The Daily 5 is a literacy management system developed by Joan Moser and Gail Boucher, 2 sisters from America.
The system has 5 components for children to work through daily:
- Read to self
- Read to someone
- Listen to reading
- Work on writing
- Word work
Students are explicitly taught how to work within each component to achieve success. This system works well in a classroom setting, as well as a home setting!
Using The Daily 5 in our homeschool really streamlined our language arts lessons:
1 – Read to Self
Zeppelin loves to read and has been reading independently for 3+ years now so this one isn’t a problem for us!
We visit the library multiple times a week to browse. He also asks me to request books often, usually ones we have read before or he found on YouTube.
Zeppelin sometimes reads to himself throughout the day, but most often he reads before bed.
Right now Z is reading Scaredy Squirrel in a Nutshell and Scaredy Squirrel Gets a Surprise (on repeat!). Scaredy Squirrel is one of Zeppelin’s favorite series’ created by Canadian author Melanie Watt. These books are great for procedure mentor texts!
2 – Read to Someone
We are all over the place when it comes to this one!
- Our reading curriculum (Logic of English) includes a collection of readers (short books) so some days he reads those to me in order to complete the corresponding assignments.
- Z will sit at the kitchen table and read to me as I prepare meals.
- When his little brother has a board book he wants to hear, Z will read that to him. This happens a lot before bed.
- Sometimes Z and I take turns reading together, where he will read a page or two, then I have a turn. Right now we are reading Mercy Watson Fights Crime. A couple of times we have been lucky enough to own a book + borrow a copy from the library so we can read together from our own copies! Bonus – this covers #3 listen to reading at the same time!
3 – Listen to reading
Once a week we go to the library for Storytime.
Z figured out on his own that he could listen to reading on YouTube. Browse for a read aloud channel or search a title and choose the one with the best audio quality; this is what we usually do.
Social studies is a great subject for read-aloud. I created continent boxes, each one containing a book or two filled with information (and images!) about the different continents. Right now we are also reading The Tuttle Twins Learn About The Law.
4 – Work on writing
We have been super lax when it comes to writing, mostly because I know most children are pushed to writing before the muscles in their hands are ready. Our approach to writing has focused more on word work (more below!) with minimal writing.
Z writes his name in pencil every day. I encourage him to use tripod grip. If your students need more help with, try pencil grips like these. Sometimes that is the only writing he does. Other days his writing is usually in response to questions relating to our most recent science experiment.
Our reading curriculum (Logic of English) also contains writing but we substitute the pencil to paper approach in lieu of highlighters, dry erase markers and extra word work whenever we can!
Z’s favorite writing utensil is, by far, a dry erase marker. We have a giant white board on the wall and a small one for school, and they both get daily use. Oh, and our white fridge? White board #3 now. The fun colors and smooth ease of writing make this combo a great entry-level writing tool.
Do you need a writing activity? This booklet allows children to share about themselves and practice their writing at the same time! Perfect for the little artist who tends to draw instead instead of write- this booklet includes both.
5 – Word work
Saving the best for last! Does anyone else LOVE word work?
If you don’t know what word work is, it is intentional activities/practice to have students work with words. It can include phonetic patterns, high-frequency words (heart words), rhyming words, prefixes/suffixes.
We do a LOT of writing games and literacy centers! There really is something special about the high level of engagement when it comes to these hands-on lessons.
Zeppelin frequently enjoys making words using alphabet stickers, alphabet magnets, LOE letter tiles (pictured above), and within activities like this opinion writing sentence starter center.
Grab my FREE beginning sounds clip card game to kick-off your next literacy center!