The moans finally came...

Being a Daily 5 devotee I am always reading online about other teachers experiences. Many times I have come across those stories that I am so jealous and envious of. These are the stories of children asking for more Daily 5 time or making comments about how sad they are when the Daily 5 session comes to an end. Well, I haven't had this experience and was starting to wonder, do my kids really love Daily 5? Am I doing something wrong here?  Don't we all need a little reassurance here and there??? Or is it just me??? 

Well today it finally happened! Due to scheduling changes we weren't going to have time for all 3 rounds of Daily 5. In reality only one round was going to take place. So I told the class this and I hear, "Oh no!". I ask the young boy what was wrong and he said, "I love daily 5 and I don't want to not have it today!" I was so happy to hear this!!!!!!!!! I knew this was the case for many, if not all my kids, but hearing this out loud was music to my ears! 

Another great story is when I had a parent teacher conference and the child attended. When the conference was coming to a close, the young boy said, "Wait dad, before we leave can I show you Daily 5?" He then preceded to go over to the CAFE board, explain the strategies, and do the modeling for Read to Self. It was so adorable! 

With the school coming to its half way mark, as I said in my last post it is time to reflect. This year has been nothing short of amazing. I am loving everyday of teaching (this doesn't mean there aren't days I want to crawl back into bed) and so impressed with my students. Both Daily Math and Daily 5 have made a tremendous difference in my teaching. I can truly say with certainty that I am meeting each child's individual needs.  I am conferencing more than I ever have in the past and the children are being encouraged to make good educational choices for themselves. I am anticipating a successful second half of the school year and know I will continue to enjoy watching my students grow as students. 

Those were the days...

During this time of the year, the stress always manages to build up. No matter how hard we try to take things one step at a time, there is just SO much to do. Just as we have thoughts of our to-do lists all day long, we are competing with our children’s thoughts of Santa Clause, Harry Hanukah and all of the presents that will soon be opened. How do we compete with this and win?

Daily Five and CAFÉ are great ways to keep things moving in the classroom and engage our students in learning. In CAFÉ 48 we’ve been spending time reminding our students about the correct Daily Five behaviors and how to stay on track, while there mind may be somewhere else… inner voice anyone? (Hmmm…. presents… new videos games, etc. and my teacher really wants me to sit hear and write a story!). I think I just thought of a great mini-lesson for next week!

I have to be honest, just like the student’s, I have gotten in to my own routine and allowed both Daily Five and CAFÉ to become somewhat robotic. I know I need to motivate myself and enhance my mini-lessons in order to keep the children engaged. But how…?????

Well first, as I said I’ve gone back to the beginning. We’ve started modeling our behaviors and remembering back to when Daily Five was the best time of our day. The days in September when my students would sit down on the carpet, before me having to tell them to do so and their eagerness to learn was contagious. The days when all I could talk about was Daily Five, CAFÉ, and the amazing results I was seeing in my classrooms.

Ah, those were the days… and I need them back!!!!!!!

In the upcoming weeks leading up to the holiday break, I will reflect on the past few months. Here are a few of my reflection questions. Join me and reflect on your own experience….

What worked and what didn’t?
What have the kids learned and what still needs to be learned?
How can I keep the excitement going?
Should I change the “A” for Accuracy to Awareness of genres? (A suggestion from a PT user).
Where do literature circles fit into daily five?
Keeping choice while also meeting the demands of independent work.
Re-visiting and creating mini-lessons for good-fit books.
Creating new reading goals

Happy holidays!!!!

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…

I am a walking advertisement for Daily Five and CAFÉ. Whenever I speak with other teachers the conversation always lends itself to talking about Daily Five and/or CAFÉ. Sadly for the others it is usually because they mention that they don’t have enough time in there day to fit everything in. Well, anyone who is doing Daily Five knows that comment is an invitation for advertisement. Not only do I fit everything in, my teaching is also purposeful and tapping into the needs of every student in my classroom.

In the last two weeks we have had four visitors in Café 48 who came in to observe the Daily Five. Each visitor left extremely impressed and all I could say was read the book and you too will be able to experience the success we are having in our classroom. That’s it! No hidden secrets. It is attainable for any and all teachers and classrooms.

Now that my gloating is done I’ll get into the nitty gritty of my past two weeks...

As I mentioned in my last blog my focus for the past 2 weeks was “context clues” and “getting to know your characters”. For context clues we learned two strategies, 1) read the words before and after the new word, 2) use your prior knowledge to help with the meaning of the word. A great book for context clues is The Boy Who Loved Words. This book is perfect for talking about interesting words. In addition to this book I also made copies of 3 short articles regarding the USA. We are currently learning about the USA and it was a perfect way to combine reading and Social Studies. Each child was given 3 short articles with new vocabulary words underlined. After reading the articles together (1 in each mini-lesson round), I then made a 2-column context clue chart. The first column was labeled New Word and the second column was titled Context Clue. The students loved pretending to be detectives!

Along with Context Clues we have been “getting to know Edward Tulane”. This is by far the most PERFECT book for teaching character traits and character development. During Edward Tulane’s Miraculous Journey he is owned by many different owners, each of whom give him a different name and circumstances lead him to develop new emotions in each chapter. The possibilities for lessons to teach with this book are endless. So far we have learned about character traits, character development, interesting words, and next week we will be discussing cause and effect. We will analyze the different experiences that he has and the effects they have on him. While reading the book we created a flow chart. Each time Edward Tulane became a new character or gained a new emotion we charted it. When we finish the book we will use this chart to help us analyze the experiences Edward Tulane had and how they affected him.

I seriously don’t want this book to end and either do my kids! Today when we were talking about the book my student teacher said she was so excited to read the next chapter to find out what happens next. One kid chimed in and said, “I don’t want to read the next chapter because that means we will be closer to the end and I don’t want the book to ever end!” I am racking my brain trying to think of the next read aloud. It is SO hard! A challenge lies ahead of me trying to find a comparable book to Edward Tulane and The Secret Garden. Any suggestions?????

Next weeks goals are to chart one or two strategies on the CAFÉ board. I was doing so well with this in the beginning and then lately I’ve noticed that I have not kept up with adding new strategies. I think the reason for this is that we are spending more time on one strategy. This being said I still think it is important to add a new strategy once a week in order to keep things fresh.

Daily Math is moving along. We still have only introduced Math with Someone (Games) and Math with the Teacher. The past two days we managed to get through three rounds. The kids are doing well but I need to slow down a bit and take the time to model the correct and incorrect behaviors. We need to work on whisper voices (very hard when kids are playing games! The excitement gets the best of them :-))

Have a great weekend!

Words of Advice:

Read the book Edward Tulane (you must have seen this one coming!). It is truly an unbelievable read aloud!!!

Responding to our Reading and Much more...

Our week was very successful! The kids are enjoying Daily Math. I have to say that it was extremely easy to introduce the routines because they understand what is expected of them right away! The I-Charts were done very quickly and the kids used the same language from the previous I - Charts we created. While creating the Math with Someone I - Chart our math teacher was in the classroom and needless to say, he was very impressed. After modeling and talking about the I-Chart, each day one game was introduced and the kids played for two rounds. The math lessons and the lesson activity book are still being done in a whole class setting. This will change as the kids learn more of the Daily Math choices. As for “Math with Someone” here is a quick overview of the games introduced:

Fact Fluency: Before playing the games students should decide if they will be playing using addition, subtraction, or multiplication. This game is played very similarly to the card game war. The deck is spilt amongst two players (or however many players are playing). Each player has their cards facing down and at the same time they flip over two cards from their piles. Both players figure out the sum, difference, or product of the two cards. Whoever has the highest number takes both sets of cards. This continues until one player has no more cards in their hands. The player in the end who has the most cards wins the game. However, I always tell my kids that they are all winners by learning their math facts J Note: My students take out the kings. Jokers remain and are used as a zero, Jacks are 11 and Queens are 12.

Go Fish: This game is played just like the original Go Fish game. Only a few things have been changed. Each player receives 9 cards and the object of the game is to get pairs that equal the sum of 10. When it is a players’ turn they ask the other player if they have…. If the other player has the card they must give it to them and then pick one card from the pile in the middle. If the player does not have the card that was asked for, they say “Go Fish”. “Go Fish”, means to take a card from the middle pile. The first player to have all sums of ten in their hand, wins the game. Note: Jacks, queens, and kings are taken out. Jokers can be used as zeros again.

Sums of Ten: Sums of Ten is our version of the memory game. 20 cards are laid out on the floor, face down, in 5 rows and 4 columns. The object of the game is to flip over two cards that equal a sum of ten. If the cards equal a sum of ten the player takes the match, if not the cards are flipped back over and it is the other players turn. When all cards are taken, both players count their pairs. The player with the most sums of ten, wins the game. Note: Jacks, Queens, and Kings are taken out.

 

Bingo: We have a multiplication bingo game. Enough said, haha!

 

Guess my Number: 3 players are needed for this game. The deck is faced down in the middle of two players. Both players pick one card and hold the card facing out against their forehead. The third player says the sum, difference, or product of the two numbers (this should be determined beforehand). After knowing the sum, product or difference and the other player’s card, each player guesses what they think their card is. For example if the product is 22 and Player A sees that Player B has 11 on their forehead, they should guess 2. Whoever correctly guesses their card first, gets both cards. The player with the most cards in the end wins the game.

 

For this next week we will continue to practice playing the games during two rounds. However, I will start taking groups this week. So the kids will Meet with the Teacher during one round, and play games for the other two rounds. I can’t wait to see how it works out!!!!!

Daily Five and CAFÉ….

We are moving along very well in both Daily Five and CAFÉ. Our strategy for this past week continued to be “listening to your inner voice” and “leave tracks of your thinking”. The students were asked this week to write letters to me. The first paragraph needed to be a summary, second paragraph was important information about the story, and the third paragraph was their thinking. I got a wide variety of letters! Some blew me away with how wonderful they were, while others need some work. The letters gave me great information though. I was able to see many different strategy needs and strengths. I plan to utilize these letters during my conferences. For example a few kids showed me in their letter that they have great difficulty with writing summaries (they told me every detail), while other students may have made connections but not connections that further enhanced their comprehension of the story. Also, I had many kids who transferred their thinking on the Post-Its straight to their letter. I used these letters as great models during my mini-lessons. I plan on having the kids write one type of response every week. As I said I get great insight into their reading and thinking. Responding to reading is a wonderful assessment tool.

I decided not to abandon the “Flat Stanley” book. After writing my blog last Sunday night I went into school the next day and told my kids I was thinking about abandoning the “Flat Stanley” book. Some kids asked why, while others said they thought I should. I explained to the kids that I wasn’t enjoying the book because it didn’t match up to the Secret Garden. I explained that this happens a lot in my personal reading life. Many times I will read a fabulous intense book that it is so hard to find a book to read right after. Or at times I will read an intense book (Jodi Piccoult) and then want an easy read afterwards. I wish I could have taken a picture of them looking at me during this conversation, their faces were so serious! They loved hearing about myself as a reader. After sharing these experiences with them I said that I felt if I abandoned the book, I might miss out on a great read. I also told them that sometimes they might have to read books (Guided Reading) that they are not thrilled with but need to stick with them, so it wouldn’t be a good example if I abandoned “Flat Stanley”. By the end of the week we finished the book and had some great discussions. Was it my all time favorite read aloud, definitely not, but every book has something to offer and this was a great lesson for my kids on sticking with books. Next up Edward Tulane.

My goal and strategy for this week will be Expanding Vocabulary and what to do with all of those interesting words we are finding. I will be discussing and teaching a lot about context clues. Edward Tulane is a perfect book for this. It is a book that has a plethora of vocabulary words that we can use to really get to know the characters. I want my kids paying attention to the new vocabulary, using context clues, and also utilizing the words in their daily language. While reading “The Promise World” I took note of new and interesting words. After finishing the book I had a list of six new words. While looking over the list after closing the book, I was not able to define these words, although I understood them while reading the book because I used the context clues. I hope to teach my children many different context clues strategies this week, all of which I will put under the Expanding Vocabulary section.

 

Along with Expanding our Vocabulary, another goal will be comprehension, with the strategy being “Get to know the Characters”. The students will learn how to relate to the characters and get inside of their heads. Again, I will be using Edward Tulane. We will discuss our connections to the story and how they enhance our comprehension. We will also watch the growth of Edward Tulane and the other characters in the books. I love the book, “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” and I can’t wait to incorporate it into my CAFÉ strategy lessons this week!

 

Both professional development books I mentioned in my last blog are very good. These books are “Still Learning to Read” and “Notebook Connections”. I am enjoying the practical lessons and information presented in both books and I look forward to implementing it into my classroom. More to come on my use of these books in future blogs…

 

This past weekend was the Teacher’s College Reunion. I feel a little guilty that I didn’t go, but my reasoning was good. Quite honestly, I felt if I went my brain might have gone into overload!!!!!! As you know, I am in the process of introducing many new things into my classroom (Daily Five, CAFÉ, Words their Way, a new ELA curriculum, and now Daily Math), along with read a ton of Professional Development books. At times I feel that I need to give myself the space and time to grow on my own. Use one or two resources and then blossom in those, with my own tweaks in the process. Every time I open a new book or attend another conference, I am like a kid in a candy store. I want everything introduced into my classroom and I want it all now! Obviously this is not practical, so in thinking about going to the TC reunion I felt I needed to take a step back and continue with what I am currently doing, right now, in my classroom.

Words of Advice:

Try tuning into your inner voice while reading. It is truly eye opening when you try to do the strategies that you ask of the kids. During the last few weeks I have been tuning into my inner voice, making mental images and keeping track of interesting words. I plan to use a Reader’s Notebook to track my thinking and share it with my students. I’ve been sharing my thinking, but I think it will be more meaningful if they see it written down, in a notebook or on post-its. It is also very helpful for me to see which strategies I use as a reader and which strategies I almost need to force upon myself.

 

Have a great week! 

Daily Math

Tomorrow we are starting Daily Math! I know, I'm crazy!!!!! Why am I putting another thing on my plate????As if Words their Way, CAFE and Daily Five weren't enough!  The reason why I decided to try this is because my kids are the most on task during the Daily Five time and it is the least stressful time of the day for me. SO... I think it may help to do so in math. I will use the PACE menu (posted on Pro Teacher). We will do three rounds and 3 mini-lessons just like Daily Five. I have 4 math groups and also a math teacher who pulls kids out. So I will meet with each group one round, every day. The other two rounds they will choose from Math with Someone (card games my student teacher and I made up to practice facts), Write Math (I want the kids to write story problem books) and Math Challenge (problem solving). They will choose Math with the Teacher (this is where they will do the Lesson Activity Book), and then two other choices. I can't wait to try it out! 

On Friday we did one round of Math with Someone. I wanted my kids to play a math game together and figured rather then having them practice wrong, we should make an I-Chart. I was so impressed with my kids, everything they learned in Daily Five was transferred to this one round of Math with Someone. It was so easy and they quickly understood my expectations. I'll blog more about this next week when we have more rounds. 

Daily Five is going well in my Cafe 48. At times I have to remind my students of the correct behavior and we will do a quick modeling. I am continuing to read a chapter book during the transitions, I feel this allows for me to begin my mini-lesson right way, before all kids are at the carpet. The kids are also anxious to hear the chapter book. We finished the Secret Garden. The kids and I were so sad that it was over. It will definitely be a book I will revisit throughout the year and refer back to. There was so much depth to it. Right now I am reading Flat Stanley but I think I may abandon it tomorrow. It isn't working for me after the Secret Garden. Although, it is short so maybe I should stick with it and then read Edward Tulane. I can't wait to read that book! So good! 

My kids are all reading The Diary of the Wimpy Kid. I think this will be the next book on my personal reading list. Seriously, I don't get these books! It is so difficult to have a conference when the kids are reading this book! AHHHHH! Maybe if I read them myself I will get it. Unfortunately, many of the kids who are reading it, I know the book is not Good-Fit. So then we have the "dreaded talk". Not to mention that the kids who are reading it probably don't have many connections or schema for the book because it is about a middle school kid (I think?). I won't say anymore until I have given it a chance myself, otherwise I am being unfair. 

This week I hope to have my students writing some sort of response to me other than post-its. They are doing so well with leaving tracks of their thinking, but now what? I want them to take these post-its and look further into them. Other wise I find my kids write on post-its, only to throw them out when they finish the book or after our conference. Doing this takes away from the value of the post-its and their thinking. I hope to have the kids glue there post-its in their Reader's Notebook in order to see the growth or their thinking. Currently I am reading the Professional Development book Notebook Connections. I hope to get some good ideas from this book. After reading this book the PD book Still Learning to Read was recommended to me. I ordered it on Amazon and I'm looking forward to it arriving in the mail. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week! I'm looking forward to blogging next weekend with updates on Daily Five, Cafe, and now Daily Math! 

Words of Advice:

Book Recommendation: The Promised World by Lisa Tucker 

Get a good night sleep on Sunday nights :-) I'm off to bed! 

A great week in review...

Daily Five and CAFÉ are keeping me up at night! The excitement I have over these two programs is ridiculous! Last night I was up at 4:00 in the morning thinking about how I can encourage my students to pick “Read to Someone” more often (I will talk more about this later). Instead of blogging I went downstairs to watch Grays Anatomy. Something about blogging at 4:00 in the morning just wasn’t sitting well with me, so I resisted the urge and instead turned to TV. It worked but then at 10 in the morning I woke and said to myself, “I just need to blog!”. So here it is Ladies and Gentlemen….

So much has happened in my classroom this week. First I would like to start off with the kids comments and stories about their learning. I visit “The Daily Café” and Pro-teacher often. I always come across kid stories that I can’t believe are true. I tend to read these stories about things that kids are saying and my response is first “Really?????” and then why don’t I hear these comments. This week I did! Not just one, but a few. While reading this keep in mind that I am sharing these stories with you so you can see the success of Daily Five and CAFÉ. Oh and if you have a cute story please share in the comments…. 

Story #1:

Student A is a struggling reader, whom the reading teacher and I work with on a daily basis to help. Earlier in the week it was math time and when I looked over at him he was reading the book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, instead of doing his math work. This was not the first time I had to ask him to put away a book because it was not reading time. While looking at him two things crossed my mind, 1. He shouldn’t be reading during math time and he knows this and 2. Why is he reading the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”! That is not a good-fit book! I couldn’t resist the urge to have a mini-conference with him. He wasn’t paying attention to the math lesson anyway, right? I went over to him and asked him to talk with me in the hallway (the math teacher was teaching the class). When in the hallway we spoke about how I have asked him not to read during other subjects and he is continuously choosing to not listen. Tears start rolling down his face!! Student A is not a crier, so I knew something was bothering him. We sat there for five minutes without him talking and me asking him to tell me what was bothering him, so that I could help him. Finally, after 5 minutes he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I want to get better at reading and you said the best way to get better at reading is to read!” Wow! Needless to say we talk about this and of course the Good Fit book topic. 

Story # 2:

In talking with my kids about inner conversation, one of my students raised their hand and said, “When I have a inner conversation while reading a book, I noticed that my voice and me are reading the book together, at the same time!”

Story #3:

While checking in for our third round the other day multiple kids raised their hands and said, “Can I meet with you to talk about my strategies and goals?” How cute!!!! So this round went a little longer than normal but I couldn’t resist meeting with these children. During the conferences I was SO impressed by my students abilities to choose goals and strategies that truly met their needs. They were able to express to me why they were choosing the particular goals and strategies.

In addition to these great stories, many other happenings took place in CAFÉ 48. We had a successful week meeting our goal of 3 rounds on all days. I was also able to meet with Guided Reading groups, Words their Way groups, and conference with individual students (next week I will tackle strategy groups). Doing all three in one week was a lot to handle!!! The schedule I spoke about in my last blog worked out wonderfully, although a few minor changes were made. I added another two rounds of Guided Reading. Now my groups are being met with on Tuesday and Thursday, however these may at times turn into Strategy Groups, depending on the children’s needs. Also, on Fridays we will have two rounds of Words their Way assessments, the third round will now be devoted to strategy groups and/or conferencing. Next week I may try partner testing. I’ll keep you updated on that, if it happens.

The mini-lessons that took place this past week were all devoted to “Listening to our Inner Voice” and “Leaving Tracks of your Thinking”. The books I read were “Fly Away Home”, “Ruby Bridges”, and the “Secret Garden”. All three books had the children thinking and wondering. We also had a few mini lessons on “Noticing when you are confused while reading”. As I have written in the past many of my mini-lessons come from the Comprehension Tool Kit, Reading with Meaning, and Strategies that Work. I am using the existing strategies on the CAFÉ menu and also adding my own, as need be, to match our reading and writing curriculum.

During my mini lessons this week I saw the benefits of having the CAFÉ board to keep track of the strategies taught. While talking about “Listening to our Inner Conversation” and “Signals that we are confused”, my kids would raise their hands and say, “Isn’t this similar to Check for Understanding” or “Don’t we already know that we need to Back Up and Reread if we are confused”. I love how my students see the connections between all of the strategies and they are also using the language on a daily basis. For writing this week, we started to learn about writing letters and responding to reading in writing. We will continue these lessons next week. In past years I noticed that my children’s letters were not up to par with my expectations and I would continually have to meet with a few students. This year I want to take it very slow and model, model, model!

Listening to Reading was also in full swing!!!! My kids LOVE listening to reading. Of course getting to be on the computer was a HUGE perk. We did however have to go over the guidelines for Raz-Kids. If you use Raz-Kids tune in now… Although the Raz Rockets is a wonderful tool and motivator the children quickly learned that if they just click through a book or quiz, they will still get points for Raz Rockets. When I looked at the records for the week many children read 5 or more books, but were not doing well on the quizzes. This was a great indicator that they were not listening to the stories carefully. So we installed guidelines for Raz Kids. The children are now allowed to choose a second book for the day after they receive a 100 on the quiz or tried the quiz 3x’s. You may be saying wow a 100 that harsh! I agree, but this is teaching the children to go back to the story when they don’t get an answer correct. I explained to the children that if they get an answer incorrect, they should reread the story with that question in their mind. I also told the kids that if they tried 3x and still did not get a 100, to choose another story and I would review the original story with them in a conference. However, they must try at least 3x. “Student A” from the earlier story did this and was so proud of his 100 on the 3rd try. When we checked in after the round in which he did Listening to Reading, he said, the first time he took the quiz he didn’t do well, the second time he listened to the story again and still got a few wrong, but after the third try he got a 100!!!! WOW! I can’t even begin to write out all of the benefits that he got from just this one round of listening to reading. This one round truly instilled in his head that when he is confused, if he go back to the story and rereads, he will understand the story better.

I started off the blog mentioning that I wanted the children to “Read to Someone” more often. I think this is so beneficial for their fluency and comprehension. I also think that the students will learn a lot about the use of the fix-up strategies through coaching and time. My problem is that currently the kids are required to do “Read to Self” and “Word Work”. This only leaves one round for complete choice. Usually during the third round the kids really want to do “Listening to Reading”. With only three rounds, how can I get them to choose “Read to Someone”? Any suggestions??? I will definitely talk with them this week about the benefits of read to someone. I may even tell them that they can choose either “Read to Self” or “Read to Someone”, instead of saying “Read to Self” is a must. Both choices have wonderful benefits!

Well, that is our week in a nutshell! I told you a lot of wonderful things happened! Please leave comments…. I love to know that people are out there reading my blogs! I also want this blog to be a place for reflection and sharing with other teachers who are using Daily Five and CAFÉ. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

As always…

Words of Advice:

Tune into your inner voice while reading a book. It is a great learning tool that will enhance your teaching. This past week I have been trying out the reading strategies I teach the kids, in my own reading. Paying attention to my use of these reading strategies, has really helped me to understand what I am asking of the students do.

Also, if you are a third grade teacher (maybe other grades too, but I know it works for third) read the book “The Secret Garden” to your children. This book is a wonderful read aloud that lends itself to teaching and discussing many reading strategies! We have 2 more chapters left and I know my kids are going to be very sad when it is over. My next book will be “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane”.

Enjoy your long weekend! Now that I have blogged, I look forward to a great night of sleep!!!!

Until next week…

 

 

"Good Fit"

When I first started reading Daily Five and CAFÉ I thought of the words “Good Fit” and would immediately relate them to the “I Pick” strategy and what makes a BOOK “Good Fit” for kids.  However, my thoughts of what “Good Fit” means has changed. I now use the words “Good Fit” for everything we do. Often I’ll ask myself, “Is my teaching “Good Fit” for all children in my classroom”, “Boys and girls, make sure your literacy nooks are “Good Fit” for your literacy needs”,  “When we pick our individual order of choice for daily five, pay attention to your needs, and decide which round is a “Good Fit” round for each of the daily’s”. By this I explain to the kids, if you know your stamina is longer in the beginning of Daily Five, you may want to choose Read to Self first.

Wow, who knew that two words could completely change my thinking and teaching! Wednesday night was Back to School Night. If I had a dollar for every time I said the words “Good Fit” or “individual needs”, I would be a millionaire today. Throughout the night, for every topic and subject area I explained to the parents that each child learns differently and will be taught in ways to meet their own individual needs. I also explained the children would not all be receiving the same “words their way” words, multiplication quizzes, math strategies, reading goals and strategies, or behavioral management.

Back to school night went really well and I could tell the parents were very impressed with Daily Five and CAFÉ. One parent said she loved how her daughter was learning so many strategies to use while reading and in math (we use the Pace Board). The parents also loved when I told them about appointments and how the children each have appointments to meet with me. As I was talking and listening to my inner voice, I was truly amazed by how far my teaching has come! I attribute this to the two sisters and their philosophy on teaching.

How has my teaching changed…choice, choice, choice! The children in my classroom now have the ability to make choices for themselves and therefore take ownership of their learning and/or actions. When I speak with the children in my classroom, I speak a lot about choice and how their choices are impacting their learning. If we choose to follow the I-charts for the Daily Five, we are also choosing to become better readers and writers. If we choose to fool around, we are also choosing to not to become better readers and writers. Now this may sound harsh but it is true and it works. My students are respecting themselves as learners and their classmates. My kids are also tuning into the ways that they learn and so am I.

I have two great examples of tuning into my kids learning:

1.  There is a child in my classroom that always stands at the back of the carpet when I am reading a book or doing a mini-lesson. At first this made me a little uneasy (Hmmm… must be the controlling part of teaching). Although, I was a little uneasy about this, I allowed him to do so. I made sure to check in with him during the lesson to see if he was paying attention. He was always able to tell me what I just taught or would do a great job at checking for understanding. As time went on, a few other children joined him at the back of the carpet. This led to a discussion of knowing themselves as learners and if they feel they learn best standing and listening, I am okay with that, if they are truly paying attention. Oddly enough, the daily Café website recently had an article about standing room only in future classrooms. The kids who are standing truly need to be doing so in order to pay attention. I have a child who is constantly playing with objects in his desk while I’m teaching. On Friday, my student teacher noticed that he went to put his hand in his desk, then stopped and walked over to the back of the carpet away from his desk! Wow!!!! Talk about that self-control and how much of my teaching time was not wasting telling him to pay attention. He used his self-awareness and made a great choice!

2.  This second example took place during word work. The kids have a job to first sort their Words their Way words. After they sort their words they are to choose a Tic-Tac-Toe spelling activity. Well, again my student teacher spied something really great (it is so nice to have an extra pair of eyes!). Two kids were working together and playing charades with their words. When she approached them after the round, they told her about the game they made up. Taking turns they would act out the meaning of the word for each other. The features of the words this past week were short and long vowel words. Before acting out the word the “charadee” would hold up one or two fingers, to give their partner a hint of whether the word is a short or long vowel word. Not only did we love this word work game, even better it was made up by two kids in the classroom! I can probably bet that next week many of the children will be trying this game out.

Last week I mentioned in my blog that I was tutoring a first grader. The structure of this tutoring session was completely different than past tutoring sessions. Having the two sisters in the back of mind, I remembered to follow the “10 steps to independence”, along with taking many brain breaks! The hour tutoring session was broken into 10 - minute mini-lessons and daily five rounds. We started off by reading a book together (read to Someone). I read a page of the book and then he read it after me. After this we went over to the smart board and he listened to a book on raz-kids.com (listen to reading). When he completed the book he took a quiz online and had the opportunity to build his raz rocket. During this time we did a mini math lesson on the amount of points that he could spend and how much the rockets accessories were. Next, we had a CAFÉ strategy conference and set a goal and strategy for the week. The goal we came up with is accuracy and the strategy is “flip the sound”. I modeled what this strategy looks and sounds like and then he tried it in his reading. He read the book aloud to me and I supported him through the strategy. He helped me put the strategy on a big index card and will now (hopefully) practice it at home. After learning the CAFÉ strategy we went back over to the smart board and did Word Work. I found a game online where he was given a clue for the word and then together we tried to spell out what we thought the word was! Wow of wow!!!!! Even just writing about this tutoring session I am amazed by how much we got done in an hour. Believe it or not I only got one yawn! The yawn came at the end of the session and I took it as a hint that we were nearing the end :-).

Well I am also nearing the end of my blog for today…

Next week my class has a goal to get in three rounds each day.  We are also continuing with Words their Way, but next week the kids will be receiving their individual word lists. It worked out where my class will be broken up into three stages, Alphabetical, Within Word, and Syllables and Affixes. In addition to Words their Way, we will also be starting Guided Reading and Strategy Groups! Ahh!!!!! That is a lot, but I think we can do it! The reading strategy I will be tapping into is “Listening to your inner voice” and “signals that you are confused while reading”.

My student teacher and I stayed after school on Friday and I think we came up with a great schedule. Each day the students will need to choose both read to self and word work, the third round being a choice. When I say third round I mean their third round, not necessary the actual third round of daily five.

Monday:

Each round I will introduce "Words their Way" words in small groups. Children will read to self one round, word work in another (with the teacher) and choice for their third round.

Tuesday and Wednesday:

Round 1- Conferencing and Appointments

Round 2- Guided Reading Groups 1+2

Round 3- Guided Reading Groups 3+4

Groups 1 and 2 will choose read to Self for Round 2.

Groups 3 and 4 will choose read to Self for Round 3.

They can also choose read to self during another round.

Thursday:

All three rounds will be devoted to conferencing and/or strategy groups. 

Friday:

Each round I will be meeting with a "Words their Way" group to give them their assessment. Children will read to self one round, word work in another (with the teacher) and choice for their third round.

I would love comments or advice on how my schedule sounds!

Words of Advice:

Stretch your thinking about what “Good Fit” means.

Have a great weekend and week! 

Daily Five and CAFE on my mind....

Let me start off by saying I have 24 people coming over in 1 hour! Do I honestly have time to be blogging, no!!!! However, I was in the mood. Okay, maybe I'm procrastinating a bit from everything else I should be doing :-) 

As I said in my last blog choice is going very well in my classroom. We completed two days and the kids loved it! I was blown away by there check ins. It went so fast! The kids were so flexible. For one round I had only one student choose Read to Someone. All I had to do was ask for a volunteer to switch over and they did. Another child's partner got called out of the room half way through his read to someone session. He quickly looked at me and then made the choice for himself to switch to another Daily. In the past I know that this situation would have been chaos! My children this year are so well trained! I know it is due to Daily Five and taking the launching slowly. I believe this is because we went through every potential problem and solved them before they occurred over and over again. 

Of course my classroom is not perfect! On Friday, I had three children fooling around on the carpet during my mini lesson. I had two reactions to this. The first way I always react (ever since starting Daily Five and CAFE) is by asking the children if they want to get better at reading and writing. They always answer yes. Then I say, we know the only way to get better at reading and writing is by doing the Daily Five and actually reading or writing. We are now wasting the class reading and writing time by having to have this discussion. They immediately stop without fail. The second thing I do is stop to do a quick brain break. Since starting Daily Five and CAFE I view my students differently. When they are fooling around 9 out of 10 times I honestly think it is because my mini lesson is dragging on too long or they just need a break! The brain breaks I do are SO quick and easy. Probably take the same amount of time I would use to continue telling the same students to stop fooling around. Some examples are a quick game of simon says or stretching. 

This week I am tutoring a first grader and plan on starting the emergent CAFE menu with him. I am SO excited to move through the CAFE menu in a 1:1 setting. I think this is going to be so beneficial to the child and help me organize my tutoring. I plan on starting off with him by teaching Good Fit Books. I know this is one of the things his mom is concerned with. 

Along with tutoring I also have Back to School Night! I can't wait to talk to the parents about Daily 5 and CAFE in person. I know my love for both will shine through when talking!!!!! I hope to get feedback about how the kids feel. I also plan on doing a quick survey with the kids about their feelings towards Daily Five and CAFE. I am so curious! 

Alright now I'm off to set up for my company! I guess this was my very own brain break :-) Enjoy your week! 

Words of Advice: 

If you see children getting off task, take it as a hint that they need a break! 

Also, try using a timer for your Daily Five rounds. I did this the other day and it really made me think about my pacing. 

Choice!

We did it! We made it through our first day with choice. My kids made me so proud when I looked out at the class and they were all on task and engaged in their work. I was SO amazed by how smoothly it ran.

I started off with a mini lesson on checking in. I explained that they could choose between Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Work on Writing. The kids were told they had to do Read to Self for at least one round. Before hearing their choices, I anticipated that they would all jump at the opportunity to read to someone. Boy was I wrong! Only 8 children chose read to someone, which oddly enough was the limit. Perfect!

I was so impressed by my children and how they individually made decisions for what they wanted to work on. I talked with them about choice and how it is a wonderful responsibility and privilege to have. I spoke about me knowing how to help them as readers, but they are the only ones who know how their brain and body feel at the moment. While talking about knowing themselves so well, we talked about how to make choices wisely. I explained that some of us might want to do read to self first. These particular children may know that they have the greatest stamina during the first round. While other children might choose Work on Writing first. They may be in the middle of writing a story and know they won’t be able to concentrate on reading, while having their writing on their mind. I continued to give examples like these. I didn’t use a book for this lesson, but looking back I think a great book might be “Too Many Toys”.

Before sending the boys and girls off to start their first round of Daily Five, I taught them how to choose a partner. I loved hearing my kids say, “Would you like to be my partner?” and “Sure. Thank you!” We modeled the correct and incorrect way to choose a partner and then they were off!

As I said we did three rounds. I didn’t do any CAFÉ mini-lessons instead I did check-ins each round, and talked about how the kids felt. During check in some kids chose the same choice, while others switched up their choices. After each check in we modeled partner choosing. I honestly don’t think I could have planned our first day of choice to of gone any better!

Next week, I will introduce word work and listen to reading. For word work we are doing Words their Way. Each day the kids will choose from a list of sorts that they have already learned how to do in the past 2 weeks. Together we will model the correct and incorrect behavior for each sort. As of now I may introduce task cards, but no other materials. My goal is to provide the kids with activities that they can do in or out of the classroom. Another activity I may introduce is http://www.spellingcity.com. If you have not ever used this website, check it out! It is wonderful!!!!! This will depend on the availability of laptops. For Listen to Reading I will be using the Raz Kids website. I’ve never used this website, but I subscribed because I’ve heard great things!

On another note, my kids are having difficulty coming back to carpet after each round. Today I started the chapter book “The Secret Garden”. While the kids were putting away their supplies and coming back to the carpet I read a chapter of the book. I found that many of my children were motivated to come to the carpet quicker because they didn’t want to miss the story. Also, I felt more at ease because I wasn’t waiting for anyone. If they missed a page so be it, at least the other kids weren’t getting off task while waiting, and I was using our time effectively.

I’m looking forward to Day 2 of choice tomorrow! I hope to get everything up and running in the next 2 weeks. Only time will tell, I don’t want to rush it! I’ve learned that modeling and moving slowly really makes a difference.

Words of advice:

Try reading a chapter of a book, short story, poem, joke, riddle, or picture book, while transitioning from one round to the next. If the literature is really engaging the kids won’t want to miss it!

 

 

 

Day 10 and other random reflections...

On Friday we continued the launching of Read to Someone! I was so proud of my kids! As I listened in to their conversations, I heard every partner set saying, “I just heard you read…” It was so awesome!!!!!! I told my kids that they made me so happy and of course got many smiles out of them.

I also talked about individual goals and read the book, “Franklin Plays the Game”. This book was perfect! While reading it I checked for understanding, and also talked about the goals that Franklin had, along with the strategies his coach gave him and his friends to use. The goal was to score a goal and win a game. The strategy was using teamwork and practicing. In the book there are few different characters. Each character has an individual goal. For example, the Goose is trying to remember to not use his feathers unless he is the goalie, while the beaver has trouble with long and heavy tail because it gets in the way when he is running. After reading the book I talked about the CAFÉ board and how each student will have individual goals”. We spoke about how each of us are different readers, read different types of books, and need to use different strategies. I also introduced my pensieve, which is called my recipe book to go along with the cooking theme. It stands for: Reaching Every Child, Individually, Purposefully, Everyday.  The kids loved the “Recipe” book! They were so excited to see that they each had their own place in the book. Using the book I talked about my goals as a teacher. I said my long-term goal for the year was to help each student be a successful reader, while my short-term goal was to meet with every child within the next two weeks. I said that my strategy was to keep a record of each conference but I also needed their help! I explained the urgency of them doing the right thing during daily 5 and how this will help me meet with them and their classmates. I think by them hearing that I needed their help, they were even more motivated to do SO well on Friday during our two daily 5 rounds. In read to self, they got to 17 minutes of stamina and in read to someone they got to 5 minutes but could have easily kept going. I stopped them because we had to go to art. During writing time we decorated our writer’s notebooks so we didn’t graph any stamina. I have to admit that I haven’t had the time for many writing lessons. This is why in my last post I mentioned that during the upcoming week I would like to try out a different schedule. I will also be introducing choice. Choice will make me feel much more at ease if I don’t get to a formal writing lesson everyday. At least I will know that they are still writing everyday. 

In addition to trying a new schedule, continuing to build our stamina, and introducing choice, on Monday I will revisit the book “Franklin Plays the Game”. I will use the book to teach a lesson on, “coaching and Time”.  I love when books have so many mini-lesson purposes!  Whenever I revisit a book on a different day, I retell what I previously read. Sometimes I will “pretend” that I can’t remember a characters name or something else from the book. Then I go back and reread that part. I have also broken a picture book up into three different mini-lessons. When doing this I always reread the last page I left off on before continuing. One time one of my students said, “You already read that page!” I replied with, “Thank you for noticing, I always reread the page I left off on to remind myself of what happened and get my brain ready for what will happen next.”

Enjoy your weekend and have a great school week! I know I will have lots more to blog about in a few days!

Words of advice:

Show the children your pensieve if you have one. They will feel so special! Also, talk to them about your goals and the urgency of needing their help to meet these goals.

 

Days 8 and 9

To be honest I wasn’t going to blog today. One reason being that I don’t have any exciting “good” news to share. No record breaking stamina times or cute comments. We did 14 minutes yesterday and 7 today. Then after thinking about it, I decided that if I was going to be honest on this blog, it can’t only be filled with “fantastic” days. The ordinary days will also need to be shared. For my two followers (haha, join in on the fun, follow me!) I want you to see that it’s not always “perfect” in Café 48. I’m new at this, just like many of you!

That being said I’ll move on to Days 8 and 9…. Read to Someone and Pay attention to Punctuation were introduced, along with a review of the previous strategies learned. Read to Someone went okay, but I don’t feel my kids did as well as they could of. I will attribute that to lack of modeling. I did model but in reflecting on it, I don’t think I did it enough. I heard some kids Checking for Understanding while reading together, but others were completely unfocused when their partner was reading. I stopped them when I saw this and we reviewed the “I” chart. We reviewed how to be a good listener and why it was important to share your reading experience. The book I used to introduce “Read to Someone” was Aaaarrgghh! Spider! It actually said the word “EEK!”. So I thought it was perfect.

I don’t have a cute clever comment that my students said, but I do have one that my nephew said. My nephew is 2 1/2 and LOVES to read! Last night I was putting him to bed and he asked me to read him a book. He started off on my lap and then said, “I want to sit here”, plopping his body right next to me. Of course, the teacher in me came out and I said, “The way we are sitting is called EEKK”. Picture wide eyes and a very confused look (remember he is two and I hadn’t made an “I chart yet”, jk, ha!). I continued on and explained that EEKK stood for elbow, elbow, knee, knee and that was how we were sitting. His answer back, “how about we say knee, knee, tushi, tushi!”. HOW CUTE!!!!!!

Back to my class… today after school I stayed for a little and thought about my schedule. After multiple attempts, I am still struggling with finding the “perfect” schedule that allows my kids to have enough time in reading and also fit all other subjects in. We manage to get to everything, but I would still like more time devoted to the daily five. I did tweak my schedule a little bit and decided on a compromise that I will try next week. I noticed on Pro-teacher that many people created a CAFÉ menu called PACE for math. I thought this was a great idea, but also thought there could be a way to incorporate the already existing CAFÉ into my math lessons. The math program that we use is very reading based. Many of the questions that are asked, require a lot of reading. Also, the math program provides literature titles that are related to the contents of the chapter. SO next week I am going to TRY and teach a CAFÉ mini-lesson and relate it to the math lesson of the day. For example, I was thinking I could do a lesson on “adjust my reading rate” or “back up and reread” the problem if you are unsure of what it is asking. Even cross checking will be helpful in math! I hope this works because I think it would be so beneficial to show the children how important reading is for ALL subjects! Also, I think the common language will help!

Next week I plan to do more “Read to Someone” lessons. I would like to introduce and practice all three ways. I am looking forward to teaching the children about Coaching and time! I think they are going to really enjoy that. Also, I plan on doing DRA’s, in order to find out more about my students as readers, and of course I will continue with my individual conferencing. I have appointments set up already with some of my kids!

I’ve come to the end of my blogging for today and I must admit I’m SO happy I wrote! I feel much more at ease and was forced to see the bright side. Not every day is going to be a perfect day, but everyday I will learn more about my kids as learners.

Words of advice:

Go slow! There is no race, and sometimes when we rush to the finish line, we miss out on the best teachable moments.

If you haven’t done so yet, have the kids write on the strategy cards! They love doing so and the board looks great with their writing on it!

 

 

Days 5-7

We are learning so much in Café 48! On our 5^th day we reached 15 minutes of stamina in reading! My kids were SO proud of themselves and so was I. Monday was our sixth day and there were many teachable moments involved.  The read aloud for the day was “Max’s Words” and we reviewed “Tuning into Interesting words”. My children loved this book! They really got the point of what it means to tune into interesting words and how words make the story come alive. The theme of our classroom is cooking, so I explained interesting words as being the spices in food. This connection really helped the kids and after a round of read to self the children were collecting words that were interesting and not just words they couldn’t read. This is a big turn around from last week!

On day 6, I also started individual conferences. This was a little difficult for me because I wasn’t able to have my eyes on the children at all times. What if they weren’t reading? What if my barometer child (children) revisited their old habits and I wasn’t there to ring my bell and stop them in their tracks? While these thoughts were going through my mind I managed to get in two conferences. The first was with a strong reader. The goal that we choose together was expanding vocabulary and the strategy is using pictures, maps, or diagrams. He is reading the book “Swordbird””.  At the beginning of the book is a map. Together we decided that he was going read his book and use the map to help him better understand the events in the story. His name was put on a post-it and he posted it under expand vocabulary.

Next up was a girl who is struggling a bit with her accuracy.  Cross-checking had already been introduced to the whole class, so together we decided this would be a great goal and strategy for her to work on. I modeled again what it looked like to cross-check by asking if the word looked right, sounded right, and made sense. Tomorrow, I have appointments with both students to check in with them!

As I was meeting with these students my student teacher said that two girls were talking the whole time! OH-NO!!!!!! My nightmare has come true (ok a little dramatic), now what! I had to intervene, quickly! On our way to library, we will call this “confer and walk”, I talk to these two girls about their talking. I asked them if they were building their stamina while talking, and of course they both said no! Then I asked why they thought they weren’t able to read the whole time. One of the girls said she couldn’t read the words in her book. Of course this led to a discussion about “Good Fit” books and why it is so important. I scheduled an appointment with her (yes all while walking to library!) and felt very good. Today (day 7) we had that appointment and went through the books in her book box. She only had 1 good fit book.  After talking about “good fit” books we read the book and revisited “reading pictures”. She is an ESL student who I know will benefit from this strategy. An appointment is scheduled for her on Thursday.

No, I didn’t forget about the other girl. During one of our mini lessons we again reviewed good book nooks. Today this girl came over to me and said, “I am going to stay in my book nook, but turn my body the other way.” It worked! Yay! I will meet with her tomorrow to further discuss this and choose a goal and strategy for her to work on.

Other strategies I’ve introduced are “Monitor and Fix Up” and using “Prior Knowledge”. A great book for these strategies is Livingstone Mouse by Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole. This book is also FANTASTIC for choosing a good spot to read. This was the first way I used it!

Tomorrow, I would like to introduce Read to Someone. The strategy I am going to talk about is attending to punctuation, while using the read aloud, “Leonardo the Terrible Monster”.  I am very excited to introduce another daily!

Words of Advice:

Try using the same read aloud throughout all rounds. Doing so has helped me to review previous strategies and also keep my mini-lessons shorter.

 

 

Daily Five and CAFE Days 1-4

The first week of school has come and gone! I have to say it was very successful. Only problem is I couldn't find time to fit in the "fluff" stuff because I was too busy teaching reading and writing! Not too bad of a problem, is it? 

After countless nights of staying awake over the summer, thinking about Daily 5 and CAFE, we made it through the first week! At times I ask myself, why was I so anxious to start this? The only answer I can come up with is I REALLY wanted it to work! I truly believe in these two resources/structures and the benefits of them on both my teaching and my student learning. 

SO..... how did the week go? Well by Friday we made it to 10 minutes of Stamina in writing and 5 minutes in reading. Not bad for third graders (I hope :-) ) Everyday we go through the 10 steps of muscle memory and my kids are really getting it! They are even using that big word "stamina". How cool is that? Seriously, I've had not one but a few kids asking me, "how much stamina do we have today?" LOVE IT!!!!! The children are enjoying the modeling (of course they love to do the incorrect modeling , but hey whatever works!). I've been working on trying to keep my mini-lessons short and somewhat succeeding at this. I say "somewhat" because it is a work in progress. I know I repeat myself over and over. Next weeks goal.... stop repeating things, they get it! They heard you the first time, and there is always the next round to review. 

When I first started reading and introducing D5 I thought there is no way I will get 5 rounds in! Well, I think there may be because in week one, I've been doing three. It works for my kids. Short but sweet mini-lessons (I know, I know, I'm working on it) and then we are off to build our stamina. Come on back... review, next strategy, and we are off again. LOVE IT!!!!!! After there stamina is built I will keep it at three. One CAFE strategy mini-lesson, writing mini-lesson, word work mini-lesson.

So far, read to self has been introduced and Word on writing. Work on writing is at a different time because I would like to keep Writer's Workshop separate. CAFE strategies introduced are: check for understanding, back up and re-read, cross check (we even did the hand motions, I didn't think I could do them with third, but they liked it), and tune into interesting words. My kids are using the word "strategy" when they refer to themselves as readers. 

Week one has come and gone and I'm very impressed! Next week we will continue to build our stamina during RTS and Work on Writing. I will work on keeping my mini-lessons short and sweet. Another goal is starting to work with small groups. During RTS I want to pull over a small group of Barometer children, so I can provide them with strategies to use when they are losing focus. I would also like to try some of the techniques the sisters use, such as a timer, small carpet, and maybe even play dough. 

Words of advice- 

Model, model, model! 

Try stretching before sending the kids off to build their stamina. I have been reading about Brain Gym exercises and they are working. My kids like the stretching and I think they need them. 

Special thanks to the 2 sisters for this fantastic idea of Daily Five and CAFE and two my Proteacher Friends who have been on this journey from the beginning. We totally understand each other :

Check back often....