In April of 2009 I began reading the Daily 5 book by the 2 Sisters. I wanted to jump in and begin Daily 5 in my first grade classroom, but there were only about 6 weeks of school left. So instead of jumping in, I waded in with Read To Self. Not only was I hooked, but so were the kids! They loved being given the "time to read" and building stamina. So I spent the summer preparing for the big launch with my new class in the fall of 2009. I was tandem teaching with my partner of 11 years, so I bought her the book, and convinced 3 more teachers in first and second grade to try it out as well.
I typed out explicit lesson plans for my teammate and me and put everything we needed into a notebook (stamina charts, guide to barometer child, the 10 steps etc.). We shopped for book boxes at Lakeshore, organized our library, and prepared materials for word work. When school began we launched on the first day and we were off and running!
Welcome to the CRA Daily 5 Book Club/Blog. Many of you who will be joining us on our journey in July may have noticed that the 2 Sisters will be keynote speakers at the California Reading Association's Professional Development Institute on October 17-18, 2014. This was no accident!
I had become a D5 devotee and knew that I wanted the Sisters to come to California. In October 2012 I emailed Gail and Joan and invited them to our conference. They graciously accepted and at that time they had never presented in California. They will give the keynote on Friday night from
7:00 to 9:00 pm and will be featured speakers on Saturday from 9:45-10:45. At lunch they will be signing books in the exhibit hall. So let's get ready for the 2 Sisters visit by reading or revisiting their book, The Daily Five. See you in July!
Joanne Devine
PDI Conference Chair
CRA President-Elect
I am also looking forward to the blogging on the new edition of the Daily Five!
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