What is The Daily Five?
The
It
Daily 5 will become a big part of your day.
will allow the students to do meaningful work
independently.
The Daily 5
will help establish…
…A sense of trust
…A freedom for choice
…A sense of community
…A sense of urgency
…Stamina
…Routines for Independence
The Daily Five….
Relies on the teaching of independence
Manages the entire literacy block
Allows for three to five focused lessons and more
intentional teaching.
Provides students with substantial time to read and write.
Allows for integration of reading and writing.
Incorporates a variety of clearly defined instructional
routines that accelerate learning.
Builds stamina to ensure longer periods of time students
successfully read and write.
Articulates student behaviors that culminate in highly
engaged learners.
Teaches students to understand and monitor their literacy
goals.
Why use the Daily 5?
The Daily Five is a student driven
management structure designed to fully
engage students in reading and writing.
Daily Five Reading is just one more way to organize your
balanced literacy instruction. It is very similar to what some
people call “Reading Workshop” or “Reader’s Workshop”.
The Daily Five is a structure that helps students develop the
daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently
for a lifetime of literacy independence. Daily Five is more
than a management system or a curriculum framework - it is
a structure that helps students develop the daily habits of
reading, writing, and working independently that will lead
to a lifetime of literacy independence.
The Daily Five is a concept based on the idea that
our students need to learn independence in their
own literacy development. During the literacy block
in the classroom, students need to work
independently on skills while other students are
involved in direct instruction with the classroom
teacher or other staff member.
If Daily Five Reading is the structure for students,
Literacy CAFE is the structure of teaching reading
strategies and assessing students.
The Daily Five are:
•Read to Self: in order to become better readers, students must have
opportunities to read. Strategies are taught to students that help
them choose "just right" books to enjoy reading by themselves.
•Read to Someone: reading with someone helps readers and encourages
self-sufficiency. Students learn about positioning their bodies for
reading together and about discussing the contents of the reading by
checking each other for understanding during the reading.
•Listen to Reading: listen to good models of reading helps students to
improve their own reading and it provides the audio support for reading
that some children may be lacking.
•Work on Writing: students need time to write about things that really
matter to them. This could be something that a student began to write
during a writing workshop time. This gives students an independent time
to develop their ideas.
•Word Work: practicing spelling helps students become better spellers
and writers and, also, better readers. This time can be spent in
working with spelling patterns, high frequency words or working with
interesting words and vocabulary.
The Daily Five is a structure that is used during the literacy block
time. It allows students to gain independence and daily practice
in the areas of reading, writing and word study. The Daily Five
structure may look different within each classroom. During this
time, teachers are meeting with small groups, individual students
and/or assessing students.
Read to Self: This is an independent reading time in which students
read their self-selected good fit books. The purpose is to build
reading stamina.
Work on Writing: Students work individually on writing of their
choice. The purpose is to provide daily writing practice.
Word Work: During this the students use materials to work on word
study (phonics, spelling and vocabulary development). The
purpose is to increase student’s word knowledge.
Listen to Reading: Students use various media to listen to texts at
this time. The purpose is to expose students to fluent reading and
new vocabulary.
Read to Someone: Students read to a partner and discuss the
meaning of the text. The purpose is to share thinking and learning
with another person.
Students choose a center. Each center is labeled
with the anchor chart that has been completed with
the class.
Students work for a small period of time with the
materials at the center.
They will listen for the signal and come back to
the whole group.
Anchor charts
are large charts
created based
on what children
have to say.
They make
thinking more
permanent and
create a visual
that can be
referred to.
Each part of
the Daily 5
needs to be
modeled with an
anchor chart.
Anchor Charts and
Modeling
Being able to read to
yourself is the
foundation of The Daily
5.
 The “launching” of read
to self is based on the
gradual release of
responsibilityeventually, you will be
able to do this
independently the right
way!

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Steps to Take
Let’s find our gathering place.
Discuss the three ways to read a
book:

Read the words

Read and talk to yourself
about the pictures

Retell a previously read book
Model read to self, practice read
to self, talk about read to self…
Fill-out the “I” chart on read to
self.
Build your stamina. Model,
practice, talk, and repeat…
Read to Self…Students should:
Read the whole
time.
Stay in one
place.
Read quietly.
Work on stamina.
Get started right
away.
Read to Someone



Being able to read to someone will
help you become less reliant on
the teacher for assistance.
Reading to someone will allow you
to share your thinking and learning
with a friend.
Like all of the components of The
Daily 5, the “launching” of read to
someone is based on the gradual
release of responsibilityeventually, you will be able to do
this independently the right way!
Steps to Take
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
If you’re not there already, let’s
find our gathering place.
Think-Pair-Share: “Why do you
suppose that reading to someone
everyday is so important?
Model and practice EEKK
(elbows to elbows, knees to
knees).
Brainstorm “I” chart on read to
someone.
Build your stamina. Model,
practice, talk, and repeat…
Read to Someone…Reading with someone
helps students read independently and grow as
readers. It also increases:
Volume of reading
The level of
attention to reading
Reading motivation
Fluency
Reading rate
Word attack skills
The love of reading
Read to someone procedures:
EEKK-Elbow to Elbow-Knee to Knee
I Read, You Read-One student reads a page as
the other listens. The student listening can
summarize what they just heard.
Choral Read-Partners read the same section of
the book at the same time. (helps struggling
readers)
Reading One Book-One book is shared between
partners with both students holding a corner of the
book.



Listening to reading is
another way to develop
fluency and vocabulary.
Listening to reading will
allow you to relax and listen
to a good story and learn
new strategies.
Like all of the components
of The Daily 5, listening to
reading is based on the
gradual release of
responsibility- eventually,
you will be able to do this
independently the right way!
Steps to Take
1.
2.
3.
4.
If you’re not there already, let’s
find our gathering place.
Think-Pair-Share: “There are
several ways to listen to reading.
What are some ways to listen to
reading?”
Brainstorm “I” chart on listen to
reading.
Build your stamina. Model,
practice, talk, and repeat…
Listen to Reading…Listening to books
develops language fluency. Students
should:
Get out materials
Listen to the whole
story
Follow along with
pictures and/or words
Stay in one spot
Listen quietly
Get started quickly
Put materials away
neatly
Word Work (Words Their Way)



Having time during a reading
block to focus on words is critical
to your development as a reader,
writer, and communicator.
With word work, you will work
on:
 Experimenting with spelling
patterns
 Memorizing high-frequency
words
 Generalizing spelling patterns
 Adding to your knowledge and
curiosity pf unique and
interesting words
Like all of the components of The
Daily 5, word work is based on
the gradual release of
responsibility- eventually, you will
be able to do this independently
the right way!
1.
2.
3.
4.
Steps to Take
If you’re not there
already, let’s find our
gathering place.
Think-Pair-Share: “Do
you know any spelling
patterns?”
Brainstorm “I” chart on
word work.
Build your stamina.
Model, practice, talk,
and repeat…
Word Work…Focus on spelling and
vocabulary words during this time. Working
on words is critical to developing readers,
writers, and communicator. Students will:
Experiment with words for learning and practice
spelling patterns
Memorize high frequency words
Generalize spelling patterns
Add to the knowledge and curiosity of unique
and interesting words.
Work on Writing


Work on writing will allow
you time to spend on writing
that really matters to you:
 Persuasive writing
 Letters to a friend
 Reports on topics of
interest
 Poetry
 Other
Like all of the components
of The Daily 5, writing is
based on the gradual release
of responsibility- eventually,
you will be able to do this
independently the right way!
1.
2.
3.
4.
Steps to Take
If you’re not there
already, let’s find our
gathering place.
Think-Pair-Share:
“Why do you think it is
important to write
everyday?”
Brainstorm “I” chart on
work on writing.
Build your stamina.
Model, practice, talk,
and repeat…
Work on Writing provides students with
time to spend on writing things that
interest them. Typically this writing
extends the writing program already
used.
Persuasive writing
Friendly letters to classmates
Recount narratives
Poetry
Work on Writing…Students should:
Write the whole time
Stay in one spot
Work quietly
Choice of what to
write
Get started quickly
Underline words they
are not sure how to
spell and move on.
The students are taught from day one about
choosing and selecting books that are just right
for their reading level. They are called "Good Fit
Books".
1. I pick a book
2. P urpose (What's my purpose for choosing this book? )
3. I nterest (Does this book interest me?)
4. C omprehend (Can I comprehend what I'm reading?)
5. K now (Do I know most of the words?)
Key Materials, Concepts, and Routines for
Launching the Daily 5
Establishing a gathering place for brain and body
breaks.
Developing the concept of “good fit” books
through a series of lessons.
Creating anchor charts with students for
referencing behaviors.
Short, repeated intervals of independent
practice.
Calm signals and check in procedures.
Using the correct model/incorrect model
approach for demonstrating appropriate
behaviors.
Other Daily 5 Essentials
Establishing a Gathering Place
Finding “Good-Fit” Books
Book Boxes
Anchor Charts
Signals & Check-in
Repeated Practice
Getting You Room Set Up:
You need to have a few things organized before you begin Daily 5.
1. A designated meeting area for where you will meet with groups
2. A designated area where you will meet with the whole class
3. A classroom library for students
4. A place for each student to store their good fit books
5 A place for listening centers and listening center books - We have 3 listening centers.
6. A place for writing materials
7. A bulletin board or space designated for Daily 5 anchor charts
Daily 5 Schedule
Whole Group
10 minutes
Spelling/Vocabulary Mini-lesson: This first lesson will focus on our spelling pattern for the week or the
vocabulary words. Our vocab words come from the story we are reading from the basal that week.
Small Group
20 minutes
Individual conferences/Strategy groups: At this time I will be meeting with students one-on-one and or small
group of students for strategy instruction and practice. These groups are flexible and based on reading level. I
will pull students will the same goal on the CAFE board.
Whole Group
10 minutes
Reading Strategy Mini-Lesson: This lesson will focus on the comprehension strategy we are working on for the
month. Students will have an explicit lesson followed by practice utilizing the strategy as a group.
Small Group
20 minutes
Individual conferences/Strategy groups
Whole Group
10 minutes
Reading Skill Mini-Lesson: This lesson will focus on a reading skill. Students will have an explicit lesson on the
skill every day and practice the skill. Most often, I will read a book that exemplifies this skill then model.
Small Group
20 minutes
Individual conferences/Strategy groups
Whole Group
10 minutes
Writing Mini-Lesson: This lesson will launch our writing time each day. Read more about our Writing Instruction
here. Students will be released for Independent Writing Time from this lesson.