Daily 5 Part 2- mini lessons

Yesterday I posted an overview about how I run Daily 5 in my classroom. I also forgot to say yesterday that Daily 5 is the most amazing thing ever. I've never seen students so engaged and quiet. It's my favorite part of the day and theirs too! Today I will talk more about what I do during my mini lesson portion. 

After the students check in we immediately do our Daily Language Review. I keep a checklist of who has read and who has responded that way I can ensure everyone is getting the practice. 

After the DLR we talk about our word of the week. On Mondays I introduce the word of the week and talk about the definition then Tuesday-Friday the students share how they've used the word. For example, this week our word of the week is "etiquette." Today a student shared how he used the word at the dinner table last night. This usually only takes about 3 minutes or so. 

The second mini lesson (after round 1) is almost always a comprehension lesson. Sometimes I model the strategy with our author of the month and other times a chapter book series we're reading. I use the CAFE book, NYS standards, and Mrs. Maiolo's website to gather my ideas for my mini lessons. I also base what I'm teaching off of what I'm observing and notice my students need the most reinforcement with. 

The last mini lesson (after round 2) is either an accuracy, fluency, or vocabulary lesson. Every Friday this mini lesson is "Fancy Nancy Friday" which my students LOVE. This is when I introduce a boring word and we come up with fancy words or synonyms to add to our Fancy Nancy Word Wall. 

I don't focus too much on whole group accuracy lessons. I save that for my differentiated guided reading groups. I do go over basic word families at the beginning of the year and some of the more difficult middle sounds mid year. 

Here is a picture of my CAFE menu. After we learn a new strategy I choose an "expert" to write the strategy on a sentence strip. If someone has a question about a specific strategy, I send them to the expert (who HOPEFULLY remembers how to use the strategy!) ;)

***Please note: The first month of school and introducing the Daily 5 is very critical. I created this launch plan (using many different resources) which guided me smoothly through this year. I didn't follow it to a T but I relied on it heavily. If you have not read the Daily 5 or CAFE the launch plans will be confusing. I used both books and smushed the 2 launches together. Eventually The Sisters are supposed to release a book on combining the two, until then, my launch plans worked out well for me this year.