Welcome to St. Katharine Drexel School in St. Cloud, Minnesota

Daily 5

Daily Five is a way of structuring the reading block so that every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are fun, engaging, and have big impacts on student reading and writing achievement. Each day, the students will receive 2-3 whole group lessons focused on the following: reading strategies, spelling, grammar or writing. In between these group lessons, the students will work independently on one of the “Daily 5” tasks for 15-20 minutes. During this time, I will provide focused instruction to individuals and small groups of students based on each student’s needs.

Daily 5 components:
Read to Self: The research continually shows that the very best way to become a better reader is to practice, practice, practice! Students will read books at their “just right” level each day, practicing reading strategies from the CAFÉ menu.
Read to Someone: Reading to someone helps develop reading fluency and comprehension.
Listen to Reading: Listening to reading helps children develop reading fluency. It also allows them to access texts that they can’t read independently yet.
Word Work: Working with words helps children become better spellers and writers.
Work on Writing: Just like it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better reader, it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better writer too! During Work on Writing students will work on writing of their choice while practicing writing skills learned in class.

The CAFÉ menu is a collection of highly effective reading strategies that the students will be taught to use to help them become better readers.
They are organized into four goals:
C is for Comprehension: “I understand what I read.”
A is for Accuracy: “I can read the words.”
F is for Fluency: “I can read smoothly, with expression.”
É is for Expanding Vocabulary: “I know, find, and use interesting words.”

During individual conferences, I will listen to students read, help them pick a reading goal, and suggest a reading strategy that will help. I will provide coaching on how to use the strategy, and then meet back with them at a later date to see if they have been able to use the strategy. How often I meet with each student will depend on their needs. Research shows that when students know exactly what they need to work on, and why, they are much more successful in meeting their goals!