How we set up Literacy Groups

When we both started teaching, we entered into our education journey with the experience and expertise of our University degree and practicum placements. We adopted various well-tuned teaching styles and philosophies and merged into the world of our classrooms. 

As time went on, as beginning teachers and well into our teaching career, we found our own rhythm and methods as we experimented with various philosophies that aligned with our teaching style.  

The day I discovered The Daily Five, everything just made sense. My whole approach to teaching literacy and how I ran my groups changed entirely.  

For those who are not familiar, The Daily Five (or what I like to refer it to as Free Flow) is a literacy framework that instils behaviours of independence, creates a classroom of highly engaged readers, writers, and learners, and provides teachers with the time and structure to meet diverse student needs (Boushey & Moser). 

The basis of The Daily Five works with 5 tasks that students work through at their own pace and making their own choices. The 5 tasks are: 

These are all called Must Do’s. All students at some point during your literacy session, must complete these 5 Must Do’s at their own pace and in their own choice of order. You as the teacher, choose and set up these activities that align with these 5 elements each literacy session.  

Once they have completed all of their 5 Must Do’s, the students can then move on to Can Do’s. We set up plenty of Can Do’s and scatter these around the classroom- even on the floor and different parts of the room, to keep the kids engaged and learning until the end of the literacy session. Can Do activities are activities which students can complete independently and often consolidate prior explicit teaching and learning. Some other examples puzzles, playdough activities, breathing boards, yoga cards, drawing, gratitude cards, syllable cards, memory games and many more. The activities are endless and we mix them up on a daily basis to ensure students remain engaged and motivated. Once you have a good bank of activities and resources, printed and laminated, this makes for an easy set up. 

You’re probably thinking.... this feels a little out of control for me, or how would the students get their work done if they are not set up with a timer or rotation bell? Believe me when I say IT WORKS!!! You are still in control! You train your students up with what your expectations are of each activity and develop independence in your students. This approach actually enables you, as the teacher, to spend less time on classroom management and more time teaching one-on-one and in small groups situations. It allows for students to develop independence, stamina and accountability for their own work. It is a simple yet powerful structure that you won’t regret implementing! 

Below are examples of how we would set up our classroom for a literacy session using this model. 

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The above activities are suited for K-1 as this is who I am teaching this year. All resources can be purchased from our online store as digital downloads!!

We would love to hear how you run literacy groups in your room!!