Setting Up Daily 5 Math

As a former middle school teacher, setting up Daily 5 Math to be successful was definitely the hardest part of workshop. Spending two weeks setting up work and not actually diving into the work right away was tough. I was ready to get started but I knew the students were not. I kept having to tell myself "Go slow in the beginning to go fast later." Although it did usually take two weeks to actually begin meeting with individuals or small groups, the time spent was well worth it. The time spent in workshop throughout the year went much smoother and was more efficient because of the time we spent setting up expectations.

The first day was spent introducing the workshop model. We would compare the model to the readers and writers workshop students experienced in earlier grades. I would stress from the beginning that this was independent work time. We had a discussion about what "independent" work meant. This discussion was probably the most valuable of the year. Had students not understood that independent essentially meant without teacher assistance, I would not have been able to meet with small groups or individuals, which was the point of doing workshop.

The next five days were spent delving in deeper to each of the five elements of Daily 5. We would start with introducing Play It. After a brief explanation of Play It, we would create an anchor chart of what the room should sound like and look like during Play It. Again, this was opportunity to stress that myself and my co-teacher were not available to help with questions since we would be working with students during this time. After creating the chart, we would practice as a whole class doing Play It. In addition to practicing the choice, this was also a great opportunity for students to play one of the games and learn the rules. I would monitor and often remind students to refer back to the anchor chart to make sure they were on task and behaving appropriately. This same process was then repeated for Practice It, Write It, Explore It, and Digitize It in the following days.

The second week was spent on guided practice of the choices and/or introducing new games for students to use during Play It. Day one, I would begin by assigning students to a group and then assigning each group one of the choices. Students would review the anchor chart before given time to practice. I would also introduce the use of the timer on this day. The second day, I would let students choose a choice and practice the choice. The third day I would use the entire 30 minutes and assign groups two choices. We would practice using the timer to transition between activities (I used a three level timer where one sound would signal students to start cleaning up and to transition to the next choice. A second sound would signal the beginning of the second choice). The fourth and fifth days were spent practicing the actual 30 minute time where students were assigned a choice and made a choice. After each day, we would reflect on the process to help ensure students knew the expectations.

After these two weeks of set-up, I rarely had a problem with behaviors. If I did, I would use the yellow caution cards which I will discuss in a later post. Students were aware of the expectations and followed them daily. My co-teacher and I would often refer to the posters to help redirect or focus students throughout the year. Setting up the workshop properly is the most important part to getting the most out of Daily 5 math.