The Daily 5

These are cereal boxes that I cut, and I plan to use them for my book boxes in my classroom. “The Daily 5” book is a great teacher resource, that gives simple ideas about how to instill more reading into your classroom routine. I have only used “The Daily 5” for one year, but I love it and am excited to use it even better this school year. Last year, I used magazine file boxes, that had been given to me-brand new. They did end up falling apart, and I had to tape the bottoms up with book tape. But they lasted for the school year. However, I did not want to go through the same thing again and decided to make my own book boxes-for free. I just need at least 15 more boxes to start out the school year. My parents and family have been instructed to save them up for me!

So, what is “The Daily 5”? Authors, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser have created these five components to encourage daily reading in the classroom:

1. Read to Self– This is silent reading time. Last year, I began the first 15-20 minutes of the day with silent reading. The students used their book boxes to read. Every book in the box was on the students’ reading level, with nothing too hard or too easy. I allowed students to change books out every few weeks.

2. Read to Someone- This can be buddy reading or reading with a partner. I incorporate this step into my Reading Center, where there are usually 2-3 students at a time. I think that the more students read, the better readers that they will become, as a result.

3. Listen to Reading– I incorporated this into my daily read-alouds. Since I love reading and I love reading to children, I usually read about 2-3 books a day to students. I believe that when children hear more reading, they enjoy more reading.

4. Work on Writing– I this into my Writing Center, where I have pre-stapled books available for students to write and illustrate their own “little books.” Last year, this was the most popular station in my classroom! Writing develops reading skills too!

5. Word Work- I also make this a Center station. I change the activity every 1-2 weeks. This is where I include activities for the phonics skill, which I work on during Guided Reading groups. So, if the skill is -at words, th- words or beginning sounds-I place an activity about it here.

I am excited to use The Daily 5 again this year!

Here are the boxes-filled with books!