As of yesterday we officially have our Daily 5 routine up and running (and I might add…somewhat smoothly). It really does take an entire month to get all of the routines down and practice them separately before I let them go totally on their own. I am SO glad when we get to this point because it means they are already becoming more independent (yay, yay)!
The way I run Daily 5 in my classroom involves colored necklaces! There are five colors and each color group has a different order for the Daily 5 activities. I hand these out at random each day so they are not grouped by reading level or in any specific way. I do keep track of the color they have each day so they get a different color every day of the week. This keeps the groups mixed and interesting!!
(I got the cute little Daily 5 Frogs from Jennifer Tice)
They absolutely love using the iPads-although it will still take us some time before they can problem solve all the fun issues technology brings π This is when I have parent volunteers in my room because they are a HUGE help in dealing with these types of things while I’m reading with a group.
We usually don’t get through all 5 Dailies every day – honestly, its probably about three maybe four if we’re lucky. The necklaces are nice for keeping them on track without me having to switch names or groups on a big wall chart. I am all about simplifying things π
When I take them for guided reading they just skip whatever their necklace says for that round. I know it’s kind of a bummer for them to miss one round, but it’s not that big of a deal and it allows me to mix up the groups instead of having them move together with their guided reading group.
