The Daily 5

I have a few more summer school ideas to post, but for the past few days, I've been feeling a little under the weather and not wanting to do much. So yesterday afternoon, while sitting in my recliner watching the Olympics, I remembered my principal gave me a book to read at my leisure since I asked for some info on this topic. I grabbed the book out of my school bag and read the whole thing between the afternoon and evening (with some Olympic watching and nap breaks, of course). The book was The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, "The Sisters."

The Daily 5 can be purchased from Amazon here.

The reason I asked for information on this "Daily 5" was because I had an interview, about a month ago, and I felt I totally knocked it out of the park. I was sure I would be teaching either kindergarten or first grade this fall in my first classroom. The interview team seemed to really like me, and I really liked them. It was more of a conversation with our like ideas and not an interrogation. In your gut, you just know. Well, anyway, there was one question they had that involved a topic that I had never heard of before. They asked about the Daily 5 and I started talking about the 5 pillars of literacy, not knowing they were two different things. Well, I had to admit that I hadn't heard of it, and I made a point to go right home and look it up online. I looked it up and had a general idea of what it was, and I had planned on going to get a book on it as well. Well, as I waited for the call to invite me back for a second interview, I was researching it and gathering ideas from Pinterest (of course!). Well, I got a call, but it wasn't the call I was waiting to hear. If you're familiar with the Bachelor or Bachelorette on ABC (one of my guilty pleasures-shh! Don't tell!), I would relate the conversation on the phone to an all to familiar scene from the Bachelor/ette: the viewer thinking, "Is she going to get the rose? Yes? No? Back to yes? Now no? Huh? What is going on?!" only I was the one up for a rose that I never would get. Wouldn't you know it, the linchpin was THE DAILY 5! Ugh! I was at a disadvantage from the start since I had never been at a school that used it, and it wasn't invented yet when I was still in college. The sad part was that I went home and did my homework for what feels like *nothing.*

Well, fast forward a few weeks to a conversation I had with our principal in her office one day after summer school. I saw this particular book on her desk and asked her about it. She said that I was more than welcome to borrow it and she was thinking of having a book club on it this next year since she thinks this is the direction where literacy is headed. Well! I guess my initial researching wasn't for nothing since now I have a head start on what is soon to be common place in the elementary classroom! (Note: Even though I taught summer school, during the school year, I'm currently an aide trying to network and work my way up. I really, really, really want my first teaching job!)

Now, for the book. I thought it was a very interesting read and many things in it gave me "Ah-ha!" moments. I think a lot of tools in my box would mesh really well with streamlining this into my (future) classroom. I love the idea of actually practicing reading, writing, listening, and spelling, since the only way to get better at something is to practice! I also like that it is not only a literacy structure, but also a classroom management tool. Students in the book seemed more invested in it since they got to choose their activity, had personal responsibility at their station (to do what they were supposed to - and if not, peers would let them know!), and were always working on something that they had a personal connection to since it was their book at their level, or their story, or their words. In a sense, they "own" it, and want to do their best work. Since they are (somewhat) creating their own centers or workstations, it saves that time and energy to be focused elsewhere in planning or creating. Really, besides notebooks and some tactile things for Word Work, all you need is an extensive leveled library. Well, CHECK! I have a HUGE library in which every book is labeled with my name, categorized into different genres or by author (depending on what it is), and leveled with AR levels (which I could always convert to F/P if I needed to). Some day, I envision my library to look like Mrs. Wallbank's here. Scroll down and you'll see it. I also like her book bins and binders for each student. These could be used for Daily 5! The Daily 5 classroom seemed like a utopia, and I'd be willing to try it! The Sisters even give an extensive day-by-day lesson plan/launching the Daily 5 chart in the appendix of the book.

The one thing the book didn't touch on was what was included in the mini lessons between each of the 5 components. I would assume these would involve teaching a reading strategy or conducting a writer's workshop, or maybe even focusing on a skill that many students seem to be having trouble with.

I find that many teachers are incorporating The Daily 5 and the CAFE system (also by the Sisters). I only knew of one school that used CAFE, and right now I think the push is for The Daily 5. I can only imagine that CAFE is the next to implement, so I guess I'll be going out to get that book tomorrow! By looking at both systems at the Sister's site, I think, if used properly, they would really beef up the literacy element of the school day!