The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

I read about this The Daily Five a few years ago while I was researching homeschool.  I didn't give it much heed at the time, I was deep in trying to find management ideas for homeschoolers.  Then, Abigail's class at the public school started using the "Daily Five" model.  I was amazed to see her go from a reluctant reader to someone who loves to read.  Since I will be homeschooling more than one child next year, I need a more concrete method for managing our time.  I decided to read up on the Daily Five model.

The Daily Five model is a way to teach children to use their time effectively, freeing the teacher to work with smaller groups or individuals, rather than micro-managing the class.  While it focuses on Literacy, The Daily Five is not a curriculum book.  It is a classroom management book.  It will not tell you how to teach writing, it gives a model for how to manage teaching the Language Arts curriculum that you choose.

There are five components to the Daily Five.

1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Listen to Reading
4. Work on Writing
5. Word Work

Time is given for the student to work on each of these, hopefully every day, interspersed with short focus lessons that help the student more effectively use their time, or to teach a concept to the entire class. 

I think this model is very exciting.  I want to modify it to use at home with my kids.  I have a few pages of ideas on how to expand the Daily Five to include other subjects, and how to use the curriculum I've chosen within the Daily Five model.  It might become the daily ten for us!  I'm hoping to make it so that my kids are doing school most of the day because there are independent activities for them to do.  Of course I will still be teaching them, but I'm excited about being a little more hands off and about them getting more out of their educations.