Daily 5 - Chapter 1

 

I am joining Tammy from Live Love Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten in a Daily 5 book study SPECIFICALLY for KINDERGARTEN teachers..... Yes! I hear the applause and roar from the crowd!

Let's call it as we see, huh?? Kindergarten is a whole 'nuther animal and what works for the other grades (even primary) doesn't always work for our kinders. So, we are going to take this amazing book and have a deep, thoughtful conversation about how we, as kindergarten teachers, can take Daily 5 and make it run smoothly in our rooms.

I am so excited to start this new venture.....

I am not new to the Daily 5. I used it extensively when I taught 1st and 2nd grade. However, several years ago I moved to kindergarten in a new school district. I was so excited to teach kindergarten, but I recognized that I knew nothing about how to teach kindergarten. Would I know how? Would I even enjoy it? I didn't know...

I simply was not brave enough or sure enough of my own teaching abilities (in regard to kinder) to try Daily 5 in kinder. I was worried it would be too much. After all, these kids were coming to me and they couldn't read - How would I teach "Read to Self" to a bunch of 5 year olds??? So, I opted to return to Debbie Diller-style literacy workstations. And, I have operated for the last 3 years this way. All the while I felt that there had to be a better way. While my kids learn to read....and read quite well - I feel like something is amiss.

I mean.... I am teaching them how to read, but am I really teaching them to be readers?? 

Daily 5 is about teaching your students how to develop independent literacy behaviors to the point where they become habits....just second-nature. These are the kinds of habits we want our kiddos to pick up and hold on to.

The part of Chapter 1 that sticks with me .....sticks in my gut so-to-speak is a question -- the same question that the Sisters asked themselves.....

"What am I having the kids do that is creating readers and writers?"

"Is the goal to keep them busy or make a difference    in their literate lives?"

These are fundamental questions for teachers. The answer will depend a great deal on  your teaching point-of-view. Do you believe that a teacher's job is to relay information -- fill children's brains? Or, do you believe that a teacher's job is to guide children to develop literacy habits that will enable them to progress into competent readers and writers?

There have been many times that I felt like I couldn't teach because I was too busy making sure other kids' were working, not playing, not killing themselves or others...Geez -- don't we get tired of constantly putting out fires? Sometimes it feels like we are in a 3-ring circus and I'm the performer with the spinning plates! At some point, those plates are going to fall -- no matter how good you are....

This is where Daily 5 is an answer to our prayers... Let the kids help! Teach the kids how to do it and LET THEM! They are capable of so much more than we allow them to do. We cripple them by not allowing them to help control and manage their learning. Once we take that leap of faith and begin letting them help, our need for an external behavior management system lessens. D5 is a student-driven management system. That doesn't mean a "free-for-all". That means we are going to specifically teach the habits they need to have to be successful literacy learners - then LET THEM DO IT!

I am so excited to get started on this new adventure with all of you --some who have never used Daily 5 and some will be old pros... I embrace this learning experience and I am so grateful that I have YOU to discuss my thoughts, concerns, and questions with...

I hope you take this opportunity to learn with all of us. I look forward to seeing LOTS of conversations in the comments below. I will read each and every one!

Let's Get This Party Started!!