"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!