This week I decided to finally roll out The Daily 5 with my kiddos. Except, it's not The Daily 5, there are only 3 choices. And, I decided to just ::gasp:: let them do it...without all the stamina building and mini lessons.
I'm such a rebel.
Actually, I was just itching to give my students choices.
I am lucky enough to have a parent helper almost every day of the week. [Can I get a woot woot!?] So my small group reading instruction has been going really well. I took a different approach this year and decided to only pull each group once per week, so that instead of rushing through the activities in a matter of 7 minutes, I can spend a leisurely 20-25 minutes with each group. We review our letter sounds, practice some phonemic awareness activities, read, and play a game. We are super productive. While I run my small group, the other students usually have iPad time, but I don't want them to get burned out on using the same apps all the time.
Staring on Monday, I introduced the three choices:
Read to Self
Word Work
Work on Writing
I will probably introduce Read to Someone and Listen to Reading later in the year, but I felt it was easier to start small and then expand.
Read to Self= Choose a book from one of the book bins (Froggy or Mo Willems books right now). Read the book cover to cover. Reading includes reading the pictures. If you finish 1 book, you may select another one.
Work on Writing=Take a blank sheet of white paper and draw a picture. Tell the parent helper about your picture (parent can write down what child says). Then, try to label your picture or write words that go with your picture.
Word Work= iPad practice time using Little Speller, Montessori Crosswords, or Reading Raven.
These are the Daily 5 posters that I downloaded.
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| http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-5-Posters-1268107 |
And the great thing about all the teacher created Daily 5 resources is that they're FREE!
There is so much angst out there about how Kindergarten is the new First Grade and how Kindergarten is no longer developmentally appropriate, so I figured, rather than making my Daily 3 yet another time of day with lots of rules and instruction, it would be great to just let the kiddos enjoy reading and writing.
How about that?
Pick a book that looks good and enjoy it.
Draw a picture and tell a grownup about it.
These are things that are so developmentally important and they should be part of Kindergarten.
Eventually, (maybe in a few weeks), I plan to introduce some kind of check in system so that each child can choose daily which of the Daily 3 he/she wants to do, but so they have to do each activity at least once over the course of three days. Then on Friday, they can pick their favorite and do that activity for a second time. While keeping in mind that choices motivate students and help keep them invested in their learning, I still want to make sure they are practicing a range of skills. I will figure out a way to make sure they are still feeling in charge of their choices.
Also, I will continue to introduce more materials (more books that are decodable, more writing materials etc) to keep things interesting.
Last year I assigned students activities during small group time and I had a lot of management issues. I didn't have as much parent help, which also makes a huge difference, but I am hopeful that by allowing students to choose what they want to work on, they will work harder and develop good independent working skills.
I feel like this is somewhat of a learn as I go experiment. Rather than planning mini lessons, I will teach/coach as questions come up and make this block of time more about meeting students where they are at rather than pushing for everyone to be in the same place doing the same thing at the same time.
When you use something like Daily 5 or Whole Brain Teaching, do you modify the instructions to meet the needs of your students?
