It is quite unfortunate that I decided to create this blog AFTER I have packed up my classroom and the kiddos are all done for the year. I do have, however, some pictures of Daily 5 in action. This past school year was the first year we have implemented Daily 5 as a school and to be honest, I was hesitant replacing my literacy centers. After a whole year I was amazed at what the students were able to do. Here are some pros:
- MUCH less preparation - the same 5 stations (I have a few new activities every week)- the students are extremely independent so reading/writing groups are uninterrupted
- it is quiet!
I could really go on and on but the book explains it all. I would recommend watching the DVD especially for Daily 5 in Kindergarten.
Anyhow, here are a few pictures I took:
He is at the writing station with a picture dictionary. |
Here is one of my writing groups during Daily 5. |
Here is the Word Work station. In the beginning of the year I laminated all the students' names and they used playdoh to form their names. You can also laminate sight word cards well. |
I started the book but just felt it might be too difficult to completely implement in kindergarten. I would be doing Daily 5 on my own. We don't really have a series or program that we HAVE to do at my school and different teachers do different things. I do Literacy Centers and the kids LOVE centers but they would get bored if i didn't rotate new things in. Did your kids get bored with the same thing day in and day out all year long? I really want to try the Daily 5 but am a little hessitant taking the plunge. Thanks for any suggestions :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest fears before starting Daily 5 was that the students would be bored. Surprisingly enough, they were not. I think this had to do the fact that they were the ones to choose whichever station they wanted to be in everyday (they had to choose read to self and work on writing daily though). I would also add things to do for each station as the year went on.
ReplyDeleteListening to Reading was always a big hit because they LOVE to go on the computer.
Read to self was a must but the students liked it because they chose their own books when they "shopped" for books on Mondays.
Work on Writing was also a must but also a favorite because of dry-erase boards, picture dictionaries, markers, and other writing tools.
Working with words was always fun because in the beginning I had things like playdough, magnetic letters and wikki sticks. As the year went on I added different games and puzzles they could choose from.
Another thing to remember is that these sessions are quite short. We worked our way up to 15-20 minutes so the students didn't really have time to be bored.
It all seemed so overwhelming when I was reading the book last summer but watching the DVD helped tremendously. I know the sisters have some video clips on their website that were helpful as well. It makes it look much more doable in Kindergarten.
I would highly recommend you sticking with it and trying it out in your classroom. It takes a while in the beginning to build up the their stamina but after that, you'd be surprised how well they enjoy themselves while learning and how much you are able to get done with groups because they are completely independent! Let me know if you want to take a look at what my schedule looked like last year implementing Daily 5.
Good luck!
Would you mind sharing your schedule with D5?
ReplyDeleteHi Judy! Thanks for sharing all your really great Daily 5 stuff! I did this last year with my kindergarteners for the first time and, like you, was amazed. I'm looping up with my class to first grade and wanted to refresh our Daily 5. Your website is a tremendous help and inspiration! I have some of my stuff posted on my blog, but it isn't nearly as impressive as yours. Hopefully you will find something helpful so I can return the favor. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteNicole
www.flippingforfirstgrade.blogspot.com
Meostressed - I just posted about my Daily 5 schedule
ReplyDeletehere
Nicole - thanks for your resources, just became a follower!
Do you have a big teacher time poster or could you create one to go along with the other full size posters?
ReplyDeleteI would love to get my hands on the font that you used for the Daily 5 picture icons. Is it downloadable?
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