Daily 5: Slow and Steady Wins the Race + Freebie!

Okay I'll admit it...I've been chomping at the bit to really get Daily 5 going in my class. I've tried to be patient as my little readers build their reading stamina (or make their reading muscles stronger as we say in my class!). We're finally to the point that we've dropped my second read-to-self practice session as we are now reading 15-20 minutes per session (Yippee!) and have replaced the second session with literacy workstations. Hooray! Not a full Daily 5 model yet- that will take a few more weeks but we're getting a little closer every week! So right now I'm at the point where I'm slowly introducing word work and other daily five options. Right now my schedule looks like this:

• Reading Mini-Lesson + Read-to-Self (20-25 minutes)
• Phonics Lesson  (10 minutes)
• Literacy Work Stations- Students work at one of 5 stations (20 minutes)
• Writing Mini-Lesson + Work on Writing (30 minutes)

A few points...I don't do this whole block all together. We do the first three and then break for snack and recess. My little ones are still at the point where they declare they are starving around 8:00. So trying to get anything out of them without a snack break is near impossible. I'm hoping to slowly push our snack time to 10:30 (we eat at 1:00- crazy, right?!) so we can fit in a whole literacy block. I'm brainstorming on how to break into smaller writing groups so we can give more attention these first few weeks when little writers need so much one-on-one help. I'll let you know what I come up with! Oh well- back to the point- word work options.

During the literacy work stations period we've been doing computers (gotta love STARFALL!),  independent word work (practicing the stations we've already introduced in a teacher group), introducing two word work options with one of my assistants, writing with my other assistant, and introducing a reading option with me. So far we've learned done geo-board letters, Popsicle letters (we made our names),  letter beads (we strung the whole alphabet on pipe cleaners!), pattern block letters,  matchbox cars on letter highways, and letter sorts. I've been working on introducing our pocket chart center this week.

Word Work: Sorting letters on alphabet mat and using pattern blocks to make letters (check out the alphabet materials on makinglearningfun.com) !

Writing: Last week we worked on writing our names. This week we've been practicing counting words in sentences and drawing "magic lines" ( a la' Kidwriting!). We use whiteboards to make it more fun!

Making our names with Popsicle sticks!

Stringing alphabet beads in ABC order on pipe cleaners. The alphabet strip is actually from the bordette section at schoolbox. It came with like 20 in a pack for $3.99. They make great alphabet references for word work and writing stations!

A couple years ago I bought a bunch of Sterlite five-drawer units. I'll admit that these drawers have sat labelless for the past three years. This summer I finally got around to making labels for my word work options. If you've made it through my jabbering above, I wanted to offer a freebie. These are the labels I made for my drawers. Just click on the pictures to download them in google docs (For some reason google docs won't let me upload it as a word file. If you have trouble with these- just leave your email in a comment, and I'll send them to you in word format!).

Sometimes people ask me for advice on how to run Daily 5 in kindergarten. My biggest advice? Adopt the tortoise philosophy: "Slow and steady wins the race." Take time to enjoy the beginning steps of reading and writing in your little ones. Come November you'll look around and you'll be amazed at what your little ones can do.

So that's what Daily 5 looks like right now in my classroom. How's it going in yours?  What are some of your kids favorite word work centers?

Happy Reading!
Jessie