If you have read some of my other blog posts, you probably know that I love using the Daily 5 model for my students. It is such an amazing opportunity for them to do some independent learning while working on their reading skills. Plus, you can work with small groups of students with minimal interruption.  We all know that there is a wide range of learners in every classroom. Daily 5 is the perfect way to reach all of your students' needs and all it takes is a little organization. I get asked all the time, how do you structure your Daily 5 time and how do you keep it all organized? Today I'm going to show you just that!

How do you organize your groups?

There are multiple ways you can organize your Daily 5 groups. Some teachers split students up by who they work well with, some use their guided reading groups, and some allow individual choice for which students go to which stations. 

I have done it two ways, I have grouped them for classroom management purposes and I have grouped them by guided reading groups. I love allowing my students independence and choice but due to time restraints and my personal preference I like to know which stations they are at and when. 

My preferred method is having them rotate in their guided reading groups. I do this because it allows me to be more strategic when deciding what station I will pull their group during. 

You can see my organizational methods in my last post, here. 

How do you know which groups to schedule during which station?

I am very strategic when planning which stations my students will miss out on due to their scheduled guided reading time. My level A-C kids get pulled during their read to someone time because I have found that they struggle to hold meaningful conversation about their reading for the length of the whole station. Because we are reading to each other and working together during our group time, we call that “read to someone.” My middle of the road kiddos get pulled during work on writing time because I want them to be able to write about our reading and I like to provide scaffolding for them during that time. I also do writer's workshop earlier in the day so they get independent time to write during that time as well. My high flying kiddos come to me during their word work time. I do this because they have mastered their sight words and it allows us to work on more difficult vocabulary together. (I also only pull them once a week which I will explain in the next question!)

How often do you pull each guided reading group?

Any group that is considered below grade level is priority. They get pulled every day. Due to time restrictions, I can only rotate 3-4 stations per day. (Depending on specials schedules.) My kiddos that were right on track met with me 3 times per week and my students that were reading well above grade level only met once. 

My students who are below level meet with me daily for obvious reasons. They need more time than others to get on grade level. These are also my kiddos that receive intervention time separate from their guided reading time.

My middle of the road kiddos who perform at grade level can handle a little more independence so they meet with me three days a week. I can give them an assignment and allow them to work on it the next day when they aren't meeting with me and then touch base at our next meeting time to see how its going. Usually their assignment is reading to someone a specific book and then writing about it during work on writing time.

My high flyers are my favorite group to work with- even though they only see me once a week. These kiddos meet with me so I can scaffold their research. As a group, they choose a topic they want to know more about. During read to self time, they read about that topic, they listen to books about their topic, write about it, read books with a partner, find vocabulary words that they feel are important during word work time, etc. When we meet, we develop the information they are learning and writing about into a group book. We create a table of contents page, title page, we focus on non-fiction text features, they find and print pictures, and create a glossary. It is so amazing to see everything they are capable of! 

Do you teach mini lessons between stations?

Honestly, it depends on the year and how much time I have during my Daily 5 block. I start with a mini lesson before I break into groups. I also like to teach the Cafe strategies in between stations if I have time. Last year, time was of the essence so I taught those during my guided reading time. I feel like teaching a 5-10 minute lesson between stations helps the students stay focused better when they return to their independent work time. I would definitely recommend it if you have the time to fit them in. 

How do you organize your word work and work on writing stations?

The age old question… I have tried so many different ways of organizing my stations. What I finally found to be the most successful was using one of those colored drawer carts on wheels. I preferred the side-by-side cart where the drawers were big on one side and small on the other. You can find a picture of it below and you can find it here. I used the smaller drawers for work on writing activities and the larger ones were for word work. The students must leave the drawers in the cart though and return their supplies back to the drawer when they are done. I also used an interactive word wall for them to utilize during word work. I wish I had a picture to show you but I didn't get one taken before I had to remove it when I moved to a new office this past. You can find it on TpT here. I also set up a writing area in my room where students could go and be writers. They loved it! I even sacrificed my teacher desk for them to use in our center last year. 

What activities do you use at each station?

There are so many choices! I will list a few of my favorites for each station!

Read to Self: 

My students used individual book boxes during this time. Our district also uses Lexia Core 5 (which my students LOVE!) They always had a choice between the two. If they were below grade level, they were expected to do Lexia during that time though.

Read to Someone:

The kiddos used their book boxes to practice reading to each other.

Listening to Reading:

I love using epic for this! You can assign books for them to listen to or they can choose their own. They also have amazing videos on there that I allow my kids to listen to on Fridays but they have to be about the science or social studies topic we are learning about. 

I have also used QR code books during this time. This is a great way to incorporate seasonal books into your Daily 5 time. 

Work on Writing:

For work on writing time, each day had a different topic or assignment for them to do. Mondays were for journaling. Tuesdays were for writing prompts which could be found in the colored drawers mentioned above. Wednesdays were for writing on the iPad. Thursdays are reserved for our story cubes, which my kids love! It really allows their creativity to flow. You can find them here. Fridays were “free write” Fridays. They could write fiction or non-fictional pieces. 

Word Work: 

Kids get so excited for word work because there are so many different options for them to use. I only gave them a few options at a time though to keep them from being overwhelmed. I also made sure to introduce them and give them ample time to learn how to use them before offering them as an independent activity during Daily 5 time. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Magnetic letters
  • Legos— I used duplo legos to write letters on so they could spell words with them and I also allowed them build the letters out of legos to spell words
  • Spelling words in sand
  • Creating letters out of play dough
  • Osmo words (an all time kid favorite!) You can find it here. They are kind of expensive so I did a Donor's Choose and was able to get 4 of them for my classroom!
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Wiki Stix
  • Board games- I turned different board games into sight word games like Sorry, Candyland, Don't Break the Ice, Jenga (I will be posting about this later!)
  • Scrabble tiles
  • Rainbow writing

The list could go on and on.. I could honestly write a whole blog post about word work alone.. 

How do you differentiate for student needs?

Remember those colored drawers I talked about earlier.. you got it! Each group had a color. They could find their prompts and word work activities in their colored drawer. They also found their word work stations in their corresponding colored drawer. There was never any confusion this way AND I knew students were working on appropriate leveled tasks. Read to self is also differentiated because Lexia is individually assessing students and working on their specific needs. My kids were way more engaged once I started differentiating their activities. 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you found some useful ideas to help you in your Daily 5 instruction. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions you might have or ideas of your own!

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