The Daily Five (continued)

If you haven't read The Daily Five by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, do yourself a favour and read it! It's amazing! The last time I talked about the Daily Five, we had just completed discussing and practicing "Lire à soi-même" (Read to self). Since then, the students have spent over a month practicing all of the four tasks they can choose from. I removed Listen to Reading, until I can find the proper equipment and load French texts on Kurzweil in order for that station to work properly. Here a reminder of the four tasks:

1) Lire à soi-même (Read to self)
2) Lire à un partenaire (Read to a partner)
3) Écrire tout seul (Write alone)
4) Travail de mots (Word Work)

"Lire à un partenaire" was the most difficult task to introduce to the students. It's hard to ensure that they are using their time properly and that they have a book that suits both of their needs. For a whole week, we practiced choosing "good fit books" both alone and with a partner. The students have a checklist to refer back to if they aren't sure if their book is right for them.

Here is the checklist:
C - je CHOISIS un livre (I choose a book)
R - RAISON - Pourquoi est-ce que je choisis le livre? (What`s my reason for picking this book?)
I - INTÉRÊT - Est-ce que je suis intéressé? (Am I interested in this book?)
C - COMPREND - Est-ce que je comprend? (Do I understand?)
C - CONNAÎT les mots - J'ouvre le livre à une page et s'il y a plus que 6 mots que je ne connais pas, je dois changer de livre. (I open the book to a random page and if there are more than 6 words that I do not know, I change books.)

We looked at different ways to read with a partner. The kids brainstormed and here`s what they came up with:
1) Je lis le livre, tu écoutes et ensuite tu lis le livre et j'écoute (I read the book, you listen and then you read the book and I listen)
2) Je lis une page, tu lis une page (I read a page and then you read a page)
3) Je lis une phrase, tu lis une phrase (I read a sentence and then you read a sentence)
4) On lit des différents livre
I modeled all options and then we practiced over and over again. We have practiced so much and they have gained my full trust. I know that they will be doing what they should be doing when reading with a partner.

The students love the "Écrire tout seul" (Writing alone) option, because they can write about ANYTHING, as long as it`s in French. I think that the freedom is what gets the students excited about this one! Stay tuned for some writing samples! They are blowing me away with their writing!

The last option, "Travail de Mots" is another class favourite. In this task, the students also have choices and freedom. Every week we have vocabulary words (NOT FOR A SPELLING TEST... I don`t do those...but that`s a whole other blog post!). The students use those words or others (it`s their choice) in different activities. I`ve put together Scrabble games, stamp games, and another activity that joins spelling work and counting money (integrating Math, yes!). I find spelling and vocabulary work incredibly boring, but shockingly enough, it`s one of the most popular Daily Five options in our class.