In the third-grade English classroom, students are working weekly to improve their reading and writing stamina. Using a modified form of the “Daily 5” literacy framework, students complete five authentic reading and writing centers while the teacher works with other students in groups or individually. This framework not only improves academic skills but instills behavior of independence, creates a classroom of highly engaged readers, writers, and learners, and provides the third-grade teacher with the time to meet students’ individual needs.

In Ms. Abby’s class, two of the five centers are entirely independent; Read to Self and Work on Writing. The goal of these centers is for students to take full responsibility for their learning. Each student strives to read or write without stopping for the entire 10 minutes activity.

Teachers use related data to guide their ‘Daily 5’ instruction and are very proud of the excellent improvements within third grade this year, both in behavior and academic skills. In addition to teachers, the third-grade students enjoy improving their English in this engaging and fun literacy framework!

(Written by Abby Osse Translated by Wang Yizhao Pictures by Abby Osse Edited by Huang Shiyuan, Mikah Jimenez)