Skip the Word, Then Come Back–Parent Pipeline

When I first was introduced to Daily Five I remember thinking "This is too basic". Why would children need to break down every small step of each component? Why would I need to teach each reading behavior and have the children practice it over and over? At first, I thought the children weren't being given enough credit for what they already knew how to do. Wow... was I ever wrong.

I now see how essential each piece of the training process is to Daily Five. Children need to be given specifics on what is expected of them. As Gail and Joan say, having set expectations and routines allows our students to put their energy into learning and not into guessing what is expected of them. This makes so much sense and is a major reason why Daily Five works.

This week as I thought about the accuracy strategy, Skip the Word, Then Come Back, I was reminded of how important it is to teach the basics and to never assume our children "just know". As experienced readers, we use this strategy without thought. We must teach our children how to use this strategy so they can practice and apply it when they read. Just like with Daily Five, the more practice a person has, the more successful they become.