Daily 5 & Houghton Mifflin

This is the schedule of my day and how I use Houghton Mifflin along with Daily 5. 


We have a phonics program and I use it first thing in the morning 8:45. I spend about 12 minutes teaching and then for 10 minutes the students are doing workbook pages. While they are doing their workbook pages I'm checking homework, doing lunch count, and taking attendance. This is the warm up part of our day. At 9:00 we stop because my kids switch classes for enrichment time. On my team we split up the kids that are below, on, and above grade level and give them reading enrichment/interventions during this time. 


At 9:30 I get my class back and we start with whole group reading for 30-45 minutes so we end around 10:00. This is the time that I do Houghton Mifflin. I start with a quick phonemic awareness or phonics activity, teach the words to know, and mostly teach the comprehension strategy of the week. I know there is so much more in Houghton Mifflin but I take out what I think is important. On Monday I  do a read aloud to model the comprehension strategy, Tuesday I read the story of the week or we listen to it online, Wednesday we read the story of the week together, Thursday my students buddy read the story, Friday my students read on their own. I teach the comprehension strategy before and we discuss how we used it after reading. I of course ask questions throughout the reading as well. After we read the story of the week they do their workbook pages. (I know this will change some next year because we have to align to the Common Core but this is the method I have been using.) I give 10 minutes for the workbook pages and if they aren't finished then they may finish up in Word Work before they play any games or take out any activities.


 Then we start the Daily 5 around 10:00. I remind them quickly of the rules during Daily 5, remind them of our comprehension strategy, and then let my students pick where they want to go. During this time I pull groups for guided reading/book studies/assessments/one-on-one reading help. I use HM leveled readers and reading records in small group with the kids. We have one hour to complete all 5 so they are in each one rotation for 12 minutes. This is perfect for the beginning of the year and then towards the end I will cut it down to 4 rotations for 15 minutes. Since they only get to choose 4 I have them pick their 5th choice 1st the next day. (So if they completed read to self, read to someone, word work, and listening then they would start with writing the next day.) I ring a bell to let the students know it is time to switch and they all clean up and meet me on the floor to pick again and continue. So yes it  would take the place of literacy centers/stations. After the last rotation we clean up and go to lunch at 11:10. I know it is not exactly how the framework of Daily 5 goes but it is what works for me within the constrictions of what I have to do at my school. 


After lunch we have writing for 45 minutes and then go to recess for 20 minutes. Then we come back in from recess and have math for one hour. I split my math up into whole group math for 30-45 minutes and then small group/centers for 30-45 minutes. After math we have science or social studies (Science M, Tu, Th) (Social Studies W, F). Then my students have specials for one hour. After they come back we pack up, eat snack, read a story, and go home. 




I hope this helps you out and again feel free to ask any questions I may have not answered.