The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades » (1st Edition)

Do you love teaching but feel exhausted from the energy you expend cajoling, disciplining, and directing students on a daily basis? If so, you'll want to meet "The Sisters", Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Based on literacy learning and motivation research, they created a structure called The Daily Five which has been practiced and refined in their own classrooms for ten years, and shared with thousands of teachers throughout the United States. The Daily Five is a series of literacy tasks (reading to self, reading with someone, writing, word work, and listening to reading) which students complete daily while the teacher meets with small groups or confers with individuals.

This book not only explains the philosophy behind the structure, but shows you how to carefully and systematically train your students to participate in each of the five components.

Explicit modeling practice, reflecting and refining take place during the launching phase, preparing the foundation for a year of meaningful content instruction tailored to meet the needs of each child.

The Daily Five is more than a management system or a curriculum framework; it is a structure that will help students develop the habits that lead to a lifetime of independent literacy.

Acknowledgments     vii
Note to Readers     ix
Daily Five Basics
Introduction     3
From "Management" to "Principled Habits": Foundations of the Daily Five     17
What's the Difference?: Key Materials, Concepts, and Routines for Launching the Daily Five     27
The Daily Five in Action
Read to Self     45
Read to Someone and Listen to Reading     59
Work on Writing and Word Work     79
Putting It All Together and Troubleshooting     91
Bibliography     107
Appendix
Launching Charts (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work)     111
First Twenty-Five Days Weekly Charts     119