Daily 5 - Chapter 5 & Monday Made It!

DAILY 5, CHAPTER 5

Check out my other Daily 5 posts by clicking here.

Well, I'm a tiny bit behind the book study because of all the birthday festivities...I think I have fished more in the past week than I did all last summer, but that's what he wanted to do!  I'm back now, and I'll catch up this week!  Today, I'm linking up with Mechele from Barrow's Hodgepodge and Melissa from Dilly Dabbles who co-hosted this chapter!

Chapter 5 is all about Read to Someone and Listen to Reading!  I love the quote at the beginning of the chapter!  I think it implicates so, so much for my read-alouds!  How can I define a purpose while still keeping read-alouds enjoyable?

Read to Someone

In my reading group, I have done partner reading in the past.  However it hasn't been a consistent part of our routine.  We read our weekly story with partners once a week and not every week.  The kids love it though, and they always asked to do it!  I assigned partners (randomly, but I had veto power) to help things run more smoothly.  However, with the sisters' strategies, the I-chart, and all of the modeling included in daily 5, I'm hoping I won't have to do that this year!  In fact, the sisters say "...explicit teaching and practice will lead to engaged and productive partnerships instead of chaos." (pg. 61)  If I can will myself to let them choose their own partners, then I know they'll love it even more!

There are 6 important days of step-by-step lessons that give students the skills to successfully participate in read to someone.  All the while you and your kids are working on building stamina in read to someone!

Listen to Reading

Listening to fluent reading is something that I have also done in the past.  Once a week, usually on Monday, we listened to our basal story for the week and followed along in our text books as a class.  Everyone did this together, not in centers or small groups.  The thing that bothers me about the CD's that are provided is that it dings when it moves to a new page, and some of my kiddos just listen for that ding and don't really follow along at all.  Again, I'm hoping with the sisters' help and the routines, strategies, and modeling it won't be a big problem this year!

I will definitely need some more supplies for listen to reading!  I have a couple of computers in the room and an iPod.  But I'm thinking I'll need a few more listening devices, headphones, and maybe a headphone splitter or two!  I love their idea of each child having his or her own headphones that are labeled and kept in a baggie in their book box.  I don't need too many more books on tape/cd.  As I mentioned, our reading series comes with CD's for all of our stories.  A special ed teacher of 30+ years is moving to the middle school and she gave us boxes of books on tape, and I also had a donors choose project funded this summer so I'll be getting Junie B. Jones books on CD soon!  Donors Choose is a terrific place to get things like this that you need for your classroom!  Listening center materials will be my next project!  And remember to look at oo.com for your project if it's technology based, and share it with us so we can vote for it!

There are four days of focus lessons to successfully introduce "listen to reading".

Don't miss this giveaway!

Since we're talking about Daily 5, there is a little something I wanted to share with you that I think could be great for word work (which I'll be blogging about Wednesday)!  I have a set of Hot Dots multiplication practice cards that I absolutely love!  Students can practice independently, and it's easy to do!  By pressing the answers with the included pen they are told if their answer is correct or incorrect...that's it!  They have a lot of sets for all grade levels and all subjects too!  I saw some homophone cards (and lots of others) that could be great for word work!

The best part is...right now you have a chance to win 2 sets and a pen for your very own!  Just head over to Denise's blog to enter!

MONDAY MADE IT!
Now I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for my Monday Made it!

This week I have a really simple project that I decided to do while walking through Wal-mart the other day.  I think it will be a great way to build a strong classroom community though!  
I found a simple wooden picture frame like this at the store. 

I had some of this at home.

I painted the frame, and we'll change pictures out all year long and I can write on the frame to tell about the picture or our class!  {Excuse my writing...ugh...}  Now, I think I've told you before that I'll be having many of the same kids this year in 3rd grade that I had the first year I taught in kindergarten!  I'm so beyond excited!!  So when they come into our room for the first time, they'll see a picture of them and/or their friends {my kindergarten kiddos}!  I think it will be a great way to make our room seem more like home from the very beginning!

All Dressed up for Halloween =)
I wonder if they'll remember!

P.S.  I'm using these to write!  I got them at Jo-Ann's and love them!!  They are supposed to work on chalkboards and white boards and even windows!  I've only tried them on chalk so far.  I erased it pretty easily with a wet paper towel and my hands didn't get messy!!  Yay!  The down side?  They're a little pricey...

I'm thinking I might add a classroom job to my list - photographer.  They'd use our class camera at different times during the week to take pictures.  I don't want it to be a distraction though.  Has anyone else assigned a job like this?  Do you use a class picture frame?  I have two this year...hopefully I can keep the pictures updated!
Now, don't forget to link up your Monday Made It or your Daily 5, Chapter 5 post!

Currently & Daily 5 - Chapter 4

After finishing chapter 3 of The Daily Five, I was excited to read chapter 4 and start learning more about each part of the daily 5.  So, I finished chapter 4 Monday (while Kyle was fishing), but since he's been on vacation this week my blogging has been a little lax...But I'm here to share my thoughts on chapter 4, and I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the first time!  So I'll start with my "currently" and then head into my thoughts on "read to self".  If you're here from the Daily 5 book study, feel free to skip ahead to the next section!  You can see my other posts about The Daily 5 (chapters 1 - 3) here!

So, since Kyle is off this week we haven't been home much.  But since we are now he's in control of the remote and we're watching The Simpsons.  We watch the Simpsons almost every night!  He loves 'em...I do love that he's home though!  It's been so nice to get out of the house and spend time on the boat and on random little road trips!  

I've been busy thinking about his birthday next Wednesday and ordering presents, and our anniversary is Sunday too!  I was hoping to have a tasty lunch today, but we went fishing at a small lake instead...I ended up stumbling upon a hornet's nest and getting stung 3 times on my head and shoulders...ugh!  I'm still sore!  So I'm resting up and blogging even though I need to be cleaning up!

Now on to a couple of good reads...I love, love, love to read "The worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to my kids at Christmas time!  Those Herdman kids just crack me up!!  There are variations for Halloween and back to school too!  And right now you know I'm reading "The Daily Five" and hope to incorporate the sisters' wisdom into my classroom this fall, so that is a professional book I'll be keeping close!!

Head over to Oh Boy Fourth Grade and link up with Farley!

Now on to The Daily 5 - Chapter 4

Read To Self

I'm linking up with Tessa from Tales from Outside The Classroom who is hosting chapter 4!

Like I said before, I was really excited to start reading about each different aspect of the daily 5, and read to self was first!  I totally agree with the sisters on the importance of having time to read, and the idea of building stamina is so basic...why didn't I think of that??  And I love how they give you detailed ideas of how your lessons will go!

Something that I had never really considered before was the "three ways to read a book" that the sisters talk about.  You can read the words (of course), read the pictures, or retell the story if you've read it before.  I love this idea because it can make even struggling students feel like readers and feel successful!  But I am a bit concerned about reading the pictures.  How do you know some of your lazy less motivated kids won't just read the pictures when they're capable of more?  Is it okay if they do?

Starting out (or launching) read to self you make an i-chart.  I-charts are used to launch each part of the daily 5.  There are two things I love about these charts.  The I stands for independence, so it's a constant reminder that they're learning to work on their own.  The i-chart has two sides - one for students and one for teachers.  I really like this aspect of the i-charts.  The kids know (and help decide) what is expected of them, but they know that I have a job during daily 5 too!

After that you pick a few models (correct and incorrect), and you practice, practice, practice until you have built up your stamina!  After reading chapter 2 I made a couple of freebies for all of you guys.  One of those freebies is for building stamina at home too!  Stop by and pick it up from this post (or by clicking on the picture to go to the post) if you missed it!

So what do you think?  Will some of your kiddos just read the pictures when they can do more?  Is it okay if they do??

Don't forget to check out Tessa's post and all of the other great posts that have been linked up!

Daily 5 - Chapter 3

This week, I read chapter 3 of The Daily 5 which is all about routines!  If you're just starting to follow along with the book study, you can see all of my other Daily 5 related posts here.  Last week, I promised you all a freebie...if you missed it, I posted two freebies on Friday.  Go check them out here!

So, on to...

Jana, at Thinking Out Loud, is hosting this week's book study!  She posted a graphic last week that I used to take some notes as I read.  (The shoe lesson and book boxes should really be in the second column...ignore that please!)

Let's Get Together

Chapter 3 talked about the importance of having a gathering place.  My first year of teaching, I was hired (for kindergarten) about 2 hours before the parents' open house!  Yeah about 2!  So the teacher who had taught kindergarten let me use her rug and a few other things (she took a Math Recovery job in the school).  I loved having a rug, but when I was moved to third grade of course I had to leave it behind.  My room now is smaller than that kindergarten room too, so space (or a lack there of) is an issue as well.  So I don't have a gathering place in my room.  

Source

But I may have found a solution: earlier this month I found carpet squares!  We can store them easily and quickly when not in use, move them around the room from the dry erase board to the projector and screen, and even use them in all sorts of places for read to someone and other partner and group activities!  And they're even numbered (they can be used with a calendar rug) so each child can be assigned a square!  So hopefully my Donors Choose project will get funded and I'll have a great gathering place next year!

Readers have to Read

I love the I-PICK strategy for finding good fit books, but I need more!!  Where do you all get books for your classroom library?  I just got a lot of 50 books for a pretty good price on ebay, but I probably won't be buying many more...I have had success with donors choose in getting chapter books for my classroom!  My first project got us three series of chapter books and I just had another project funded for another series of chapter books (and the same books on CD)!  Have any of you all asked parents for old books or just mentioned that you would gladly take any books they no longer want or need?

A Little R & R

Routines (and rituals) are an integral part of the classroom no matter what programs you're using, whether it's Daily 5 or anything else.  A classroom full of little ones without routines is not a place where I want to try to teach!  There were a lot of things in this section of the chapter that I liked and some things I already do too but can improve.  After all, we can always improve!  Chapter 3 suggests starting every new part of the daily 5 by making an anchor chart.  I make anchor charts with my kiddos, but it's not something I do all the time.  I can definitely make more!  I just wish they would look a little more like these!

And if you're looking for a way to manage all of those anchor charts check out this pin.  It comes from Teaching My Friends!  Click on the picture to go straight to the post about her binder!

At my school we talk a lot about respect.  I loved the Debbie Miller quote from the book that basically said 'I expected them to show respect and be kind, but I didn't teach them how'.  We can't just expect kids to know what it means!  That quote reminded me of this anchor chart...I knew that we had to make this one as soon as school starts this fall!

While my loud voice isn't all that loud, a quote from the sisters that I liked was when they said "introducing one loud voice in the classroom is the quickest way to have the noise level in our classroom go spiraling out of control."  I love their idea of using a signal noise of some sort to bring students back to the gathering place rather than having to call out to them.

I could go on and on, but I'm going to end with that!  You can see a couple of other ideas that I thought were important in the graphic at the beginning of the post!  I do have one more question for you guys...does your school use accelerated reader (ar)?  If so, how does it work with the I-PICK strategy?  Do you let your kids have ar books in their book boxes to read during daily 5?

Don't forget to visit our host for chapter 3, Jana, and link up your chapter 3 post!

Building Our Community and Our Stamina: Freebies for Your Class

If your reading stamina is good and you made it through my long, long post yesterday, you'll remember that I promised you some freebies!  We'll here they are!

In chapter 2 of the Daily 5, the sisters talked about trust and building a classroom community.  I have a freebie that can help you with both of those things!  Obviously to make your classroom a trusting environment with a strong sense of community, you have to know your students!  But I think they need to know you too!  This freebie is a heart mapping "worksheet".  Heart Mapping is not my original creation.  It is an idea developed by author, Georgia Heard.  She writes about it in her book Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School.  It's a great way to learn what's important to your students and can be a great addition to a writing journal (for those times they just don't know what to write about)!  It can also be a great way for your students to learn what's important to you.  I would suggest completing your own heart map on chart paper while your students create theirs and then giving everyone time to share after you share yours!  Click on the picture to download your freebie (with an example of how it's used).

The sisters also talked about stamina.  After reading about building stamina, you wonder why you haven't always done things this way!  We do in many ways, but I have never referred to it as such.  Starting small and building up from there is basically all there is to increasing your stamina with anything.  I'll definitely be helping my kids build their reading and writing stamina in my class next year, but why couldn't they build their reading stamina at home too?  Many teachers already assign nightly reading for homework, and that homework can be perfectly combined with building stamina.  Your second freebie is a worksheet that can be sent home for weekly homework.  It's a modified reading log that requires students to record the time they started and finished reading and how long they read each night (with help from an adult in earlier grades).  They can see their stamina improving at home, and parents are involved too!

I'm linking my freebies up with TBA and their "Freebie Friday"!  Go Check it out for more great freebies!

And I'll leave you with a picture of my heart map!

 What are the important things in your life?

The Daily 5 - Chapter 2

I'm so glad that I chose to join in this summer's book studies and read The Daily 5!  So far it has been great, and I've loved that I can see other's ideas on what we're reading too!  Today I'm talking a bit about chapter 2, From "Management" to "Principled Habits": Foundations of The Daily Five.  I'm linking up today with Nicole at Teaching With Style who is hosting the chapter 2 book study.

I felt like this chapter was so important and definitely something that I needed to read.  I want to foster independent learners who are engaged in meaningful work this year.  I'm so tired of busy work...I don't like forcing the kids to do it, and I don't like grading it! {Let's just be honest :)}  I think it all starts with these 6 core foundations (from chapter 2) that are essential to the Daily 5: trusting students, providing choice, nurturing community, creating a sense of urgency, building stamina, and staying out of students' way once routines are established.

We always try to make sure that our students trust us and feel safe in our classrooms.  But do we always trust them?  Sometimes it's hard to let go and give up a little bit of control.  So what else can I trust my kiddos to do?

We practice walking quietly in the hallway so we don't disturb other classes and working quietly so we're prepared for test days and presentations by our friends and guests to the school.  The kids all know what I expect, and I can trust them to walk quietly and work quietly when necessary.  Every day we record what we have done in our planners.  But...I write everything on the board every day and the kids copy it.  However, there were many days that the students started without me.  The days that I had to miss, I told my students that I would check their planners when I returned and it was up to them to fill in their work for the day.  They did.  So is that something I could trust them to do after modeling at the beginning of the year so I'm not using up class time?  I also checked planners every day before leaving reading.  Near the end of the year, I assigned a helper whose planner I checked to check the rest of the class.  Is this something I could trust them to do?  Maybe this could be a class job...Trusting the students to do these things could give us back 5 minutes or so of class time...not a huge amount of time, but about the time of a mini-lesson!  

I love to give students some choice in what they're doing!  Don't you like to have a choice in what you do?  I do!  However, reading is probably one of the subjects I teach that provides the fewest opportunities for choice right now.  With the Daily 5 that will change!  As I'm sure everyone has heard, there are 5 choices for students during the daily 5 literacy block: read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, and word work.  The students can choose the order in which they will complete their daily 5.  I teach from a  basal and I'm used to doing things a certain way, so I can tell you right now, this is going to be difficult for me!  However, I love the choices the students are given, and I'm confident that I can use them to teach the same content.  I especially like that reading to yourself is a choice because I don't feel like my students have enough time to just read.  So while my students are learning to trust me next year, I'll have to learn to trust them to make their own choices within the daily 5!  Wish me luck! :)

Building a classroom community starts on day one!  From the very beginning of the year, your students are learning about you, and you're learning about them.  There are so many "ice breakers" you can use during those first few days to get to know each other, but I think there's more to it than that.  I want my students to know that it's not my room, it's our room.  With a  sense of ownership comes a sense of pride and responsibility.  By doing something as simple as writing our rules or a class pledge together we're taking a step in the right direction.  I also want my students to know that it's okay to not do everything perfectly and that we all make mistakes.  It's important for them to feel safe to try, safe to read out loud, safe to share their writing, and safe to make those mistakes without fearing ridicule from their classmates!  Building a strong and kind classroom community is where it all begins.

Creating a sense of urgency in students isn't about making them feel rushed or worried about finishing their tasks.  It's about making them feel responsible for completing their work and motivated to keep going and do a good job!  Giving students a choice in what they're doing gives them some motivation, but giving them a clear purpose for their choice adds to it.  The kids (like us) want to know why they're doing what they're doing.  Reasons behind what we do tell us why we should do it and  that makes it worth it!  In efforts to try to get assignments started (and finished) I don't always make it clear why it's an important assignment and what it's teaching us.  With a conscious effort to tell students why we're doing each lesson next year, I hope I'll see their attention to the lesson and motivation increase!

Creating independent readers doesn't happen overnight.  Those who finished assignments early in my class are always encouraged to choose a book and read quietly.  However, one thing I frequently noticed was that kids are up and choosing a book every 5 minutes...They often didn't sit and read the whole book.  They can read, but they didn't have the stamina to read for an extended period of time, so they were up choosing new books before finishing the first.  I didn't realize it then, but I didn't give them the foundation they needed.  Next year, we will start building our stamina from the very beginning in reading, writing, and working independently!

  Last year this was impossible.  I kid you not!  I didn't have the independent workers that could function without me for an extended period of time.  They were fine for 5 minutes, but then they needed to see that they were doing it right.  Next year after modeling behaviors, setting clear expectations, building stamina, and practicing what we're supposed to do, I hope that I can trust my kids enough to get out of their way and let them learn!

So, what else could I trust my kids to do for themselves that would help the daily 5 run smoothly in my classrom?

When you're students are making their daily choices, do you have any guidelines for them to follow other than the guiding questions mentioned in the book?  

The biggest concern that I still have is in sort of combining the Daily 5 with my basal.  We use Scott Foresman Reading Street in my district.  Do any of you have a reading series and use the daily 5 too?  Do you have any suggestions for me?  Can it be done?  {I'm not being very independent, huh?}

If you're still here, I admire your stamina!!  

That was loooonnng!

Make sure you come back tomorrow for some freebies and don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

The Daily 5 - Chapter 1

I've heard so many great things about the Daily 5 that I had to jump on board with this summer's book studies.  I thought that it may be just the push I need to read and research and try something new!

I'm linking up today with Nicole at Teaching With Style who is hosting the chapter 1 book study.

As I read the first chapter, the introduction, I thought to myself this sounds great...but could it really happen in my classroom?  Reading others' thoughts, it seems I'm not alone.  Mel D at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations who is also hosting a chapter 1 book study (for first grade) said that she felt the same.  But her 1st graders proved her wrong, and she realized it was after all realistic.  I hope I find the same thing to be true!

One of my highlights from the first chapter was this quote.  "The first weeks of school are dedicated to launching the Daily Five and instilling literacy habits that allow for independent work with little or no teacher supervision."  My kiddos cannot work independently.  Well, they can work independently, but then they have to ask me if it's okay and if they're doing it right after they've done their work...634 times a day it seems like!  When I'm helping others this can be a serious problem!!  When I'm not helping others it can be a problem too :)  They lack the confidence it seems to trust their own work and their own ideas.  So I love the idea of fostering independent, confident readers!

I grabbed Nicole's freebie and thought about how I would like to see my own classroom change.  Take a look!

What changes have you seen in your classroom if you use the Daily 5?  What changes would you like to see if you're studying along with me?

Big News!

Big news for me at least!  I finished my "really groovy class pack" that I blogged about last week and uploaded it to TPT...but I decided it was time to open a Teacher's Notebook store as well!  So I got down to business this morning and set up my store!  I uploaded a couple of freebies and my new retro themed class pack!  Click on the picture to check it out in my TN store or click on my new Teacher's Notebook button in my sidebar to make your way to my shop!

To celebrate the opening of my new TN store I'm running a giveaway on Teacher's Notebook.  It only lasts until Wednesday at midnight, so hurry over to enter!  One person will win this class pack!

Don't forget, you can sample my class pack with a freebie!  Click on the picture below to download!

Be sure to check out more freebies at Classroom Freebies' Manic Monday!

More news...I am ready for the Daily 5 and CAFE book studies that are coming up!  And I am excited!!  A book study for grades 1-3 is being hosted through linky parties on a lot of lovely blogs, and a book study for upper elementary grades is being hosted at "We Read, We Blog, We Teach"!  I got the kindle version of the books for $9.99 each to read on my iPad!  I've heard great things about the Daily 5, and hopefully I'll see great things for myself this year in my classroom!  

Now, have you met Amber?  (I feel like Barney on "How I Met Your Mother" haha)  She blogs at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher, and she is having a giveaway to celebrate summer!  You have the chance to win $25 worth of items from her shop {which is great!} so be sure to stop by!  Just click on her button to go to her blog!


I'll be having a giveaway of my own soon to celebrate 100 followers!  I'm almost there!

Daily 5 and CAFE

Okay, I have a question for you!  I've heard sooo many good great things about Daily 5 that I have to wonder about using it in my classroom.

     

So here's my question...my school uses the Scott Foresman Reading Street series.  Could I still do the daily 5 or parts of it with my basal?  Do you have a series and use the daily 5 with it? 

I've seen a few blogs that are having book studies on these two books this summer, and I'm really thinking about joining in.  I just want to make sure I can incorporate it into my reading class.  One of those blogs, We Read, We Blog, We Teach is brand new, and this is the first of many book studies they will have!  A few great blogs are giving away a copy of each book, so if you're planning to participate and don't have your books yet, go check out Lessons with Laughter, Corkboard Connections, and Adventures of a Sixth Grade Teacher!

 

Owl Things First and Fun in 1st Grade are having a giveaway too...a totally awesome 80's giveaway!  And I love it!  They're celebrating 80 followers!  I have just over 80 now, and it's exciting stuff!  Go over and enter on each of their blogs!  

So, back to my question...help me out...

is the daily 5 something I could do with our basal?