Currently...

I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade on July's Currently! I have seen these around and always wanted to link up, so I finally am!! Here it goes!

Would love to read what you currently have going on!!!

Apples!!

Today I am lucky enough to guest post over on my friend Randi's blog, Teach It With Class

If you are just coming over here for the first time then Welcome!! If not, I would love for you to hop on over to her blog to read my post :)

I am excited to say that I am finally done with my Apple Unit!! I absolutely love teaching apples! I don't know if its because it is the beginning of the year and its one of the first units or just because it is FUN!!

This unit is great for the beginning of the year. It is very differentiated, just like our kids at this time!!  :) There are alphabet activities, beginning of the year sight word activities, beginning sounds, CVC words for those kids that are ready, labeling, measuring, patterning, 10 frames and I can go on and on!!  I snapped some pictures while I was prepping it for my class, but I would love for you to head over to TPT and read the overview so you can see all that it includes :) Just click HERE

Non-fiction writing book with plenty of options to choose from

Sight words, beginning sounds, and CVC words

Patterning, 10-frames, one-to-one correspondence

Cute Johnny Appleseed craft with optional fact book :)

If you read my guest post I explained how I love to start all of my units with a graphic organizer. If you want to grab my graphic organizer for the Apple Unit just click HERE and download the preview :)

I will keep my apple unit on sale throughout the weekend! Let me know what you think :) 

Daily 5: Chapter 3

1. Establish a gathering place for brain and body breaks. I have a big carpet in the front and center of my room. I've never had a cute name for it like the 'family room,' I just call it the carpet haha. But, maybe I should change that? We use the carpet as a gathering place throughout the day--for calendar math, whole group reading, introduction to writing for the day, and we even sit in a big circle on the carpet for math a lot of the time!

2. Developing the concept of 'good fit' books. I like the shoe lesson the sisters talked about in the book and I also like the idea I read on Tammy's post on using Goldilocks to teach 'good fit' books. I am not 100% sure what I am going to do to teach this yet. I like the children to have some freedom at the beginning of the year when they are choosing books. I like to see them reading the pictures together and choosing books that really interest them. I don't really stress about whether or not they can necessarily read the books yet. 

3. Create anchor charts with students. I didn't catch on to anchor charts until about January of last year. I had never heard of anchor charts or learned about anchor charts. I started noticing them on blogs and then tried them out in my class. I love them now! I can't hang too many things on my walls in class (crazy, strict fire marshals!) but I think I am going to hang them with clothespins on a line and change them out periodically. I also want to keep up our 'class promise' anchor chart and an anchor chart next to each center with their center expectations.

4. Short, repeated intervals of independent practice and setting up book boxes. I have these from Really Good Stuff...

that I can use for the students book bins. I have a really cute book I made that is titled 'I Can Read' and the pages consist of pictures like McDonalds, Target, and places the children recognize. So, even if they can't 'read' they can read that book. It is really cute and would be a nice little addition to their book bins to start the year off. I also wouldn't mind adding a book on colors or an ABC book since these are the first skills we work on. As far as short, repeated intervals go...I am planning on keeping track of their stamina on a chart and creating goals for them.

5. Calm signals and check in procedures. I definitely don't have a calm signal right now...it is either a bell going off or me saying 'Clean upppp!' haha so I guess I should change this! I do like the idea of having a nice, calm chime. My students do have a specific place to hand in their work and they know to hand it in and then go sit on the carpet for further directions. This has always worked for me!

6. Using the correct model/incorrect model approach for demonstrating appropriate behaviors. Modeling behaviors is SO important and reminders are needed often in Kindergarten. I actually see my kindergartners walking much nicer then students in upper grades in the hallway because I repeat these expectations so much! I also use a clip chart in my class and students do move their name down when I see inappropriate behavior as well as moving their name up when I see them demonstrating wonderful behavior! When I notice my students getting wiggly or they seem distracted, I usually stop what I am doing and play a quick round of Simon Says. I will have them stretching and then the last thing I usually say is something like 'Simon says show me your best work!' and they get back to what they were doing. My children love this!

I have learned so much already from reading everyones posts on the Daily 5. However, the more I think about my class and my schedule I am still not sure if I am going to be able to implement this 100%. During my morning rotations, I am required to get students onto a specific reading program on the computer and this is also the time we have incorporated science and social studies. What I am thinking of doing is having 4 rotations and making 2 of the rotations something they have to complete (1 being meet the teacher and the other being science, social studies, a thematic activity, or computers) and then having 2 of the rotations be their choice. We will see though, I am kind of just thinking out loud right now ;)

Don't forget to link up with Tammy this week!

Next week we will be heading to Mrs. Miner's for Chapter 4!

Daily 5 Chapter 2 Linky

I am totally loving this book study so far! I loved reading everyones posts and comments on Chapter 1...I am learning so much and getting some great ideas from you all!!

1. Do you trust your students? How do you build this trust? Are you able to trust them and allow them to be independent throughout all aspects of your day? Are you going to be able to stay out of their way?

I trust most of my students! I feel like you always have one or two students that you have to constantly stay on top of.  But with that said, I am going to really work on coming up with ways to guide these students better and show them how proud I am when they do a good job, etc.  I build trust starting the first week of school. I give them tasks and jobs to do. I teach them the right way to act and I model great behaviors. They learn so quickly and when they do, I am able to trust them! Now....can I stay out of their way? I really do for the most part!! But again, I have had certain students that I need to stay on top of to complete their work, follow directions, etc. Hopefully, if I teach Daily 5 the right way and I teach the students to take ownership in their learning--then other students will assist their peers in staying on task and reminding them! April Wolf emailed me a wonderful idea that would assist in building trust right off the bat, "A first step to building that I was not able to do last year, would be sending the student a post card before school starts." I LOVE this idea...I would totally do this if I could! (We don't get our class list until the afternoon before school starts!) 

2. How much choice do you give your students throughout the day? Do you go over your daily schedule with your students or is it just 'posted' in the room?

To be completely honest, I haven't been giving my students that much choice. When I am pulling reading groups, my students have been rotating to ASSIGNED literacy centers. I can't wait to switch this! I think choice is going to be so good for them! Of course I will need to thoroughly teach the centers and expectations beforehand. I also do think I will need to somewhat monitor their choices just to make sure certain students aren't choosing the same thing daily. My daily schedule is posted, we go over it daily, and I even let a student put a check mark next to each item as it is completed. They LOVE this!! This is what I use....

I am putting them on sale until tomorrow evening....AND if you don't see something in the packet that you do during your day, let me know and I will add it for you!!

3. How are you going to create that sense of community where students will hold each other accountable?

The first few weeks of school are so important in building that sense of community. As a teacher, you need to show them how to act, treat the students how you want them to treat each other, and make sure the students feel almost like they are at 'home' in the class! What I have done in the past (and it really works!) is create anchor charts with my students on expectations and rules for all aspects of the day. I have even had my students sign these anchor charts as a promise to me that they were going to follow what we made/discussed together.

4. Student ownership in learning? How do you instill this in every child?

I think it is important to talk with your children about why they are doing certain tasks throughout the day. Even before I read a book I tell them why we are reading it and why it is so important.  Some children will pick up on this urgency right away and they probably don't need to hear me constantly explaining the 'why', but others need it all the time. They are 5 and they are going to be building this ownership throughout the year!

5. Stamina! How are you going to build stamina with reading? independent work? Will you use a timer? Will you set goals?

April Wolf said in her email, "We had a goal of two minutes at first and built up to 15 minutes over  a couple of weeks. Setting a goal and celebrating it is something for the class to look forward to."  I think this is a great idea! I like the idea of setting a goal; however, I will need to make sure that 'goals' will work for my incoming class. I wouldn't want students to be only worrying about their goal and not focusing on what is really important, the learning!

Next week we are heading back over to Tammy's wonderful blog to discuss Chapter 3! I am excited to move on into the more fun parts of Daily 5! My mind has already been racing with new ideas for word work, listening, etc! 

Please link up with your Chapter 2 reflections, thoughts, experiences, ideas here: