Five For Friday December 5, 2014

Doodlebugs is taking a brief vacation from Five for Friday, but I decided to share my 5 things from the week anyway, because it helps me believe that I am not neglecting my blog - lol!

 We started our week back to school after Thanksgiving with a black out!  Our power was off until almost lunch time.  Let's just say it made things very interesting, but we made it work.

I also received a gift from one of my students on Monday.  My students and parents this year have been so amazingly generous!  I am truly blessed!

Luke received several awards from Cub Scouts this month.  He was super proud and excited about them!

With his buddy.

We had lots of fun practicing our math facts with this minion match game.

 

 Smiles during math?  Love it!

This is one of the games that is included in my Minion Multiplication Mania.  The full product has 5 multiplication games that are perfect for review in small groups, with partners, or as math centers.

Last but not least, I wanted to share a bit from our Daily 5 routine.  I have never really loved my Word Work portion, but I have modified it a bit this year and I am LOVING it so far.  I will share more in future posts, but for now, here are a few pics of our new word work routines.

 

And, the part of Daily 5 that I have always loved...

 

I love seeing them wrapped up in a good book!

Hope you have a great weekend!

5 for Friday March 21 - Vote to Win a Freebie of Your Choice!

  Time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday for a look back at our week.

This week we had parent teacher conferences.  I had mentioned in an earlier post about how I have my students lead the conferences and evaluate themselves.

On Monday I had them complete these "report cards" evaluating their own work habits.

They often write funny things on their papers, but this one really cracked me up!  I might have to buy him a tub of sour cream one day!

We also presented our animal reports this week.  They really did a great job!

This little one was even dressed to match her project -love the tights!

We played a game with the counselor this week using special balls that the students passed to each other and then answered the questions under their thumbs.  I have seen this idea before for math facts or comprehension questions - it was a good reminder for me.  I think I will be incorporating this activity into our test prep coming up the next two weeks.

I just absolutely LOVE this picture!  They were having so much fun!

Spring craziness and parent conferences always makes for a rough week - so we decided to indulge in a healthy snack during Daily 5 with a fruit tray.  The students loved it since they don't normally get to eat in class!

Last, but not least- our school is in the running for $10,000 to improve our playground which is in dire need of repairs.  Please take a moment to vote to help us win!  You can vote even if you aren't local, and you can vote once every 24 hours.  Voting ends Sunday!  It is really neck and neck and we would love your help and support!

As an extra incentive, I will give everyone who votes (and leaves a comment below) any item of your choice from my 

TpT store.

 Vote here!  Our school is Fernley Elementary :)

Enjoy your weekend!

First Few Days Back - Reviewing Expectations and Re-Building Daily 5 Stamina

Well, I have survived the first two days back after vacation!  They haven't been bad, but I have been exhausted after resting for two weeks straight.  The behavior has been amazing so far (knock on wood) and may be due in part to the fact that I planned to review expectations and re-build Daily 5 stamina this week.  Just like the first week of school we have been reviewing and practicing.  I started with a True/False PowerPoint review of our rules.

You can download this freebie at Teachers Pay Teachers here.

Even if you have already gone back to school you can pin it and save it for next year : D.  It is fully editable.

Then, we practiced building up our Daily 5 stamina.  We reviewed the expectations and wrote them on the board.  Then we practiced just like the beginning of the year with me calling them back to the carpet as soon as one person was off task.

(ignore my messy handwriting!)

I am not going to lie - it was a little ugly the first day - our best time (not shown) was a little over 9 minutes.  Luckily, by day 2 we were back on track.

23 minutes - can I get a woot woot?

Ahhhh!  Daily 5 Bliss - ready for me to work with small groups and meet for individual conferences!  A few days of reinforcing those expectations is so worth it!  What have you done to reinforce expectations since you have gone back to school?

Daily 5 Is Underway In Our Class

Daily 5 is underway and going well in our classroom.  We usually manage anywhere from four to six rounds each day.  I use the time to individually conference with students in a CAFE style.  I haven't been able to squeeze in many small groups, but I kind of like it that way being able to give the students individualized attention.  I have three kiddos who are reading at a first grade level, so I meet with them daily.  The rest I meet with anywhere between two and three times per week depending on their needs.

I love seeing the kids engrossed in their books!

Word Work is another favorite in our classroom:

So far I have been able to let them make their own choices, but I have a few squirrely ones who may need more teacher direction, or at least a log like this one. This one was made by Susan at Mrs. Gorbe's Kinderlittles.

How has Daily 5 been going in your classroom?

The Daily 5 Book Study Chapter 6 -My Notes

I am participating in the book study at  We Read, We Blog, We Teach.

Chapter 6 Work on Writing and Word Work

During the Work on Writing session, students work individually or with a partner on the writing of their choice.

When introducing the Work on Writing component, the Sisters suggest teaching a mini-lesson in which you model what the students should do when they get to a word that they do not know how to spell.  This is so important so that you are able to meet with small groups or conference with students without a line of students interrupting to ask how to spell a word. I also plan on having a frequently asked word box for the students to refer to as well, and I will introduce this box during this first lesson as well.

Word Work is an area that I would like to get better at.  When I did the Daily 5 as a student teacher, my lead teacher was using Words Their Way to teach spelling.  When we tested the students they ended up being divided into four different spelling groups which was quite difficult to keep up with.  I am thinking about using the approach suggested by Beth Newingham instead.  I will post later to show you what that will look like in my classroom as I finish it up!

The Daily 5 Book Study Chapter 5 - My Notes

I am participating in the book study at  We Read, We Blog, We Teach.

Chapter 5 Read to Someone and Listen to Reading

According to the Sisters, and mountains of research, "reading with someone helps students read independently and grow as readers".

This is the part of Daily 5 that seemed to be the most difficult when I was a student teacher.  It seemed like the students who picked partner reading would often make this choice in order to goof off with a friend.

  I did find this post by Beth Newingham (one of my teaching idols) about Buddy Reading.  She suggests assigning partners and having them  read on their own, and then partner up to ask and answer each other thick questions.  I think this will help with accountability.

For time constraints, I am also hoping to implement buddy reading with a lower level class.  Since I am new to this school and district I haven't planned it yet, but I am friends with one of the first grade teachers, so I am hoping it will work for her as well.

I am planning on using this Read to Someone Coaching Sheet to help the students remember how to coach each other.

According to research, students benefit from listening to fluent readers, either in the form of teacher read alouds, volunteers, or books on tape, CD, or mp3 players. Despite the evidence, it seems that many teachers of older students (third and up) might forgo due to time constraints.

I myself have been tempted not to include this portion, but I realize how important it is especially for struggling readers who may not be able to access grade level texts.

I plan on having the students listen to chapters from the science and social studies text to help incorporate those subjects and to save time.

What are your plans for reading to someone and listening to reading?

The Daily 5 Book Study - Chapter 4 - My Notes

I am participating in the book study at  We Read, We Blog, We Teach.

Chapter 4 Read to Self 

"Having children read to themselves is the first step in Daily Five and is the foundation for creating independent readers and writers" (pg. 46).

When I was in elementary school, I always felt like there was never enough time for me to do what I really wanted to do, which was of course read to my self.  That is one thing that I really love about the Daily 5 is the opportunity that the students have to read books of their own choice - how motivating!

Then this is where I really have questions - the Sisters advocate teaching three ways to read a book - is this necessary for older kids who are reading chapter books?  Any thoughts from teachers who have been there done that?

The Sisters advocate working with your students to develop an I-chart that tells them what they should be doing as readers during read to self.

After a few minutes of modeling, the students practice for 3 minutes, debrief, and try again.  Each day students work to increase their stamina.

The Daily 5 Chapter 1 - An Intoduction Book Study (My Notes)

When I did my student teaching, my lead teacher was just starting to implement Daily 5 and the CAFE, so my experience with it was very much learning along with her as she read and discovered.  It was really nice to have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of as I was reading myself.  That is why I jumped at the opportunity to participate in the summer book study at  We Read, We Blog, We Teach.

The book study is a bit of a necessity for me because the district I am moving to REQUIRES that all teachers use Daily 5 - CAFE is optional, but highly suggested.  Since I have been teaching 7th grade math, I have had to dig out the big anyway to refresh myself.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled this book off of my shelf (besides the dust - shhhh!) were multi-colored tabs that I had placed in specific spots.  I can't remember what the color coding meant at the time, but if I remember I will let you know. I like the tabs though, because I can remember where things are - (I believe the orange stickies were for anchor charts to make.  I have been getting lots of inspirational ideas from Pinterest that I will share as I make them.

So.... onto Chapter 1: (Quotes from the books are in green - my takeaways are in red)

The book opened with a Regie Routman quote 

 "The typical teacher has children doing a lot of "stuff".  How is what I am having children do creating readers and writers?" 

This is really important for me to focus on and keep in sight.  Because I am moving from middle school down to elementary a big part of me is caught up in the "cuteness" factor of elementary.  I really need to keep in mind that although I may cutesy things up, my main focus must be on instruction and creating readers and writers.

P. 11 Has a chart that outlines the research base behind Daily 5 which is extensive.

The reason why the district I am moving to has adopted Daily 5 is because of the strong research base behind it.  I really love the headings on top of each of the components and am thinking about a way to share with my students to provide them with a "Real World" purpose for each of the elements.

I guess I am just a figure girl today, because I was also drawn to figure 1-4 on p.14 which outlines the Daily 5 Literacy Block.

During student teaching I felt like the area that could be most improved was our focus lessons -they seemed to lack, well focus to be honest with you.  I like the idea of focusing each mini-lesson on the topics listed.  For example, the first focus lesson of the day would be a comprehension lesson, the second would be a reading strategy, the third would be word work, the fourth would be writing, and the fifth and last would be a sharing author's sharing where we review the skills and strategies we worked on that day.

I am feeling a bit more confident after just re-reading the 1st chapter, and am excited to continue this journey. 





If you would also like to participate, the information is below:

Please check out the summer book study! 

(It is not too late to start)

http://www.wereadweblogweteach.com/

There is a calendar available to keep you on track at the blog: