Daily 5

The Daily 5 is a management system that I will use during reading to allow students more time for independent reading activities and myself more time for independent and group conferencing with students. The Daily 5 helps students to develop "stamina" by practicing 5 specific reading tasks daily until they have developed the ability to complete these tasks for a prolonged period of time without interruption. These five tasks are:

Read to Self
Read to Someone
Work on Writing
Listen to Reading
Word Work

As students become independent in these tasks, the teacher can allow students to independently develop reading comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary while she works with students to sharpen those skills even further.

Through Daily 5 students also learn that there is more than one way to read a book and that each way of reading a book makes them a better reader. Practice some of the ways of reading a book at home with your child!

Read the Pictures
Read the Words
Retell the Story
The Daily 5 also fosters an awareness in readers unlike any other. Students are encouraged to select books that are "Good Fit" books for them. They should be books that interest them but that also are not too hard and not too easy. We even recall the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears when we learn about "Good Fit" books because we are reminded of Goldilocks finding the things that were "just right" for her in that story!

When your student wants to find a "Good Fit" book, encourage them to use the "Five Finger Rule."


Look at the cover.
Read the Title and the Author.
Read the blurb on the back.
Flip through the book.
Read the first page.
Use the 5 Finger Rule (fingers represent unknown words on one page):

0-1 Fingers - Too easy
2-3 Fingers - Good fit
4-5 Fingers - Too hard

But most importantly, I want to make sure that students are reading books that interest them in a way that makes them want to read more and read on. For this we use our I-PICK strategy to gauge interest in a book to decide if it's the right book for us. Not everyone will like the same book - and that's ok!

I choose a book.
Purpose - Why am I reading it?
Interest - Does it interest me?
Comprehend - Do I understand it?
Know - Can I read most of the words? (This is where a 5 Finger Strategy should be used.)