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What is The Daily Five?.....Simply

 When you're working in skill groups....what are the other students doing?  This is the question I would get all the time when promoting small group instruction in reading.  

I used literacy centers for a long time.  I spent countless hours prepping and planning not only what I would be doing with my small groups or during my mini lessons, but allllllllll the individual centers.  That was madness!  And sure, after couple of years I had a wealth of center games & activities prepared......but storing those was not easy either.  Not to mention, most of the time I would forget what I had and never reuse them.

The literacy centers I made where very well planned, could be easily associated with standards, and had a built in assessment.  Sounds great, right? Well, this was fine but it wasn't great.  It wasn't great for me but more importantly it wasn't great for my students.  It wasn't meaningful.  It had failed to provide systems that would enable practicing the most meaningful tasks.  The most meaningful tasks are what will move the needle in skill acquisition.

When I started teaching 1st grade (9 years into my career), I knew I needed a change.  I started researching and came across the book The Daily Five by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser.  I worked with an amazing group of teachers and we studied the text throughout the summer.  In the fall, we started and never looked back.  Long story short I did some unscientific data collection.  I found that after one year, my class who experienced the Daily Five grew an average of 2 guided reading levels more than the previous year's group who experienced just literacy centers.  Let's talk about why that may have happened.

First...


Now...



Stop! I can not stress the importance of the launch enough.  The time you put into the beginning and laying the groundwork is what enables you to smoothly run your literacy block for the rest of the year.  You are developing muscle memory.  Building stamina ensures that students are gradually stretched and this sets them up for success.  We can't expect students who can't read to sit down and "read" for 15 minutes in September.  But we can provide systems and supports that make them ready for more quality independent practice by October.  Give it a month and you get the rest of the year!


The Daily Five is worth exploring further.  Don't take my word for it and do your own research.  Now more than ever, teachers need strategic systems that serve both them and their students.  The Daily Five fits the demands for both.  This system emphasizes the accountability of the student and encourages a gradual release model.

Here are some great resources to help explore The Daily Five....

https://www.thedailycafe.com/daily-5

Click to visit the publisher's page.

Let me know what you think! 
Thank You,
Kristin


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