Daily 5 Book Study - Chapter 1

It has been a while since I last read, The Daily 5, by the 3 Sisters, and there is a new edition out.  I borrowed an old copy from a teacher friend to scan as a refresher while I waited for the new edition to arrive in the mail compliments of the fast and furious Amazon Prime 2-day shipping!  It should arrive just in the nick of time for me to participate with some other fabulous bloggers in a little summer book study.

This week, Primary Inspired is hosting the book study with a focus on Chapter 1:  How Daily 5 Has Evolved.

What is the Daily 5 you ask?

The Daily 5 is a framework for structuring literacy time so students develop lifelong habits of reading, writing, and working independently.

Students work though activities such as:

- Reading to Self
- Reading with a Partner
- Writing about Reading
- Listening to Reading
- Word Work and Spelling

These activities are completed independently by students providing the teacher with time to confer with individuals or to pull small groups for reading instruction.

The second edition of The Daily 5 places an emphasis on flexibility.  This is not a one size fits all program.  Students do not have to move through all 5 rounds of the Daily 5 in one day.  You are the teacher, and you know what works best for your individual students, so do what you know is best.

While reading chapter 1 I immediately think of how we integrated Engage NY's ELA Modules into our ELA block this year.  

We spent the first hour of our ELA block working through a module lesson.  The second hour was spent on reading centers and guided reading.  We did not complete all 5 rounds of the Daily 5.  There was simply not enough time.  What was important is that students were actively involved in reading, writing, and working independently during the second half of our ELA block which provided me with valuable teacher time to work with small groups on individual needs.

I will admit, during my first few years of teaching I had students complete a lot of "busy" work during reading centers.  I had them creating book reports, completing projects, playing games, and doing all kinds of "cute" things?  Did they learn?  Yes!  Was there a lot of prep work?  Yes!  Did it waste a lot of time?  Yes!  Was it really worth it?  No!  Not when you can get a bigger bang for your buck using a structure like Daily 5.  Hey, you live you learn!

Have you tried Daily 5 in your classroom?  If you have, I'd love to hear how it works in your classroom?

Check back soon!  I will be posting about my thoughts on chapter 2.

Sensory Bin for Monday Made It

Over the weekend, Natalie and I gathered supplies to create our first sensory bin of the summer.  I plan on making a few of these over our vacation together.  Sensory bins serve has a great tactile tool for toddlers and primary students to explore and develop basic life skills, fine motor skills, language, and more.

I snagged a storage bin from Walmart, a few bags of beans, sand box toys, little plastic dinosaurs, measuring cups and spoons from the Dollar Tree.

Natalie had a ball practicing digging, scooping, and pouring while we talked about burying and locating the rainbow assortment of dinosaur friends..

The whole bin was created for around $10.

Check out all the other Monday Made It's at Tara's blog, Fourth Grade Frolics.

ATB Challenge - Week 10

Welcome back blogging buddies for week 10 of our ATB Challenge!  Sorry for the delay in posting!

Here is your Week 10 Challenge: 

If you have made it through all 10 weeks of the ATB challenge it is finally time to treat yourself.

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear, "Treat Yourself," is ice cream, pizza, candy, dessert.

However, you don't have to treat yourself with food.

You can treat yourself with free time, a nice walk, a bubble bath, additional reading time to read something of YOUR choice, a car wash, a pedicure, a stay in your pajama day, etc....

Reward yourself when you accomplish your goals, cross of items on your to-do list, and when you simply need a break.

So, how do you plan to treat yourself this week?

Check out all 10 challenges here.

Five for Friday - Big News and Updates

Wow, it is hard to believe that our school year is coming to an end!  Summer vacation is just around the corner and I have a few major announcements to share.  Take a peak at my crazy, insane, whirlwind of a week as I link up with h Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

We have continued to work through Engage NY's ELA Module 3A Unit 3.  This unit focuses on writing an editorial about which simple machine is the most helpful.  Students worked with small groups to further research a simple machine of their choice.  

They created a poster outlining evidence that supported their statement.  

Then they completed a graphic organizer in preparation for writing their editorial.

My fourth grade class visited the fifth grader's Wax Museum in the gymnasium.  

The fifth graders selected a sports hero to research and then shared their new knowledge with us.  This aligned nicely with their ELA Module learning.

Ok, now for some BIG news!

My husband and I have listed our house for sale.

If you know anyone looking for a cute, move-in ready ranch, with multiple updates in Auburn, NY, send them our way!

Check out our listing here.

Now, for the reason we are moving....

more BIG news....

I will be teaching fourth grade next school year, 

but 

in a NEW SCHOOL DISTRICT 

closer to Syracuse, NY.

Words can not even begin to describe how happy I am.  After lots of research, I am sure this district is the perfect fit for me and my family.

If the stars align, we are hoping to move over the summer so that we will live in the town in which I teach before the new school year begins.

Thank goodness the weekend is finally here so that I can spend my weekend with my precious Mini-Me!!!

Natalie and I will be hitting up some playgrounds and walking to the park in between prepping and cleaning for our first open house.

 What have you been up to this week?