Daily 5 Listening Center

Last year we had 'Daily 4' in my classroom because I simply couldn't afford a listening center! So this year I decided to buy some Walkmans and burn a few CD's. Welllll, 3 weeks later my Walkmans are broke, the batteries are running out quick, and all my CD's are scratched up!! (Yes, I did teach my class how to use it all, but being 6 year olds... stuff happens!)

So! My Dad of all people :), suggested that I buy some MP3 players. I looked on Amazon and did you know you can by these little guys for $7.00!?!?! I bought 4 and here's what I did:

#1: Find some good books in your classroom to be a part of your listening center. No need to buy new books, us teachers have tons! Put a label on the front of each book that says "Listening Center", so that they don't get lost in the classroom library.

#2: Now, this is going to be embarrassing, and take little bit of practice, but it will save you tons of money. Use an iPad and record yourself reading the books! This iPad app is free and it's called 'Voice Memos'. Go slow and find something in your house that will make a sound, that will signal your listener to 'turn the page'!

Tip: If you are using the same MP3's as me, you will want to say "Book 1: Stellaluna", "Book 2: Ms. Nelson Is Missing", at the beginning of each recording, because these cute little MP3's don't have a screen that says which book you're on!

#3: Now transfer all the recordings, in # order, to the MP3 players. Teach kids how to use and Voila!

Enjoy!!!

CAFE board strategy cards

Everyone keeps asking me where I found these strategy cards for my CAFE board, so I figured I'd share. They are from a blog called 'Down Under Teacher'. The look nice and it's one less thing to put together every week! Even better- they're FREE!!

 (Click on the pic and it will take you to her TPT store)

Parent Volunteers

Organizing parent volunteers always stresses me out! They can come one week and then not the next... Then they want to switch their time... They are wonderful to have, but sometimes it's a little extra stress.

Signupgenius.com is a great website one of my colleagues uses to organize parent volunteers. You sign up (for free) and then plug in dates and times that you would like parents, into the calendar. Parents go online and sign up electronically. No notes in the morning, no extra scheduling...it's all done for you!

And here's a tutorial I found on how to get started...

Whole Brain Teaching Guru

I love this girl! She is definitely one of my top 10 teaching role models! She has her own blog and has tons of Whole Brain videos.

This is one of my favorites:

Fast Start Reading Folders

(Click on pic for direct link to book sale)

This is my first year using the Fast Start program and I have to say- I am hooked! I first heard about Fast Start this summer at the 'Prevention of Early Learning Failure Conference'. The author himself- - was there. He talked to us about the program and all the research behind it.

Sooo I decided to try it out this year. Here's how I use it:

I first put together folders for each student. Inside the folders parents can find a letter I wrote describing their role in the program, and also a generic letter from the Fast Start book.

Every Monday, Wed and Friday, students get a new Fast Start poem from me. I 3-hole punch the poems ahead of time, and have taught the students how to use the brads in the folders to store their poems. Then we dissect the poems and practice reading them for about 15 minutes.

That night, students know they are to read the poem with their parent and to their parent. Then, on the back of the poem there are several activities parents can do to extend the learning. These are activities from the book that match the specific poem. I have just been telling my parents to check off or initial the activities they did with their child.

Enjoy!

Music During Writing

I like to play music for my kids during writing time, but I find it difficult to find music that's 'appropriate'. I don't want anything with lyrics, nothing intense, and nothing that goes up and down in pitch. A fellow teacher suggested the 'Spa Suite' station on Pandora.....it's the BEST! It's very calm; pretty much exactly what you would listen to during a massage :)  Even better, Pandora is free. Click on the music note below and it should take you write to the channel.

 

 

Word Wall

This is our 'growing' word wall. (The 2 letters hanging out at the bottom corner are 'X' and 'Z') I absolutely LOVE these letters! I downloaded them, for a small fee from School Girl Style. If you are looking for a theme for your room you have got to visit that blog! It is the best! Just click on the picture of my word wall and it will take you to her site.

 

I made the words below each letter. Click on the pic below to download them for FREE! I included my districts 25 kindergarten words (they are in bold), the 50 first grade words and some 2nd grade words that I thought would benefit my kiddies!



Why can't kids all be reading at the same level???

Why can't kids all simply be reading at the same level?? I've got kiddies reading all OVER the map!! My 'early' readers are just starting Level A books, and my high kids are speeding through chapters! It looks like I've got my work cutout for me this year!

So here's my solution:
~I have GOT to meet with my lowest group daily!
~ Everyone in the middle will get a guided reading group 3x/week.
~ And then there's my 'high' ones!!...

Unfortunately, all of my 'high' kids aren't reading at the same level, which makes guided reading groups very difficult. So I've devised a system!!...

Each one of my high kids will no longer get a guided reading group, but instead a 1-on-1 meeting with me!!!

I will help them select a 'just right book'. Then, at our meetings I will:
1) Listen to him read...take notes all the while.
2) Suggest a possible strategy for him to work on.
3) Record the 'goal strategy' in his Personal Reading Folder.
4) Then plan make a plan with the student as to when our next meeting will take place.
5) The student will then read independently for the next day or so, keeping in mind the strategy we discussed, and recording evidence of that strategy in his Reading Folder.
6) When we meet again (a day or so later), we will discuss what he learned from the strategy and how he used it in his reading.


Now, 'what strategies' you might ask??? We use the fabulous Daily 5 in my classroom!! I have made a packet that I keep in MY guided reading binder that lists all the strategies from the CAFE menu AND I have listed evidence for each one!!

Don't do the work!!! Just download it! This ones on me :)

Crossing that Midline!

I can't get this song out of my head!!!! Whole Brain Teaching says we need to get those kiddies 'crossing the midline'. That means crossing one side of the body to the other. Long story short- it gets both sides of the brain working, and this song is just one fun way to get the kids to do it! Enjoy!

 

 

PS. He's got a bunch of other songs on Youtube too!!

Whole Brain Teaching

 

I'm sure you have all seen this video by now?!? This method is called 'Whole Brain Teaching'. It's an awesome way of keeping the kids engaged! I love this and my kids are responding so well to it! Here are some cute, FREE posters I found to go along with it...

 

(just click on the pic)

I discovered these awesome posters on a blog I've been following called "A Year of Many Firsts"

 

Here's another option, also FREE. This one is curtousy of '3rd Grade Thoughts'

 

 



Making Words During Guided Reading

Thank you Jan Richardson!!! I am head-over-heels in love with your 'magnetic letter tray' idea. I bought a 4-pack at Walmart for around $8.00. It saves me a ton of time with my guided reading prep. No more fishing out all those magnetic letters ahead of time.

My 1 suggestion for readers: I prefer to use magnetic letters that have consonants in one color and vowels in another!