Daily Five and Grades?

Hi Friends!

Like many of you, I am a huge fan of the daily five. We are in our sixth week of school and my kids are getting it. They are working independently on engaging and purposeful tasks and I am able to assess students and work in small groups. Love it! :)

The only issue I ever have is taking grades. It can be challenging. I like to give mini reading assessments after we've worked on a skill for a while, but I am supposed to have 8-9 grades per 9 weeks. I feel it is very important to hold my students accountable for their work during daily five so last year, I graded them on how they did during daily five.

I use the Words Their Way phonics and spelling program, so I incorporated that into word work. I require my students to complete a closed sort and record the sort in their word work notebooks. They can do many other things during word work time but that is a mandatory activity that I take a grade on.

I also require them to complete reading response pages. Right now, it's just ONE a week. I'm starting easy because they are still young and getting into the routine. I will raise the bar as the year goes on and my students become more fluent readers and writers.

I also include work habits as part of their grade. It's obvious who is off task, book shopping too much or using a volume that is not appropriate. When the kids know they are being graded on this it really helps them refocus.

I'm attaching our daily five menu (which they must complete throughout the week and return to me on Friday) along with their grading rubric. I have them staple all their responses to the menu and I check their word work notebooks on Friday. It can be a lot of work but I feel it really makes our daily five time effective and it holds my students accountable.

Do you do daily five? If so, how do you take grades? Just curious! Happy teaching! :)