Keeping Kids Accountable During Daily 5

I love using the Daily 5 in my class! If you want to see how I use it, check out my Daily 5 Series HERE.

One thing I struggled with was accountability. I needed kids to know that I wanted to see their work-- not to gather it, collect it, and grade it each and every time causing more work for me-- but that I wanted to check in with them and make sure they were on the right track and not just playing on white boards during Word Work or chatting with their friends during Read to Self.

I tried several approaches last year and finally settled on something that:

• didn't create tons of extra work for me
• didn't take away time from the kids to fill out/complete
• lasted for more than a week (this one lasted three weeks with my schedule last year)
• kept them accountable
• worked for kids on all levels
• gave them choices

Here's an older version of my Daily 5 Booklet:

I use the large 11x17" paper with Word Work Bingo on the cover and the Read to Self Menu in the center and it works very well for the three weeks we use it :)

Here's a breakdown of the pages:

Word Work Bingo

This menu gives kids choice and allows me to check their work without lots of additional grading. When kids first receive this packet, they need to decide what Bingo they are going to make. Then, over the course of the next three weeks, they work on the activities and receive my signature in the box after they complete the work.

You can find a fully editable version of this HERE for use in your own classroom.

Each Word Work session equals one square. My sessions are only about 20 minutes, so it's not too long. If they do get done early, they can work on additional vocabulary words from the book we are reading as a group.

For more about Word Work in my class, click HERE.

To purchase some of the Word Work activities listed on the board, visit my TpT Store HERE.

Read to Self Menu

I love this because it gives kids tons of options and allows me to grade their work on a variety of skills and on any book. Yay!

Remember, my kids had three weeks to complete this, so each week they had 2 Read to Self times. This menu was the result of 6 Read to Self times and I told them I would be grading accordingly-- each section needed their best work shown. These two pages are the only two I could grade from the packet. This menu gave me great insight into the teaching points I needed to work on with a student and some evidence for where they were growing.

Each student was responsible for all three sections of a menu- appetizer, main course, and dessert. At the beginning of the year, I would instruct them to complete the "Appetizer" section on the first week, the "Main Course" section the next, and so on. Those explicit directions stopped as the year continued and kids built more independence. Toward the end of the year, it was not unusual to see some kids working on dessert first, other starting at the main course, and some jumping all around. I was a-ok with any of it, as long as it was their best work and all complete after three weeks.

Have you ever tried a menu before? I LOVE it! It's like Bingo, but so much more fun, especially if you love food as much as I do ;) This menu includes work on connections, summarizing, connections, characters, visualizing, and more!

Would you like a copy of my these menus? They are available in my TpT Store and there is a different menu for each month, spirling practice throughout the school year! Find them for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade HERE.

Disclaimer: The Daily 5 & CAFE resources are unofficial adaptations of the Daily 5 by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser. This freebie is not endorsed by the 2 Sisters. http://www.thedailycafe.com

How do you keep kids accountable during Daily 5? I'd love to hear about your ideas- leave me a comment below :)