Daily Five Book Study, Chapter Two

I love a good book study!!  Thanks for everyone's thoughts on Chapter One.  While I was reading Chapter Two I thought about these guiding questions from Mel at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations.  I love the quote from Thoreau at the beginning of the chapter, "It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants.  The question is: What are we busy about?"  I want my students to be busy with meaningful activities and not "busy work."  I have found that the Daily Five does just that.  Even when I need time to work alone with a student outside of Daily Five time, I can pick a Daily Five and ask the students to do it for 10-15 minutes.  The kids know exactly what to do and are engaged much more meaningfully than by me throwing a worksheet at them!

1 .What goals do you have for your classroom as you work to implement the principles and foundations of the Daily 5 discussed in chapter 2? What support do you need to do this?

Creating a sense of community and trust are two aspects that I work on all year.  We start as a class brainstorming our Hopes and Dreams (The Responsive Classroom) for the new school year and use them as touch points to guide us through the year.  We are respectful and caring of others in the classroom.  From this foundation we work toward choice, stamina and a sense of urgency.  I would like to strengthen my use of a sense of urgency in my class next year.  

The support I need is administrators and reading specialists who understand my goal and are supportive in how I want to achieve it.  I am lucky to have that right now.  I also need the support of coworkers and online groups like this to grow, learn and change.

2. What stands out as the most significant aspects of this chapter? 

Using the beginning of the year to build a strong foundation that we all can rely on throughout the year.  Giving kids the respect and responsibility to make choices about their learning. 3. How do the foundational principles of the Daily 5 structure (trust, choice, community, sense of urgency, and stamina), align with your beliefs that support your teaching strategies and the decisions that you make about student learning?

I believe that a strong sense of community is the foundation for all other classroom learning.  Respect, trust and caring are essential if a child is to feel safe enough to learn, experiment and grow!