Wow, THANK YOU guys for the overwhelming response to my Word Work post!  I can't believe how many people were interested in checking out my "stuff."  You are all the sweetest.  I do want to emphasize though that my Daily 3 is ALWAYS a work in progress.  I am thinking about adding some additional word work practice this year that focuses on vocabulary skill and strategy instead of specific words.  (Ex. root/affix work, homophone work, word families, etc.)  Of course I will continue sharing with you guys when I do come up with things, but if you have independent practice ideas or activities already in place for these skills, please share!!  I will love you forever!

sourceANYWAYS, now for the fun stuff.  So many of the emails I got requesting my Word Work materials were from teachers looking to implement a version of the Daily 5 for the first time.  It got me thinking about when I first discovered the Daily 5.  I have a confession to make.  When I first opened the Daily 5, I did not love it.  I was a brand new teacher, fresh out of college.  My liberal arts school had taught me how to teach literature circles and interdisciplinary units.  I had heard of balanced literacy and guided reading, but had no idea how to set up either in my classroom. When someone suggested the Daily 5 and loaned me the book, I kind of freaked out reading it.  My stream of doubts: 5 rotations?  5 teacher mini-lessons?  When will I do my shared reading?  I have to use my

leveled readers!  Can I do this with my literacy series?  All the pictures in the book are of 6 year olds. I teach big kids!!!  Will this work for me???  The classrooms in the book are so big and spacious!  How can I do this in my crowded classroom??? etc. etc. etc.

Luckily, I took a few deep breaths and calmed down enough to get advice from Mrs. Literacy Specialist.  We worked hard to put some components of Daily 5 in place during my first year, and last year I continued tweaking my systems until I was pretty happy with the way things were going.  I describe my Daily 3 system and how I modify the Sisters' "vision" to work with older kiddos and a literacy series in this post, so I'm not going to drag you through all of that again!  But, since the school year is starting, I'd like to share with you how I build my Daily 3 foundation during the first weeks of school.

Last Year: Anchor Charts in progress 

 On the second day of school (This THURSDAY! Yikes!), I will start my Read to Self introduction lessons.   I literally type up scripts straight from the Daily 5 books and reference them as I teach to make sure I don't leave anything out.  I highly recommend doing this if you can be a forgetful teacher like me!  We will start the first day by talking about the 3 ways to

read a book (Read the words, Read the pictures, Retell the story), and I will model using a picture book.  I use Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth because it is a really captivating little story and the pictures are unbelievable.

We will make our anchor chart (as seen in the Daily 5 book) and I will choose a squirelly student to model the correct/incorrect/correct behaviors. Then let the stamina building begin!  During this phase, it is CRUCIAL to be insanely strict with stamina building.  The first time a student so much as GLANCES away from their book, I ring my little bell that I train them means, "Come back to the carpet."  If the time was really short, keep your tone positive!  I say something like, "Today we weren't ready to read more than 2 minutes.  We are still training our minds and bodies to read to self.  We are still learning, and that is okay!"  We reflect, revisit the anchor chart, and try again.  I track the "stamina" on the board, and make a HUGE deal out of improvements in stamina.  After every "practice," we share Celebrations & Things to Improve.  It's adorable.

Last year's anchor charts and stamina (upper right)

While the kids are practicing stamina, I do NOT walk around the room and monitor.  The Sisters say that this trains the kids to read when you are standing near them, NOT to just read regardless of what you are doing. Since I will be seated at my guided reading table during our real Daily 3, that's where I sit while I time them.  At first I watch closely to know when to ring my bell, but as we build up our stamina I will likely read too. :)  The first day, I will fill their book bins.  After I do the "Good Fit Books" lesson from the book (the one with the shoes!), I will let them start adding books to their book bins using the IPICK guideline we will go over together.

I will also choose their spots for the first few days.  After we go over "good spots" and add it to our anchor chart, I will let them choose their spots. (Note: Later in the year if the kids are challenged by choosing appropriate

spots, I will take back this piece of control.  I will choose their spots for a few days while reteaching appropriate and inappropriate spots, and will give back that control when they are ready.)  Also, I let students read all around my room and typically let 1-2 in the hall (depending on the group of kids).  This gets them separated from their neighbors!  I have some bean bags, big cushions, and a whole bunch of little pillows that they can use. Again, if these are used inappropriately or not shared, I take them back for awhile and reteach until we are ready.

Book BinI will introduce the second component, Work on Writing, the second or third week of school depending on how we are doing.  My first year, I rushed to get all of the pieces of Daily 5 (Daily 4 actually for me that year) in place, and started running guided reading immediately.  It was a mess. Believe me when I say that this time is NOT wasted.  It is essential to build a strong foundation so that it can support your entire year of literacy instruction.  During the first weeks, I will also be laying the foundation for Writing Workshop during another part of my day, which will become intertwined with Work on Writing.  I do not do a writing mini-lesson during

my reading block, but when kids choose the Work on Writing option, they will work on something from their Writing Workshop notebook.  Does that make sense?  WoW (as the kiddos call it) becomes an extension of their Writing Workshop independent time.

When I introduce Word Work in several weeks, I will start with 1-2 choices, and gradually add others as I see fit.  Choice is the lifeblood of Daily 5 (along with routines of course!), but too much choice too soon only leads to chaos.  That's why at first I choose seats, and when the kids are READY, they start choosing their seats.

My Advice:

• Start slow--don't rush to introduce the components too quickly• Model, Practice, Reteach, Repeat (This goes on all year--any time my

students had a rough day in Daily 3, I reminded myself that this was a signal to me NOT to complain that "my kids can't do it!!!" but instead to go back to the anchor chart and reteach!)

• Adapt the program continuously to meet the needs of your classroom!!! There is no one right way to do Daily 5 (or 4 or 3!).

What other questions can I answer about introducing Daily 5?

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A Day in the Life of our Daily 3

2 weeks down and still smiling :)

A Day in the Life of our Daily 3This post is a follow up to last week's post about how I create, run, and take data on Guided Reading groups.  

Some of my most popular posts are about my Daily 3 structure: Daily 3 Bootcamp, Introducing the Daily 5, and Word Work.  I wrote all three of those posts during my second year teaching, though, and my Daily 3 has continued to evolve since then.  I wanted to take you through a breakdown of how I allocate my 60 minutes a day of guided reading time.  This year, my guided reading block was first thing in the morning.  Every morning after the kids unpacked, they grabbed their book boxes and joined the class at the carpet with them for our opening traditions.

This bulletin board is from a few years ago, but I make essentially the same one every year!

8:45-8:50 Opening Traditions & 1st round Status of the ClassIn my earlier posts about Daily 3, I shared pictures of a packet I gave kids of graphic organizers and response questions for the week.  The first page was a blank schedule for them to fill in their Daily 3 choices for each rotation for the whole week.  It worked for me at the time, but I scrapped it last year because it just wasn't working anymore.  Also, the packets were becoming a pain to make and weren't really working with my instruction anymore.  Instead, I started taking a Status of the Class before each rotation.

Here's a sample template for my Status of the Class form.  The one I used this year had 3 columns for each day because I did 3 rotations.  I type the kids' names in at the beginning of the year and make a bunch of copies so I can pull out a new one each Monday.

Status of the Class is straight from the Daily 5 book.  What I do is read every student's name, and they tell me their choice for that rotation: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, or Guided Reading.  When I first read the Daily 5 book, I didn't really see the need for it, but since then I've decided that the minute it takes is definitely worth it.  Here's why:• It helps the kids set a purpose for their rotation.  Nobody is, 5

minuets in, still deciding what to do.  Everyone has a task in mind, a purpose, and is able to start working productively right away.

• Keeping track of their choices helps me keep them on track.  Because I record the choices during the week on my clipboard, I am able to notice if students haven't been choosing Read to Self enough, or if it's Thursday and they still haven't chosen Word Work. (1 activity of WW must be completed by Friday.)

Once I have called their name and they have given me their choice, they go immediately to find a spot for the rotation.  If they need Word Work materials, they head right to the Word Work station to get what they need before getting settled elsewhere.

Word Work activities are stored in a hanging file bin on a trap table in the corner of the room.  

8:50-9:10 Rotation 1I meet with my first group of the day.  Check out this post for a detailed description of how I use each minute of my guided groups. Students working independently are seated all around the room: at their desks, sitting on the floor, laying on backs, laying on tummies, laying on upside-down chairs, sitting on desks, sitting under desks, you name it.  The kids have their book boxes with them ALWAYS--they contain their Writing Workshop journal, their Word Work folder with any "in progress" and "completed" activities (to be turned in Friday), and of course a bunch of books.

9:10-9:11 Transition & Status of the Class 2I ring my service bell.  Students in my guided reading group return pens and put their books in their cubby. (I have a cubby for each guided group at the end of my students' coat rack cubbies.)  All students pick up their book boxes and return to the carpet area for Status of the Class.  Same routine as before!

Gathering Place!

9:11-9:30 Rotation 2I meet with my second group of the day.  Independent students are encouraged to choose a NEW spot, but this one is tricky to enforce because I am hurrying (always, always hurrying...) to start my second guided group.  Same routine as before!

9:30-9:31 Transition & Status of the Class 3I ring my service bell again and we meet back at the carpet.  I take the last Status of the Class, making sure every student chooses a DIFFERENT activity than the first two rotations.

9:31-9:45/9:50 Rotation 3

I meet with my third group of the day, usually one of my "beyond" level groups because the time block is shorter.  Independent students are encouraged to choose a NEW spot.  Same routine as before!

Curled up in the library = 1 of many possible reading spots!9:45 Transition to next subjectI ring my service bell, get students' attention, and give directions for the next activity of the day.  Students return book boxes to under their desks and return pillows to designated locations.

And that's a wrap!

 You can now download a pack of my Guided Reading templates for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers!  All I ask is that you pay it forward and share the awesome resources you create with the teachers in your life!

Organization Week Day 2: Literacy (aka Daily 3 Bootcamp)Yesterday's organization linky party from Mrs. Patton's Patch was on literacy centers.

As yesterday was a crazy day (make that Crazy with a capital C!) as Mondays tend to be, I'm a day late.  :)  Actually, I'm a day late and a little off topic, since I don't use literacy centers in my classroom.  Centers just DON'T work for me and my kiddos.  I use the Daily 3, an adapted version of the Daily 5.  My Daily 3 are Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Word Work.  Since I am required to use a basal reading series (McGraw Hill Treasures), my Daily 3 is pretty different than the Daily 5 model presented in the Sisters' book, but the essence is still there! :)

After Shared Reading, we usually get to two Daily 3 rotations a day (3 if we're really flying!!).  During these rotations, I am always meeting with guided reading groups.  Because I teach the "big kiddos," I ask them to plan out their weeks on Monday morning.  I give each kid a literacy packet (don't cringe when I say packet, it's not busy work, I promise!!) that has their graphic organizer, vocabulary words, and comprehension questions for our weekly shared and guided reading.  On the front cover is a blank schedule that says when they will meet with me.  The kids then fill in which Daily 3 choice they plan to do when they are not meeting with me:

I also keep a visual schedule of who I'm meeting with when on the board:

(BTW, the kids choose their own group names, in case you were wondering how I came up with some of these gems!)

Now, for the Daily 3 choices.  Here are our anchor charts:

We made these as a class the first weeks of school when we were modeling, practicing, and implementing each of the Daily 3.  Now, I refer back to them when we need a little bit of re-teaching, which is fairly often. :)

Read to Self: The essence of the Daily 3 and literacy instruction. :)  For Read to Self, the kids read.  Plain and simple.  They bring their book box to a quiet spot in the room (I have pillows, bean bags, etc.) and read.

Work on Writing: For WoW (as the kiddos like to call it), most often the kids choose a piece from their Writing Workshop notebook/folder to work on.  Some will draft, some will revise/edit, others will grab construction paper or a laptop and publish.  It's very unstructured and I don't monitor it carefully, but it WORKS because I have a successful Writing Workshop foundation in the classroom.  Last year, it was like pulling teeth to get the kids to write during Daily 3.  This year, because we have spent so much time developing Writing Workshop, the kids not only know what it looks like to sit down and write, but they have pieces in progress at all times.  We store writing folders and notebooks in bins (by team) on top of our computer cart:

I am currently using notebooks and 4-pocket folders, but am considering switching to looseleaf binders next year...thoughts from anyone who does Writing Workshop?

Word Work: Okay, I JUST revamped my Word Work program TODAY. (While I know most primary teachers use WW to focus on spelling, I focus

on vocabulary during this time.  Spelling is important, but I think a rich vocabulary needs more of a focus in intermediate grades.)  Up until now, I was using vocabulary sentences for my main Word Work activity, plus some fun extras once those were finished.  You guys, it was awful.  It was like pulling teeth to get them done every week, plus I HATED grading them!  I had an epiphany in the past few weeks: my WW was tanking because I had failed to include the most crucial element of Daily 5--CHOICE!!!  So, my fabulous Lit Specialist and I brainstormed some new vocabulary activities.  Now, every week the kids will have to choose one activity from the Word Work board:

All of the handouts and instructions, as well as lists of our vocabulary words, are stored in the hanging files below:

Most of the new activities are things like graphic organizers that ask for parts of speech, sentence, picture, etc.  I also have options for writing a story using vocabulary words, illustrating the words with a sentence, sorting the words into categories, etc.  I'm hoping that these work better because of the choice factor.  I'll let you know how they go in the next few weeks!

Last but not least, here's how I display our vocab words.  We don't have a word wall, but I hang the 8 vocab words from Treasures in the blue pocket chart.  The red pocket chart has 6 social studies words + 2 "real world" words (based on current events).

 So, that's how we stay organized for literacy and run Daily 3 in my room! Phew!