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:)

All good classes must come to an end!

Today was the last day of my first class on my journey through the Instructional Technology program. The entire week was filled with great people and tons of great new technologies. Our final project included incorporating all the different technologies we have learned throughout the week. These technologies included Glogster, Google sites, Google doc, Jing, iMovie, Skype, Garage Band, and so much more. My team used lots of these technologies to create a lesson for second graders about community jobs. We focused on having the students make a Glogster. If you haven't heard or used Glogster it is definitely worth checking out!! I had never used Glogster until we started our final project, but it is definitely something I will be using in my classroom next year. For our small unit on community jobs we had the students use different types of medias to learn more about the different kinds of jobs in a community using an RWLD. Then the students picked the job they wanted to have when they got older. With the job they chose they would create a Glogster with 4 different facts, 2 pictures, and an optional video. If you would like to see the lesson in more detail please check out the website we used! Even if you can't use our community lesson I would recommend you find a different way to use a Glogster in your classroom.

Resources for using Glogster:

Here is a video on how to use Glogster Edu- http://i41.tinypic.com/2drv3ao.jpg
Here is an article about using Glogster in education: Glogster Launches Education Development Program
Here are some written directions on how to use Glogster- http://www.ehow.com/how_5941261_create-poster-glogster.html

Mac = Frustrating

I was never a Macintosh user growing up. When I got my first teaching job I had to learn how to use a Mac because that was the only type of computer in the entire school. It was frustrating to learn how to operate a new computer system. When I moved to a new school I was back in my comfort zone, a Mac free zone that is! I know some people love their Mac's, and they do have some good qualities, but they aren't for me. Today we had to create a video using iMovies and the process was exhausting and I found myself frustrated with a Mac all over again. Not only were were working with a new program, but also a system we weren't familiar with. Fortunately I remembered a few things from using the Mac last year. It's crazy how two pieces of technology that do essentially the same thing can be so different. Look at this site to see which is best for you. It comes down to your needs and which type of computer meets that need. For those of us in this class that aren't Mac users, well we will just have to get tough and suck it up! Here are a list of sites to help us get through iMovie.

This site gives you a basic visual of how to get started with iMovie:
http://www.cmu.edu/computing/doc/contributed/imovie/index.html

At this site you will find a more detailed description of how to use iMovie, add pictures/videos, and edit your work:
http://mvtv.org/imovie.pdf

Here is a video you can watch on how to get started with iMovie 9:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjrS9iX_txU

Picture courtesy of http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4528239534_c3b20f96ef.jpg

Top Secret!!!

I love taking field trips in school and our field trip was very cool today! We had the chance to go out to the Cedar Falls Industrial Park and take a look around a very top secret place. What makes this place so top secret you ask????? It is full of servers from several companies whether that company is important or not. Some of the servers were main servers for a compnay and some were just back-ups for a company. Another cool part about where the servers are kept is that if there as a fire that fire could be put out in a matter of seconds by a chemical that sucks out the air. As we toured the building it was amazing to see how many fans they need, the number of generators ready to start if there is a problem, and the amount of electricity they use to keep everything running. I believe our tour guide told us that they use 30% of Cedar Falls electricity! This would be a great building to think about using solar energy. What a great day!

Picture from http://mpalternativeenergy.com/images/windmills.jpg