A Daily Five Diary Part 1: Implementing Daily 5 in a Departmentalized Upper Elementary Classroom

Over the summer I finally read The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Due to the masters classes I'd been taking over the past few years, I kept putting it off, but now that I've read it I am fully in! All five parts that make up the daily regiment -- Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work -- are research-based and contribute to a balanced literacy program. A total win-win, right?

So, here are my obstacles I'm trying to overcome as I implement Daily 5 in my fourth grade classroom:

1. TIME!!!! 

Language Arts (which includes teaching and giving a grade for reading, language, spelling, and handwriting) is 70-80 minutes long.

2. Departmentalization

We are a departmentalized grade level. Departmentalization definitely has its advantages, like easier lesson planning and a more in-depth knowledge of the curriculum, but it also means that we aren't able to integrate our subjects as I'd like. It also means we have to stick to the schedule. I don't have the freedom I once had of cutting my science lesson short to work in more reading or including a mini-lesson on complete sentences as students write their history responses. As I mentioned above, I give grades for four separate subjects. My next door grade level colleague gives one grade (math) and the other fourth grade teacher gives two (history/social studies and science), so I confess to feeling a little more stress due to departmentalization when compared to my colleagues.

3. High-stakes Testing

Oh, yes, the joys of high-stakes testing. 
I teach in a Virginia public school (that I love, love, love!), which means each spring students take the English Standards of Learning (SOL) test (that I don't love, love, love). The pressure in schools due to these tests can be unbearable at times and overwhelming always. I'm already stressed about getting my students to pass these and it's September for Pete's sake! 

With the stress from SOL pressure, I'm already feeling a little pinched about putting off teaching the state standards to set up Daily 5 routines.

These are my three greatest obstacles, but I'm determined to make this work in my situation. I hope you will join me as I journal on this blog the experiences, frustrations, and victories of implementing Daily 5 in my fourth grade classes.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 :)