I taught kindergarten last year after not teaching for many years, and I used Daily 5 in my class. I was the only one in my school using Daily 5, so it was a lot of trial and error and definitely not perfect. However, I loved it! I introduced it just how it's presented in the books (I read both Daily 5 and The Cafe books). One of my first lessons was "Three Ways to Read," so my non-readers (most of my students) could "read the pictures." I had wordless books in everyone's book boxes, as well as label books & simple books they may know. During check in, I let them share a book they read during Read to Self & that really motivated them to read. Believe it or not, kindergartners can do this. I didn't start Work on Writing until they had reached about 10 minutes of stamina in Read to Self. In the meantime, we worked on how to "write" when they don't actually know how to write, so that when we started Work on Writing, they knew what to do. We also worked on the other lessons for Word Work and Listen to Reading while we were building stamina. I did not add Read to Someone until January. It is definitely a slow beginning in kindergarten, but well worth it. It was really rewarding to see them working independently throughout the year. I found the 5-7 minute whole group lessons were as long as my kids would sit still. My kids LOVED Daily 5 & if we didn't do it (because of assemblies, etc.), they would ask about it. Good luck!
