Daily 5

The children have been working very hard at building their stamina during our Daily 5 block. 

 What is Daily 5?  

Daily 5 is a time of the day when the children work on skills either by themselves, in a small group, or with me.  Daily 5 consists of Read to Self, Work on Writing, Writing Station, Listening to Reading, or Word Work.  All of these centers are a time for the students to build their skills and stamina.  

What is stamina?  

Stamina is training your body and brain to do it the right way!

Read to Self is an opportunity for the children to build their reading skills independently.  The children choose books for their book boxes that they are interested in reading or enjoy their Poetry Binder and enjoy reading the poems.  We have been working on the 3 ways to read:

1. Read the pictures.

2. Read the words.

3. Retell the story.  

This is also a time for the children to practice touching each word and looking for those trick words or sight words we have been learning.

Word Work is another opportunity for the students to build their skills and stamina.  Often times, it is a game or worksheet where they are practicing a specific skill, such as trick or sight words, rhyming, identifying letters or beginning sounds of words, and other phonemic awareness games.

Listening to Reading is another choice for the children to listen to literature on tape or CD.  They are becoming experts at a CD player.  The children listen to the story and respond to the reading.  The children illustrate and label their drawings to respond to the reading.  This is a time they children reflect upon the story and answer the questions.  There are many prompts the children are answering. 

 What is your favorite part?

What is the setting of the story?

Who was the main character?

What happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story?

Work on Writing is another choice the children can choose from.  Each student has their own Writer's Notebook kept in their book boxes.  They have the opportunity to write about anything!  The students are beginning to write and are sharing what they wrote.  These little ones have lots to share!

The Writing Station is changed monthly to go along with different monthly themes.  Each week the children have a different task to complete.  They might have to label a picture, or write a list, write a story or write a letter.  The children use the vocabulary cards hanging on the wall to help support their writing.  Each task has "I can" sentences on the worksheet guiding the children to become their very best writers!

Daily 5 sure is a very busy time of the day where the children build their stamina and reading/writing skills.  I am so proud of how much they have grown in such a short amount of time!