There are two types of reading that the students engage in during the Daily Five - read to self and read to someone.
Read to Self
Read to self is just that. The students read silently to themselves. I also allow my students to take Accelerated Reader tests and go to the library during this time if needed since our school uses the A.R. program and my classroom library is small.
In the older grades (4th and 5th grade), the students respond to their books by using sticky notes to write questions that they had about the book, thoughts about the story elements, or predictions. My third graders had a really hard time figuring out exactly what to write on the sticky notes despite repeated lessons. The sticky notes became more of a play thing and distraction from the reading that I eventually stopped using them.
If a student wants to go to the library, they must show me an "L" with their thumb and pointer finger if I am working with a group. I will then usually nod and point to the timer (if it is in a spot where I can't reach it) or had the timer to them. I only give the students about 6 minutes to go to the library, pick out books, and return. There are a few reasons for this. First, it keeps many of my students from playing in the hallway, playing in the library, talking to their friends, etc. The second reason is that we have a very limited amount of time that we can go to the library. I often have several students at one time need to go, but will only send 2-3 students at one time. The timer allows me to divide the time evenly so that each child has the ability to go to the library.
Read to Someone
Read to Someone is also called "Buddy Reading" in my classroom. Buddy reading is also self explanatory. The students read to a buddy. We do have specific rules for reading to a buddy, and even had several lessons on how to buddy read. The specific lesson for teaching students how to properly read to someone is found in The Daily Five by Joan Moser and Gail Boushey. Some of our buddy reading rules include:
*Sit EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee) *I read a page, you read a page *Whisper *Prompt your buddy if they get stuck on a word *Check for understanding using the phrase, "I heard you read..."
One thing that I've begun to incorporate in the past month is more of an emphasis on fluency. My students were beginning to have a hard time with really focusing on reading to one another and used it more as a social hour. So I began using fluency passages to give a little more structure to the buddy reading process. The students are given a fluency passage that I have prenumbered with the number of words. They also get a recording sheet and a one-minute sand timer. They then take turns reading the passage and recording the number of words they read in one minute. After both buddies have read the passage three times, there are comprehension questions at the bottom that they must answer.
My school has a license for the Read Naturally program. This program is computer based, but they also have some printable fluency passages that are divided by level, are prenumbered, and have comprehension questions at the bottom so I copy these for students to use during buddy reading. This program is not free, but if your campus already uses it, you might check into the printable passages. If not, there are a variety of books at local teacher supply stores that contain similar materials.