The Daily 5 and FACE Menu

It won’t be long until you hear about “The Daily 5” and the “FACE Menu”, so I wanted to give you a quick overview of this literacy framework, developed by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, so that you’ll know what your child is talking about.
The Daily Five is a way of structuring our reading block so that every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are fun, engaging, and have big impacts on student reading and writing achievement. Each day, the students will receive 2-3 whole group reading strategy lessons. In between these group lessons, the students will work independently on one of the “Daily 5” tasks for 15-20 minutes. During this time, I will provide focused, intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students. Here are the Daily 5 components:

1. Read to Self: The research continually shows that the very best way to become a better reader is to practice, practice, practice! Your child will read books at his/her “just right” level each day, practicing reading strategies from the FACE menu. Reading is FUN!

2. Read to Someone: Reading to someone helps develop reading fluency and comprehension, and it’s FUN!

3. Listen to Reading: Listening to reading helps children develop reading fluency. It also allows them to access texts that they can’t read independently yet. And of course, it’s FUN!

4. Work on Words: Working with words helps children become better spellers and writers. Your child will learn about word families, practice high frequency ‘sight’ words using Wikki-Stix, stamps, bottle caps, and whiteboards, and work on spelling. Working on words is FUN!

5. Work on Writing: Just like it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better reader, it takes practice, practice, practice to become a better writer! During Work on Writing your child will work on writing of their own choice. Working on writing is FUN! We will also have a separate Writer’s Workshop later in the day to work on specific forms of writing.

The FACE menu is a collection of highly effective reading strategies that the students will be taught to use, to help them become better readers. They are organized into four goals:

F is for Fluency: “I can read smoothly, with expression.”
A is for Accuracy: “I can read the words.”
C is for Comprehension: “I understand what I read.”
E is for Expanding Vocabulary: “I know, find, and use interesting words.”

During individual conferences, I will listen to your child read, help him/her pick a reading goal, and suggest a reading strategy that will help. I will provide coaching on how to use the strategy, and then meet back with your child at a later date to see if he/she has been able to use the strategy.

I hope that this brief introduction to the “The Daily 5” and the “FACE Menu” has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer them.

Mrs. Schlickbernd