The Daily 5/CAFE Strategies
The Daily 5 is a way of structuring our language arts block so every child is independently engaged in meaningful reading and writing tasks on a daily basis. The language arts block is divided into five rounds, and each day begins with one whole group focus lesson. During each round, the children work independently on reading and writing activities. Their "Daily 5" choices are (see a description of each below): Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Listen to Reading. While the children work independently on one of these five choices, I will pull small groups of children for daily guided reading instruction or confer individually with children on either reading or writing.
(1) Read to Self
The best way for children to become better readers is to practice each day, with books they choose, on their just-right reading level. The children each have their own book box filled with books they have chosen at their "just right" reading level. They choose a book and read silently!
(2) Read to Someone
Reading to someone allows for more time for the children to practice their reading strategies. They work on fluency and expression, they check for understanding, and they hear their voices reading out loud. It also helps build our learning community!
(3) Work on Writing
Just like reading, the best way to become a better writer is to practice writing every day. The children do a variety of activities when they work on writing. They will write to their second grade pen pals in Colorado, they will write student of the week sentences for our student of the week, they will do free choice writing in journals, and they will also work on spelling skills, vocabulary skills, sentence structure, and grammar.
(4) Word Work
Correct spelling allows for more fluent writing, thus speeding up the children's ability to write and get their thinking down on paper. This is an essential foundation for writers. For this activity, the children will be working with our classroom paraprofessional. They will be working on word sorts, word and sentence dictation, and phonics/spelling patterns within words.
(5) Listen to Reading
By listening to a variety of stories, the children hear examples of good literature and fluent reading. They learn more words, thus expanding their vocabulary and becoming better readers.
The Daily 5 is a way of structuring our language arts block so every child is independently engaged in meaningful reading and writing tasks on a daily basis. The language arts block is divided into five rounds, and each day begins with one whole group focus lesson. During each round, the children work independently on reading and writing activities. Their "Daily 5" choices are (see a description of each below): Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Listen to Reading. While the children work independently on one of these five choices, I will pull small groups of children for daily guided reading instruction or confer individually with children on either reading or writing.
(1) Read to Self
The best way for children to become better readers is to practice each day, with books they choose, on their just-right reading level. The children each have their own book box filled with books they have chosen at their "just right" reading level. They choose a book and read silently!
(2) Read to Someone
Reading to someone allows for more time for the children to practice their reading strategies. They work on fluency and expression, they check for understanding, and they hear their voices reading out loud. It also helps build our learning community!
(3) Work on Writing
Just like reading, the best way to become a better writer is to practice writing every day. The children do a variety of activities when they work on writing. They will write to their second grade pen pals in Colorado, they will write student of the week sentences for our student of the week, they will do free choice writing in journals, and they will also work on spelling skills, vocabulary skills, sentence structure, and grammar.
(4) Word Work
Correct spelling allows for more fluent writing, thus speeding up the children's ability to write and get their thinking down on paper. This is an essential foundation for writers. For this activity, the children will be working with our classroom paraprofessional. They will be working on word sorts, word and sentence dictation, and phonics/spelling patterns within words.
(5) Listen to Reading
By listening to a variety of stories, the children hear examples of good literature and fluent reading. They learn more words, thus expanding their vocabulary and becoming better readers.