Daily 5 Dilemma!


Friends~We have a Daily 5 Dilemma in room 331 this year.  Our schedule is a mess and we have been really struggling with getting our rotations in.  My kiddos probably think I am crazy because I have had to make adjustments weekly trying to fix it.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to get to more than 1 rotation in a day- until today!

I am so proud to say that we got our 3 rotations in and I am down to 1 last running record!  I can't wait to start my guided reading groups.  I thought that maybe you all might be struggling with getting your rotations in too so I am going to share the changes I have made below!

So this is how it started.  I did not want to give up my old center rotation board.  I had to!  Good news though, I talked with my bloggin buddy Hilary Lewis from Rocking Teacher Materials and we brainstormed ideas about how to make Daily 5 work with my center board!  Basically,  I made M-F Daily 5 Cards for my students where I assign their first rotation.  They are color coded with the colors on my board.   I did add purple to the color rotation.  I am adding much of what I put into my regular centers into my Daily 5 centers.  Students visit their first rotation from their cards in the morning.


Then in the afternoon they visit the center board and based on what color they are they choose from the 2 daily 5 centers posted above their colors.  Here is an example of what I did today!  You can see their Daily 5 Choices above their colors.  It is still a bit of a work in progress but I really like how it is coming together.  Under each color,  I am going to have any response sheets that need to go along with the Daily 5 center for that color group.


Below is an example of one of my student's cards.  This student is in the red group and is working on their first rotation for Monday.  Each day of the week is a different Daily 5 Center.  I like that I get some control back about where they go but on their 2nd and 3rd rotation they still get to choose.  Every Friday, I am going to collect the cards and hand them back out so that they have a different rotation.  No more waiting in line for them to choose, no more policing the students who choose the same center everyday and best of all no more wasted paper having them record where they go.  It was amazing how quiet and orderly our Daily 5 rotations were.


Another thing that I added to the mix are Zones.  It is pretty simple: All of my Buddy Readers sit on the carpet up front away from all of the other Zones.  My Independent readers are in our Reading Nook.  The Word Study students are at their seats and Listening Center kiddos are at the computers or tape players.  My writers may go anywhere with clip board.  This really helped minimize the noise!
I will keep you updated on any other changes but I really feel good about this set up!

Be sure to head over to Rocking Teacher Materials and see how she runs here Daily 5 Centers!
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6 comments

  1. Way to go! I know it's hard to get it all in!! I often feel like a failure if everybody doesn't reach their centers everyday!

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  2. I like the idea of zones! We too are struggling with sitting in places that will be helpful for them and their work. Smart idea with zones :)

    Amanda
    Reaching for the TOP

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  3. I am struggling this year too and I do have a two hour block. I am revamping the whole thing and see where I messed up. My kids can only get to 3 rotations.
    tania
    My Second Sense

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  4. I love your super duper page design.It is so vısually attractıng whıch made ıt easy to scroll and read wıth so much stuff on it which could be a turn of otherwıse.Well done for pulling ıt of.Dıffıcult task.

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  6. Those cards are adorable! Great idea!!

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Extra, extra tell Mrs. Schroeder about it!