The Daily Five
During the first couple months of school, our primary focus will be establishing classroom routines and developing a sense of community. With respect to classroom structure, our goal is to introduce classroom routines and structure in a way that removes all of the guesswork form the children and allows them to concentrate fully on learning.
In Language, the classroom structure we use is called “The Daily Five”. The Daily Five is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.
The five tasks include:
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Listen to Reading
Work on Writing
Word Work
When all five tasks have been introduced and the children are fully engaged in reading and writing activities, I am able to work with small groups and confer with children one on one. This structure is effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to Daily Five time. As the weeks progress, ask your child about Daily Five and see what he/she has to say. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina, how we are working towards independence, and maybe you will even hear about some of the fantastic things your child has written, read, or listened to during our literacy time.
