Book Bags

Since I started Daily 5 after the school year started I wasn't able to get individual book boxes. We have to have our orders in by the end of the previous school year if we want anything. All I had was 14 cardboard book boxes, which was not enough for all my students. My original plan was to have them share a book box with another student that was similar to their reading level. After seeing how Daily 5 works and the importance of choosing a spot away from other kids I knew sharing a book box would not work. One of my classmates mentioned that her school used storage bags their first year. You can get three storage bags for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree. They only had large and extra-large bags so I decided to get the large ones. These bags have been working perfectly! The kids are only supposed to have 3-5 books in their and can change their books out at the beginning of the day. We keep the bags in the boxes I had already planned to use so they can find their bag easily. Of course the bags are not a perfect fit and it looks a bit messy, but so far it is working out perfectly!

TIM Model Lessons

I've been using this blog a lot for classes lately and so the trend will continue. For the past couple of weeks I've been working on writing five lessons where technology is integrated into my classroom. I will admit some of the lessons appear to be a bit weak on the technology side. After writing my lessons and reviewing how the technology was being used I placed each lesson into a cell on the Technology Integration Matrix. It is a really neat interactive matrix that allows you to focus on where your lessons are at currently and what you would need to take them to the next level. I've taken three of my lessons to the next level for this assignment. All five lessons are located on a Google Doc that I created. I hope you enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Our Expectations

When I read in the book that you meet before and after each Daily 4 session I thought that all these meetings would be redundant and the kids would get bored with them. So far I haven't seen any signs of boredom. In face the kids love to come back together after Daily 4 and fill in our graph, even if only one kid gets to do it. I think reviewing the expectations is good for them. We made a T chart of what is expected of them as well as the teacher. I have this hung on our bulletin board so that I refer to them at any time and the kids can see them if they need a reminder. Here is what we put on our T chart.

Student Responsibilities
Read you book
Read quietly
Be respectful
Pick a spot that lets us do our best
Pick the right book
Sound out words we don't know
Use context clues to help you with words

Teacher Responsibilities
Work with students

Where are the resources?

When I started looking for resources regarding the Daily 5 I didn't realize that it would be limited. So far the book written by "the sisters" has been a great resource. I've also been able to go visit another classroom using Daily 5. Being able to see how another teacher uses Daily 5 in a classroom like mine allowed me to see what would work and not work. I also found a website that a different teacher put together about her experience with Daily 5. Even though I've been searching for some articles, I really appreciate the information I've seen or read from other teachers. When you are trying to implement a new method sometimes it's better to get information from teachers who have experience with it.

Picture taken from http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2532/4145419287_43c4280126_t.jpg

Daily 4 Bulletin Board

I wasn't quite sure what to put on my Daily 4 bulletin board at first. I tried to focus on the the important aspects of Daily 5. I was able to visit three classrooms from another school in our district so I feel as thought that also helped direct my focus. As I observed three other second grade teachers I noticed that each one did it a little bit differently. I saw that one teacher had split up the reading block that allowed for three teaching moments and two work sessions. The students participated in a different Daily 5 for each of the work sessions. I liked that idea so that's what I'm trying this year in my classroom. From 9:40-10:05 I am teaching then the kids participate in their first work time and once they finish the work they assume the role of read to self. Then I teach again for 15 minutes and after that they have another work time and participate in Daily 4 once again. Since my role is working with students I'm using the bulletin board to help facilitate their learning so that they can be successful. I made a wheel of the different Daily 4 activities so that they know which one they will complete at that moment. I also have our chart that we created of what is expected of them as well as myself as the teacher. The last thing on our bulletin board is a graph showing our stamina of how long we are able to read to self correctly. Hopefully this bulletin board will be a resource to them throughout the year.

A variation to Daily 5

After looking at the different components to the Daily 5 I've decided to revise the Daily 5 into the Daily 4! The original five components are read to self, read to someone, word work, work on writing, and listening to reading. For this year I've decided to drop the listening to reading. Until I can figure out a way for all students to be able to listen to reading at the same time I will just start with the first four. My bulletin board is up and ready to go. We will be starting with read to self!

Inquiry Project

Fellow bloggers I am back! Starting tonight I will be using my blog to record my journey with the Daily 5. For one of my graduate classes our final assignment is an inquiry project. I've been thinking about ways to make the "free time" during reading more meaningful. After reading the Daily 5 book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser "the sisters" I'm deciding to see how it works in my second grade classroom. This blog will be used to share my thoughts about the journey. If you have any ideas as to what I can try feel free to comment. I will take any suggestions you may have! Thanks for continuing to follow me and I hope you enjoy my Daily 5 adventure:)