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Daily 5

There are many ways to teach and learn, but I am enjoying growing in the way I teach through the Daily5. This has been developed by sister team, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. More information can be found at their website "The Daily 5" http://www.the2sisters.com/the_daily_5.html. They developed the program out of a need to be effective teachers (Isn't that what we all want to be as teachers?).

It has been like taking a breath and slowing things down in my classroom. I find that I am focusing on those things that really matter by making sure each child understands what they are learning and that there is a reason what they are doing. Instead of me telling them how well they are going, they are abkle to tell me which is really exciting. There is time to practise the skills and strategies so that the kids know it really well.


The strategies that I have used for CAFE (short for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expanded Vocabulary) so far, have been Checking for Understanding, Cross checking and Looking for Interesting Words.

The children have responded so well to the strategies and are starting to pick up on them as I read a book aloud. When I was introducing the Cross checking strategy hich uses hand signals as you say the three sentences; Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense? The children naturally started copying me. They have been confidently been able to tell me what the sentences.

I like that I am learning along with the kids and that I am not just telling kids how to do but really focusing on modelling the behaviours and strategies that they need to use. I look forward to seeing my students work in an independent, effective way on their own goals.

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