Introducing the Daily 5

For the past few weeks, I have been slowly introducing our Daily 5 reading structure to the students. Not familiar with the Daily 5? The Daily 5 is a structure that allows students to work on 5 components that will contribute mastering the end of year goal of reading on a level D. They include: -Word Work Students work in various ways with our sight words to help them improve their sight word mastery. Sight words (high frequency words) are common words that are found in the majority of texts. In order to master the end of the year goal of reading on a level D, students should be able to identify around 30-35 sight words by the end of the year. -Writing Students use their understanding of letters/sounds to create pieces of writing and convey their ideas. Generally, the writing prompts in this center are reflective of the writing genre we are currently learning about. For example, if we are working on opinion writing, then the activities in the writing center will ask them to share their opinion about a topic (Would you rather have a pet horse or a pet pig?) Again, the more a student uses their understanding of letters/sounds to create a pice of writing, the more likely they will be to master the end of the year reading goal of reading on a level D. -Listen to Reading Did you know that when a child listens to fluent reading, that it actually helps with their own reading? Well, that's where listen to reading comes in. In this center, students listen to a story on CD or tape (remember them, lol?) fluently and with expression. So, hearing a person read fluently/with expression will help the kiddos understand how their reading should sound when they are reading. Again, this supports the end of the year goal of students reading on a level D. -Read to self/Read to someone You know the saying, practice makes perfect. The more you read, the better they will get. At this center, the kids will have the opportunity to use their strategies such as using the picture/first letter of a word to determine unknown words, sounding out unknown words, opportunities to see (and master) sight words, etc... -Reading with the Teacher In this group, students will be pulled to work with me in small groups based on their reading needs for more strategic intervention. As you can see, all of these centers are geared towards making the most of your child's time during our literacy block. The goal being having all the students reading on a level D by the end of the year