3 Myths about Daily 5—Busted!

Fake news is everywhere. Sometimes it is easy to spot, whereas other times it is disguised and believable. It is important to remember that even when it appears believable, not everything we read on the Internet is true. Here are some recent statements we have read about Daily 5, followed by the facts to help keep you informed.

Myth: Daily 5 or Math Daily 3 won’t fit into my schedule.

Fact: Daily 5 and Math Daily 3 are structures that provide flexibility. Focus lessons are 5–10 minutes long (based on the age of students). The length of student choice sessions in Daily 5 and Math Daily 3 is based on student stamina and your class schedule. Knowing this, you can place lessons and sessions in various time slots throughout your day. If you have 30 minutes in the morning, you can have a focus lesson and a 20-minute session. If you have 45 minutes in the afternoon, you could have a focus lesson and a 30-minute choice session, followed by 5 minutes of sharing. If you have a large block of time together, your schedule may consist of focus lesson/session/focus lesson/session/focus lesson/sharing. Daily 5 and Math Daily 3 do not hold content; they are the structure you use to schedule your reading and math block. They fit into any schedule.

Myth: My students can’t handle choice.

Fact: Choice is motivating. In Daily 5 and Math Daily 3, students are not released blindly to make whatever choice they wish. Instead, we show trust in our students and choice is introduced through explicit instruction. We launch each of the five tasks of Daily 5 using the 10 Steps to Teaching and Learning Independence, which communicates expectations and provides a direct model of what it looks like to successfully engage in each task. Students can handle the choice because there are guidelines and limits.

• Where to sit—In the beginning, we place students around the room when building stamina so they are able to see how it feels to work in various areas. We model and explain what it looks like to choose a good-fit location. Then, on day two or three, we release the responsibility of finding a good-fit work space to the students.

• Which task to choose—The five tasks of Daily 5 are introduced one at a time, providing students time to build stamina and muscle memory of the expected behaviors. During the first week, we have students check in with Read to Self, so that when we introduce choice, they are well acquainted with the check-in procedure. Once students have reached 10 minutes of stamina with the second task launched, they are able to choose between the two. When Daily 5 is fully launched, children know what is expected and make a choice between the five authentic literacy tasks, all of which will help them become better readers and writers.
   
• What book to read—Beginning on day one for intermediate students and in the first week for primary students, we teach students to use I PICK when choosing books so we are confident their book boxes are full of books that they can and want to read. Once these behaviors are taught, modeled, and practiced, students are responsible for making choices that are good for them.

Myth: Daily 5 is just literacy stations with a different name.

Fact: A literacy station or center is an area of the classroom designated for specific learning purposes. It is designed to provide appropriate materials to help students work independently or collaboratively to meet literacy goals (“Literacy Centers,” 2017). Daily 5, on the other hand, is a structure that includes student choice of five authentic literacy tasks. 

• In a Daily 5 classroom, students choose a task and a good-fit location before each session. They are not assigned a center or station as part of a rotating schedule. They do not work from a fixed, designated area of the room. 
• In a Daily 5 classroom, the five tasks remain constant throughout the year, providing consistency and increased time on task. The tasks do not change weekly or biweekly and require new expectations.

These are three of the most common statements about Daily 5 that are untrue, and there are sure to be others. If there is something you have heard that you want to learn more about, use the search engine on our website or ask on our Discussion Board—we will help you uncover the truth.

Reference: Literacy Centers. (2017, August). Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/literacy-centers