 


Each rotation lasts for 20 minutes and students must stay in that area until I give the signal for the next rotation.



All students have a personal book bag with their number on it.  When they go to Read to Self they just grab their bag and start reading.  They each have 10 books in their bags.  Each students is allowed to exchange their books once a week.  I have a schedule to make it easy for them and myself.


For Listen to Reading I have 4 white bags that have a CD player, headphones and 6 different books with a CD.  The students can grab a bag and sit anywhere in the room.


They can also choose an iPad and listen to stories on there.  I have the Storia App from Scholastic and I also have some free ebooks that I have downloaded from different places such as Amazon and Kindle.


Students choose a buddy to read with and then they choose a Buddy Reading Bucket.  I have 4 buckets filled with pairs of books from the school library and my classroom.  They find a quiet spot and read
together.



For word work I have a variety of activities for my students to choose from.  I have 3 tubs with spelling work, sight words and skills sheets.  I also have monthly activities for them to choose from as well.  I do not require my students to do one before the other, but they must choose an activity and complete it.





My students have lots of options for writing during this time.  I don't have a lot of space for this area so I have set it up for them to have access to a variety of items.


I bought this writing center from A Cupcake For The Teacher, but don't have wall space.  So I set up two binders with everything in it.






The kids can easily get a binder and take it back to their seat.  They can also choose to write in our message books.  These came from Lori over at Teaching with Love and Laughter.


I read through a few the other day and some of my students are writing back and forth to each other.  It is so cute!


I also have TONS of different writing templates and paper.  They love to write on a variety of paper instead of just their journals.  I am pretty loose when it comes to work on writing since we have more formal writing during other times.


Students keep track of where they are going with their clip.  I choose one student to take off the clips after each rotation and pass them out.  The rest of the students are marking their charts and I am getting ready to meet with the next group.  I keep the clips in a simple plastic bucket.



This year I am co-teaching with our Sped teacher so she is in the classroom with me during my Daily 5 rotations.  Now that we are rolling we are able to meet with smaller groups and able to read with each child every day.  Here is my schedule.


I have a binder with my schedule and the different groups that I meet with.  I simply write the book and skills that I plan to work on with each group.  I have 5 different groups, but the Sped teacher meets with two groups during this time. We have a one hour block to meet with everyone.


Inside I keep their rotation charts activity sheets and the list of students in each group.  My groups change all the time depending on their needs.


For my groups I tend to use A-Z readers most weeks.  It is so easy to differentiate and they have great activities to go with each book.  I do however use our basal readers and books from my personal library.


I have a little basket on hand with basic supplies for each group.


Whisper phones, reading fingers, sticky notes, and lots of pencils!



I love these bookmarks that I ordered from Really Good Stuff.  They are simple reminders for my  students and we use them quite a bit.

Each Friday I wrap up our weekly rotations with an assessment.  It is usually 10 multiple choice and a written response.  We work hard on comprehension and skills and these weekly assessments help me to easily measure how each child is progressing.  I use the assessments that are provided with the A-Z program, our basal reader, or sometimes I have them take an AR quiz.

WellI think I have covered everything in my Guided Reading routine!  I hope this clarifies any questions that some of you may have had.  

What does your guided reading time look like?  Are you able to meet with all of your students daily?
I would love to have 30 minutes more in my daily routine!  Do you feel you have enough time to do it all?!   I always look forward to your comments. 





25 comments

  1. Love how you describe each rotation, I am always inspired with new ideas ! There is never enough time. I struggle with trying to see all my at risk readers each day, I feel I am always racing. Thanks for the tips 😊😊

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  2. I really loved reading your post. You explain everything so clearly. I was surprised to read you have a whole hour. We are only given 30 mintues. (horrible...I know). I was wondering what your daily schedule is like. I think I will look back at your previous posts, you might have written about it already. Thanks for all the great ideas.

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  3. Thank you for this post. Enjoyed it thoroughly! Wondering two things: Do you use a reading series? Our school is planning to adopt one for next year but some of us are worried about what would happen to Daily 5. Do students stay put at a rotation until they finish that particular activity?

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    1. Our school used the Trophies series from way back when. I often use the stories and activities and just adapt them to my particular group. If you are adopting a new series I am sure it can be easily adapted to meet the differing needs of your students. Just pick and choose what might work for your guided groups. Yes, my students stay at each spot until I ring the bell for the next rotation.

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  4. Do you also do a whole class read? We use a reading series and I always have a hard time fitting all of this in with all the other subjects and specials. Do you use a lot of paper by doing this method? I was thinking about using a rotation ppt. document I found to rotate.

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  5. Hi! I like how you have things in bags. Did you buy them or make them? They are very cute and look easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
    Pam

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    1. Thank you Pam. I made the bags. Here is the link to the post in which I made them.
      http://www.surfinthroughsecond.com/2012/06/another-made-it-monday.html

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  6. Do they do more than one writing activity while they are working on writing? For instance, if they're writing a list, that won't take 20 minutes. I'm having problems with activities being too quick then they're off task until the switch or taking too long and they're not done.

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    1. The rule is they must write the whole time! I use tons of positive praise and share stories, letters, journal entries they have written. Take two minutes one day after rotations and ask " is there someone in the class that would like to share what they wrote today?" I ask them if they want to read it or if they want me to share it. It really motivates my students to do more!

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  7. How are you working in common core that is forced upon you by the school district? How do you work in your Language Arts program too? Not to mention ELD time? Too much to do...too little time :(

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  8. I'm currently taking a course on-line about Daily 5/Cafe (endorsed by the sisters) so really enjoyed reading your post. In regards to the person's comments on the bags. I used bags one year and got the $1 reusable bags at the grocery stores. Quick, cheap and easy. If you want different colors, try different stores and you'll have a variety. Thanks again for your tips. It was all very well explained!

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  9. Thanks so much for your post!

    I teach in New Zealand and we don't have anything like the daily 5, I see it all around different blogs, but no one has explained it as well as you did!

    Thanks!

    Ruth

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  10. I was curious how many students you allow to be at each station--are the 4 icons on the corners of the Daily 5 choice chart where students put their clip, allowing just a max of 4? What is the procedure for having students choose? Do they just fill out their paper chart and then go move their clip?

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    1. Yes, only 4 students per area. They must complete all areas before they can repeat a center. They move their clip to where they want to go and then color in their chart.

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  11. I was wondering if you could send me an editable version of your Daily 5 chart? I separate listen to reading with CD players and computers because I have them complete a different activity with the computers. When I downloaded your google doc, it wasn't editable and I wanted my Daily 5 chart to look the same throughout. If you could let me know when you have a chance I would appreciate it! :)

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  12. I purchased the puzzles through Lakeshore and I have purchased many items from TpT. I am always looking at Target's dollar spot to see what I can add :)

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  13. I absolutely love this and cannot wait to try some of these activities with my second graders! Is there any way you could send me an editable version (or create one to send my way) of the rotation checklist with Monday-Friday. We do Daily 5 each day and I want to make sure my kiddos can check off each rotation they complete! Thank you!

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  14. Love this, thanks for the great ideas. Have you tried using Epic? They have tons of books and educators get it for free. Just wondering?

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  15. I am a little confused with the guided reading part. Do you pull kids from the daily 5 activities to do guided reading with them and doesn't this upset them if they chose a particular center that they wanted to go to?

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    1. Each rotation I call a group back to work with me for 15-20 minutes. That is one of their rotations and they mark it on their card as Meet With Teacher. Then they have two more rotations and choose where they want to go.

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  16. I have a question. Do you have a link to either purchase or download your rotation schedule?

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    1. Aloha Carrrie,
      If you click on any of the pictures above it should take you to Google Docs, where you can download the items for free.

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    2. Thank you so much, but I was wondering if you have a link to the schedule with the book, pencils, turtles, whales, etc.

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  17. No, I'm sorry I don't. I made that such a long time ago and can't find the original file.

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  18. Do you meet with group D and E? These would be my kids that are reading above grade level

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Mahalo Nui Loa For Commenting!!

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