Daily 2.5

Sooooo,

I feel like this is more

where I'm at when it comes to the

implementing the Daily 5...ha!

In my defense...I read Cafe and The Daily

Five right before school started. I 

instantly LOVED them and wanted

that for my classroom, but I was a little hesitant.

Mainly because it would be different than what

I've done before and we use Open Court Reading.

I was/am unsure of how it can all

mix together.

I started the school year teaching Read to Self

first and then Read to Someone. Those

were not too different to implement since

I have always had a silent reading time.

It was great to take more time this year

teaching expectations for reading with a partner

since we do it a lot in my classroom.

I also {heart} teaching EXPECTATIONS

because I am kinda picky...at least that's

what I tell me students!

Anyways, my moment came about two weeks ago,

when I didn't have any doubts about whether

or not I was going to dive all the way in

with the Daily 5.

I was feeling frustrated with our reading program. 

There are some parts that I like.

But, it needs to be WAY more fun.

That day I was also reading the parent surveys 

I had just received back and one of the 

first questions was, "Does your child like to read?"

It broke my heart how many "NO's" there were and they

were often followed by, "because they are struggling and get

frustrated."

I knew at that moment that I had to try something

different this year, and if anything is going

to work with along our reading program

{that I have to teach with FIDELITY.

Does your school district use that word

as much as mine? Probably not!!!}, 

the structure of

the Daily 5 would possibly

be my only hope.

The Daily 5 sounds FUN.

My students need to have FUN reading and

they need to LOVE reading.

So that's where I'm at. :)

One thing my students are doing great at is

during Read to Someone. They are fabulous

at stopping to check for understanding.

I actually think they ENJOY doing it:)

I made these cards for them to use

to remember to stop at the end of

each page and check for understanding.

 Each pair of kiddos grabs one before 

they find a spot to sit.

They help the kids a lot because it prompts

them the sentence starter of, "I heard you read..."

in case they forget how to start!

Walking around the room and hearing them say those

words and then retell what they heard

is so rewarding as a teacher:)

If you'd like a copy of the Check for Understanding cards

click the download link below!

I need to introduce Listen to Reading, but we don't

have the supplies yet, so I think I'll just have to

move on to Writing and Working with Words.

I got the idea to use CD Walkmans if I can

get enough of them {maybe 4 or 5} donated.

Has anyone used these before?

I just thought the mobility of them would be

good for my classroom since I don't have

a space for an entire listening center.

I am excited that I'm going full force with this and

hoping to see some great results this year:)

I thought I'd write about this to see if there is

anyone else out there new to using the Daily 5 this year.

If you are, I'd LOVE for you to leave a comment and tell

me how its going for you!

Urban, Suburban, & Rural Areas....and a THANK YOU!

 Can I just say how much I appreciate

you all stopping by my little blog!!

I know a lot of you found your way here

from Cara's post last week.

She is sooooooooo sweet

and VERY generous to take the time

to introduce some of us newbie bloggers:)

This week has been all sorts of CRAZY!

Really, the last month has been out of control,

but in a good way:)

I can't wait to get a little free time

this week {hopefully} so I can 

follow all of my new readers' blogs, too!

 Here's a little something I did with my class this past

week to learn about the differences between

urban, suburban, and rural areas.

They had a blast making these posters

together. Everyone had a part and created 

something for each area.

Later, when we compared/contrasted the

different areas, these posters we SO

helpful to the kiddos and I could see

them studying them as I asked them

to tell me, "How is an urban area

different from a suburban area?"

Great visual cues!

I hope to post later this week about my Daily 5 progress.

Like I said before, I was kind of on the fence about

implementing Daily 5 this year.

Let me just tell ya, after completing beginning of the

year reading assessments...I'm becoming more

confident that this is the right thing to do:)

And, I'm having so much fun getting Daily 5

inspiration from fellow bloggers!

Have a great start to your week!

A Trading Game

I thought I'd share with you one of my FAVORITE

math games to have my students

play at the beginning of the year.

This game is very simple, but does

a whole lot to prepare them for regrouping or

"borrowing", which can be a huge

challenge for some kiddos.

I learned this game at a workshop a few years

ago and I've had my students play it ever since.

They absolutely LOVE it and

I LOVE it because it is sooooo meaningful.

I'm sure this game is not anything new and it may have different names that it 

goes by out in bloggy world.

The presenter I heard about it from called the

game "3 Town" or "5 Town" depending

on the way you decide to have your kiddos play.

Since the game is focusing on "trading",

you can tell the kids that this game is all

about a land where "3" is the number for 

everything.

You really play it up.

I use examples like, "Everyone is '3 Town' eats

3 meals a day, have 3 kids, 3 pets, 3 cars, 3 houses, etc.."

They think its quite fun and like to come up with their own

examples too!

Here are the supplies you will need:

Gameboards- When I moved to second a few years ago, I found a handful of these in a closet.
When I attended the workshop, I realized what they were. I had to make the rest which was not difficult at all. Just construction paper, ruler, glue, sharpie, and then laminated.

Colored poker chips- I bought a bag of 1000 from Teacher Direct a few years ago.
The colors are yellow, green, blue, red. You could use any colors as long as they
match the boards you use.

Dice

Chip holders- I really like using these chip/dip trays I found in Target's dollar spot to keep the chips organized.

Rules:

• I like to put 4 kids in a group so 1 will be the "banker" (in charge of the chips) and the other 3 will be playing and each need a gameboard. 
  

• The "banker" (I choose the banker for each group) is the only person allowed to touch the chip tray and take chips in and out.

•  1 player rolls the dice. They ask the banker for that many YELLOW chips.

• Since the game is "3 Town", every time a player gets 3 YELLOW chips they can trade in for the next color, so on my gameboards that is BLUE.

• If they can trade in their chips, they need to do it before the end of their turn, or before they pass the dice to the next player. 

Example: Player rolls a '5'. Player says to the banker, "Can I please have 5 YELLOW chips?"

(We practice our please and thank you's a lot during this game!)

The "banker" then gives them 5 YELLOW and the player puts them on their gameboard in the YELLOW column.

The player will then take 3 of the newly acquired chips and ask the banker, "Can I please trade these 3 YELLOW in for 1 BLUE?"

The "banker" takes the chips and gives the player 1 BLUE, who then places it on their gameboard.

If the player decides they can not trade in anything else, they pass the dice on to the next player.

• Every time they roll they get YELLOW chips. That is always the "starting point" on their gamboard and they have to trade in to get the next color.  Some will forget and think they should get BLUE chips on their 2nd turn, but usually other players will remind them:)

• When a player gets 3 BLUE, they can trade in for 1 GREEN.

• If they get 3 GREEN, they can trade in for 1 RED. The first player to get 1 RED chip is the winner!

I told you it was simple:)

But, seriously, the kids get addicted to this game.

So, the 2nd or 3rd time we play, I'll switch it up and we will play

"5 Town" and so then they must get 5 YELLOW chips to be able

to trade for 1 BLUE, etc...

TIPS:

• Model, model, model. The first day I introduce the game, students are watching me play and I usually have 1 or 2 other kids "play" with me as we go through an entire game for everyone to watch.
• I am picky about the "banker" handing the chips to the player. Sometimes, they want to just put it on the player's board for them. We talk about how each player needs to be in charge of their board and its their job to PAY ATTENTION and realize when they can make a trade! Some kiddos like to run everyone's board so we talk about this a lot.
• During a player's turn, they can make as many trades as they need too, but they only roll 1 time each turn. If they pass the dice and the next player starts to roll, they can't make a trade until their next turn.
• If a group finishes, they can start over and the winner will become then new "banker".

When we start regrouping in early October,

its great to be able to use phrases like "Now we're going to trade in 10 ones for 1 ten"

with the kids and they know exactly what that means

because they've been playing the trading game!

Where it all goes down Wednesday...

I realize I'm posting this SUPER late.

At least on Monday's post I only said that I would TRY

to post every day this week:)

That's what happens when you find out you 

have a torn retina and have a lazer

procedure to hopefully fix it,

{fingers crossed!}

and then my sweet two-year old

got sick last night. :(

So I've had a sub two days this week and life

has been a little crazy so please forgive

me being tardy to the Blog Hoppin' party!

{don't judge the Real Housewives song reference}

Ok, anyways, here are a few pics of my classroom this year.

These are the before pics.

You may remember from my previous post that I

had to switch classrooms this year.

Lots of fun.

Ok, not really, but a loads of WORK.

Like, 40 boxes of work!

My room is definitely not finished, even

it being the second full week of school but it

will eventually get done.

At least that's what I keep telling myself:)

 

Bucket filler board

Math wall

Concept/Question board for Open Court Reading

LOVE these for my clock I found from someone's generous

blog. I've been seeing them pop up in several other

bloggy teachers' rooms, too!

 Word wall

 My super MESSY desk:)

 Calender area

 Our new school slogan and expectations for PBIS

this year.

 Class libarary...and awesome new pencil sharpeners

that are literally saving my life!

 Book boxes from Target:)

Hoping to implement some/all parts of CAFE

and Daily 5.

Don't feel like I'm doing a very good job

of that so far!

 Supply cubbies. 

I saw somewhere in Pinterest

Land how a teacher used chalkboard vinyl, cut with

a Cricut or other cutting machine,

for labeling bins! Brilliant idea!

That is what I did for my book bins above, too.

I bought a chalkboard marker and it stays on

great so the kids can't just wipe it off.

But, it will come off easily with a damp paper towel

to change something quick and easy.

 Our safety stars courtesy of Officer Buckle and Gloria!!!

And that's all the pictures I have right now. 

Please excuse the poor quality, all I had was my phone.

 

Thanks for checking out my room and I can't wait

to head over to Blog Hoppin' to get

some inspiration!

Advice for Newbies!

Today over at Blog Hoppin',

we are all giving some advice to 

new teachers.

I think one of the HARDEST

things to do as a teacher is find

balance between school and home.

Because, let's face it, a teacher's

to do list is never done!

Before I had my daughter, I could

stay late most days if I wanted

or needed too, but then that all

changed when she was born!

There are still days when I need

to stay past 3:30, 

{like every day the first week of school!}

but I try to not let it become too frequent

because school is not the only thing going 

on in my life!

I figure since the things I want to get done

or accomplish in my classroom will

never get completely finished, I need to 

accept that and be OK with it!

I will never get every Pinterest DIY project for

my classroom done, so why beat

myself up about it?!?

Overall, finding balance has been pretty easy

for me. But, I know some struggle with it 

more than others.

So, if you are a new teacher, don't worry

about making everything perfect!

It's important to do a good job but

don't feel guilty if you leave school

to go enjoy a beautiful afternoon!

Meet the Teacher!

I'm going to try and participate in this year's

Teacher Week over at Blog Hoppin' every day

this week so here goes day one...introduce yourself!

I'm Leanne from Kansas and this is my 6th year of

teaching! I currently teach 2nd grade and LOVE it.

I've also taught 3rd and 4th grade.

I just had to pack up and move my classroom

a few doors down...so I feel like I'm way behind

this year! However, the first week of school

went pretty well considering all the extra stuff

there was to get done.

Here is a pic of my little family....me, the hubs, and sweet Lainey:)

When I'm not teaching, I love to spend time with my family

just relaxing and enjoying life! We love to go to the lake for boat rides, 

camping trips,and watching KU sporting events.

I'm fairly new to the teaching blog world and enjoying

every minute of it! I've gotten SO much

inspiration from fellow bloggers that I wanted to start

my own to share my ideas.

I've been blogging for a while over at my personal

blog, made by lee, where I write about my fam

and also my little crafty business.

I can't wait to meet a bunch of new

teachers this week through Teacher Week!

a couple of questions!

Like many of my fellow blogging teachers,

I read two AMAZING books

this summer.

Actually, I just finished the second one last night!

I can't even tell you how many lightbulbs

went on for me as I devoured every word.

Maybe I'm slow to discover these little gems

but its better late than never...

So, my question is how do I use what I've

learned from these books and incorporate

into a basal reading program???

One way I think I can defintely incoporate some of this

would be the "Read to Self" component into what I used

to call DEAR {Drop Everything And Read} time.

I was frustrated with DEAR last year because I wanted

my students to be held more accountable for what

they were reading during free reading time.

I had several students who would pick the SAME book

everyday from the classroom library and stare at it

the. entire. time.

Even though we had the rule that once you picked a book 

and a spot around the room to read,

you did NOT get up because this time was only

for silent reading, I still had the 

kiddos that would get up and start walking towards me.

I'd see them out of the corner of my eye

and just wave them to go back and sit down.

The same kids every day.

I'm mean, I know;)

I'm also planning to incorporate picking "just right"

books and hopefully having a book box

for each student.

I know that once the year starts and I'm

using our reading program {Open Court}

I may realize I can incorporate more

of Daily 5/CAFE,

but I'd appreciate any tips you have before 

the year starts!

Another random question I had was about hanging chart paper.

I don't have one of those fancy, schmancy primary easels...so

where should I hang my paper? 

Use hooks on the whiteboard?

Seems like a hassle to take the tablet off the clips, turn over

to a new page, and hang back up, doesn't it?!?!

Maybe not...but I need some IDEAS please!