Summer Reading

About 3 1/2 years ago, my best friend called me up and said "Jess, you have to see if your principal will let you come to my school and see this!"  We had worked together for a couple of years in first grade. We taught side-by-side and loved to plan, work and teach together.  We have been friends since we were about 2 years old. So, pretty much, we could finish each others sentences. Unfortunately, our school was closed down, due to budget cuts. We were sent to two different schools, but that didn't stop us from talking shop. She went on to tell me about The Daily 5 by The 2 Sisters-Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  Long story short, I went to my principal, and he not only said yes, but said take it as a professional development day and get a sub.  Woohoo! was what I was thinking, but out loud I only said--Thank you.

So I went up to her school, and got to travel to many 1st and 2nd grade rooms, where Daily 5 was alive and kicking.  I was hooked!  I drank the "kool-ade"  I couldn't get enough of it.  I went on to Amazon.com that night, and ordered The Daily Five and The Cafe Book.  

I don't know about you by, when I read a good book, I can't put it down.  I stayed up late into the night when Twilight first came out and didn't think a teaching book would be the same. Well I was wrong.  I felt like Gail and Joan were my friends, colleagues or buddies for years.  Having been in the classroom about 13 years at the time, I pretty much have my own style or ways of doing things.  But after reading their book, my only thought was, "I wish I had this when I first began teaching". I told my Principal and A.P all about my experience.  My Principal, being a wonderful person, said "OK, I'm going to order the books, and you are going to do a Learning Community--see who wants to join."  [paraphrased]  Well, basically about 20 teachers, from K-2 all got involved.  It was wonderful and great and fun. We read the book, chatted and got to see how other people incorporated Daily 5 into their Classrooms.  

If you have not read The Daily 5 and are expected to have Differentiated Reading Groups/Instruction, you need to read this book. It is one of the best "Teaching" books I've read, because it gives explicit reasons, and training for you and your students.
They also have a great web-site with free ideas and if you want, you can also pay to become a member. http://www.thedailycafe.com/
If you do get a chance to read it this summer, please come back and let me know what you think!

Here is how my CAFE board starts in the beginning of the year--Blank, waiting for Reading strategies to be added.

Here is a freebie of the Daily 5 Signs I use in my classroom as well--to anchor students to each Daily 5.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1QNV2NyRAucR0didk9samstd0U/edit?usp=sharing


More recently, the Two Sisters, have written a 2nd edition, where they have enhanced, adapted and/ or changed the structure as they have seen the ebb and flow in their classrooms.
If you are interested in Reading the Daily 5 or some other professional materials this summer to get you ready next year, check out the carousel below.



 

Daily 5 - Work on Writing

Heyo! It's Andrew from Mr. First Grade! I wasn't able to post last month, as my life was becoming overrun by Sweeney Todd rehearsals! We've done 8 performances so far, and we've got one more today and one more tomorrow afternoon. It's definitely going to be very bittersweet when it's all over... I'll have some semblance of a life back, but I'm going to miss the show dearly! Anyways, I wanted to take a second to share a little more about my journey into the land of the Daily 5!

I read the Daily 5 book over the summer and knew that it sounded like something that would work for me. I am fortunate enough to still have an aide in my classroom for all of language arts, who runs her own reading group, which mostly focuses on phonics and writing skills. (I know, right?! Don't hate me).

I generally followed the routine outlined in the back of the book in terms of pacing, and it worked very well for me! When it came to work on writing, I knew that I wanted to have something more than just journaling available for my firsties. I slowly introduced various activities they can do during this time. I use Lori Rosenberg's I Can Write A...Writing Menu, which I highly recommend if you're setting up a writing center! It's filled with gazillions of options for your kiddos to write. At first, I only introduced: letter, postcard, how-to, list, sticker story, and scribble story, which is a huge hit. However... If I read one more scribble story where they turn the scribble into a roller coaster or a mountain, I'll scream. As the year went on, I gradually introduced new options for them to choose, and phase out ones that have been out for a while.

Anywho, here's what my Work on Writing station has shaped up to be. I got the cart from Big Lots on sale for $25 well spent. Basically, I made a drawer for each option they can choose. They know they can choose ONE of these during each Work On Writing, then they must journal. Some choose to only journal, which makes my heart smile.

I decided that the top drawer was going to be their spot to turn in finished writing. There's also a mailbox (which I forgot to take a picture of) that they can mail letters and postcards to friends in the room. In order to turn in work, the students must highlight their name on their paper, mostly because some of the worksheets don't have spaces for names, so they always forget to squeeze it in.

Here's a peek at my writing focus board. Sorry for the terrible not-so-great quality... My iPhone 5 went swimming last summer and I've been surviving on an old iPhone 4 from ebay that has a terrible not-as-great camera. The posters about what they can write all came in the writing menu pack. I also plopped up a few of my "I Can" Statements for things we're focusing on in writer's workshop.

I also put our anchor chart that we created about things to write about. The pencil about what do writers write came from The Teacher Wife.

Do you Daily 5? How has it worked for you? I'd be anxious to see how others have it up and running... I hope to bring you posts about how I run the other stations in my room in the next few months!