Daily 5 in 5th Grade

Most educators out there have at least heard of  "The Sisters" who created the Daily 5 and Cafe program. My district and school have taken on the Daily 5 as the structure for teaching English and Language arts. This has probably been one of the hardest things for me as a first year teacher.... more specifically a first year, 5th grade teacher. While I think this is a great structure, it was been hard for me to visualize putting it into practice. There just aren't as many resources for Daily in the upper elementary grades.

So after a lot of talk with my mentor, my literacy facilitator, my team members I think I think I might just have the idea! I am going to use this as a place document my first year with Daily and how I plan to implement into my classroom. Maybe I can help some other teachers (new teachers, or new to Daily teachers) get Daily rolling into their classroom.

Let me start with two sites who I have found this weekend who have had me in brainstorming OVERDRIVE!

1. First up is Juice Boxes and Crayolas Blog and TPT store! She started her Daily 3 a couple years ago and has some great information and pictures of her set up with Daily! This is my jumping off place for Daily.  juiceboxesandcrayolas.blogspot.com Click around her site, there are about 3-4 different posts about Daily in her classroom. She also has some great stuff that is currently free on her TPT site for word work!http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Juiceboxes-Crayolas AWESOME!!!!!!!
2. I found this next blog through the first one. It's not specifically for Daily, but this blogger has some GREAT resources available one here site, and a lot of them can be used in Daily! http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com/p/upper-grades.html

In the 5th grade, it is expected that we have 2 mini lessons, and 2 rounds of choice. So I need to back up and say that I am basically going to restart Daily in my classroom this next week, which will be week 5 for me. (Note: I am in a year round school!) I have already established Read to Self (RS). I did spent a good amount of time working on Picking Good Fit books and building reading Stamina. I am going to review these expectations and relaunch RS on Monday before the first choice round. Then I am going to launch Word Work (WW) Monday as my second mini lesson. The kids will then all choose a WW activity to practice. In fifth grade, we generally focus on Greek and Latin Roots and Affixes. So my word work is more Vocabulary Based. I am using the the activities I found at Juice Boxes and Crayolas. I will elaborate and have pictures of this next week. But I am super excited to see what happens. I think this will really help my students and put in that aspect of choice that Daily is all about! The following week I plan to launch the Work on Writing (WoW). Those will be my big 3 for daily. However I also have a fluency piece built in where certain partners will go out in the hallway and do some fluency practice 3 days a week. Then around the end of first quarter (so realistically in about 3 weeks, YIKES) I will be introducing Book Clubs which will be one of their Must Do's 2-3 times a week. 

It's a lot to think about. But, as the pieces fall into place, and as I slowly find more resources, I am getting really excited about Daily in my classroom. I will continue to share my experiences and pictures throughout the year as Daily begins to come together!