Writing This month I have been writing about my journey using the Daily Five in Kindergarten. While students are choosing between word work and read with someone, their writing continued to blossom. We write every day. We begin writing workshop with interactive writing and then students choose their own topic.  Sometimes we do science writing, respond to a story or create a class book but most days it is their choice.  Each day before we write we revisit the anchor chart. After writing students do a check-in using thumbs up or thumbs to the side to show how they think they are doing. In January students were given their own journals and the choice to write on loose paper or their journal. Most students prefer the journal. We expanded our writing block to twenty five minutes and added author chair where students can share their journal writing with peers. This has been very popular. Kinders have a celebration piece displayed each month. The students...

Launching Cafe This has been a very busy month. We have finished our final anchor chart for writing and I have been taking pictures of the  students doing the different components of the daily five to add to the anchor charts. This week I chose a  permanent home for the anchor charts to prepare for our first round of students choosing a component to work on.  As I reference the anchor charts every day it is very important to chose an optimal display location. This was one of the most difficult decisions because it is prime display space and often used to showcase student murals or work. Offering Choice There are different ways to structure Cafe. Some Kindergarten teachers put students into groups and have all five components run at the same time. My students will make their own choices, beginning with two well established and popular parts; read to someone and word work. Students have practiced these two components and are very independent during this time. We will...

There are many rich ideas and resources on Pinterest and through  the generosity of my  fellow bloggers. I wanted to share some resources  that I have discovered to save you some time as  well as grow your knowledge. These are mostly Kindergarten sites. This teacher, Katie Janowitz, has organized her daily five so that assigned groups to their stations in much the same manner as you would literacy work stations (re: D. Diller). This is a great stepping stone to independent choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6NBWYR6zA&feature=player_embedded#at=27 If the Daily Five is a new framework for you then Erica Chowder is an excellent resource. She has posted regularly about the timeline, includes photos of students doing the daily five and makes suggestions about different ways other teachers have organized their frameworks. This site is highly recommended. http://sprinklestokindergarten.blogspot.ca/2012/02/how-to-start-daily-5-in-your-kinder.html April L...

T he Daily Five is not a program. Instead think of it as a framework or structure for the Kindergarten Literacy Program. Whats important is that it focuses on the five essential skills that learners need to develop  independent  reading and writing habits. Juxtaposed with this are two critical pieces; meta-cognitive learning strategies and choice. On-going assessment,  including  assessment for learning, is super important so that you can plan literacy centres and provide tools that children can be successful with.  With modelling, explicit feedback and daily practice the students  Read To Self- students begin with three reading strategies; read the pictures, retell the story and read the words. They also learn to whisper read, find their own quiet space in the room and make their own book choices. Listen to Reading-  students learn to read to a partner as well as listen to a partner read to them. They focus on the story, talk about the story and ask questions.  Word And...