Looking Back at the First Week

These first 6.5 days of school have been pretty eventful for many reasons. First an foremost, our first week of school was 1.5 days long due to historic flooding. Many of us are still trying to recover from the rain last weekend, we are also moving on and trying to get into a routine for this new year. But it was eventful and educational for many other reasons, too.

1. It takes a LONG time for 22 buses to be dismissed from a school. We need to find something more constructive for the kids to do while they are waiting.

2. Having a great student teacher who asks some fantastic questions had really made me reflect much more upon what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I know that I am improving as a teacher thanks to her.

3. I've really taken our move to the new building, a new grade level, and a new structure (teaching just Comm Arts and Social Studies) to make a brand new start. It's been a lot of work and will continue to be, but it will be very worth it.

4. It seems as though I'm not the only one who is really taking this opportunity to make a fresh start. I am truly enjoying my new teams, and I'm thankful that somebody had the vision to move me to this grade. I don't think I would have been as happy anywhere else.

5. Those Two Sisters really do have something with their Daily 5. I love it, and I am loving making it my own even more. So happy I finally came to that realization.

6. Even though I've already been through one year as a PLPeep, I realize there is so much I do not know and can't wait to learn it!

7. Cement in the basement takes a REALLY long time to dry. Apparently it take about the same amount of time as it takes for my husband and I to pick new carpet to cover that formerly wet cement.


And finally, something I already knew but love to be reminded of:

When terrible things happen you truly, truly see how good people are. I continued to be warmed by all of the amazing gifts people here are giving to each other as we all recover from the floods. If only we could some how capture this and remember to share this good ALL the time.

Learning...... Learning on Sunday Morrrrrrning

Okay, okay, I know - that was a cheesy title. Just be thankful you weren't here in my living room to hear me singing it! ;)

With the state of education today, I can pretty much expect to pay out of pocket for any events I would like to attend (like TedxNYED and potentially ISTE in June) so more and more I appreciate the wonderful PLN I have developed online.

Yesterday evening I participated in the #elemchat that focused on teaching students about digital citizenship. As always it was a wonderful discussion, and during that time Aviva (@Grade1) mentioned how she uses Evernote in her classroom. I had heard of Evernote, but as of last night it was on my "things to learn when I have time to figure it out" list. Several people asked Aviva to write more about how she uses it, and she did not disappoint.

Her top ten list of ways to use Evernote is extremely informative, and the comments that went along with it also showed me that I needed to move Evernote to the "let's do some learning on a Sunday morning" list. So while I was reading her post and the comments, I went and downloaded the software, signed up for an account, installed the clippers and got myself started. My PLN provided me with an opportunity to learn about something new and gave me specific ways to use it in my classroom. At no charge to me or my school district.

The best part of the whole experience this morning is that a coworker and I were just talking this week about how we would like to do our Daily 5 / CAFE data collection next year, and we talked about doing everything electronically. I have already shared Aviva's post with her, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can create together. Thanks to my PLN I have a workable way to solve a problem I was pondering this week.

Getting information from people around the world, and trying out new things. Now that's what I call learning on a Sunday morning! Thanks, PLN!!

Daily 5 ~ My Style

As I mentioned in my last post, it seemed as though fate made me read the book The Daily 5. We have been given the opportunity to "take back" our kids and use guided reading groups so I was trying to figure out what guided reading was going to look like in my intermediate classroom. I have seen guided reading groups done by the Primary Friends (yep, they're allllllll primary teachers, with the exception of one brave soul I encouraged to defect and join me in the intermediate ranks!) and have always wanted to make it happen, but I just wasn't sure how.

My natural instinct was to look for centers. Honestly, though, the thought of having to create centers and then check all that busy work was not appealing to me. It was during these searches that I kept bumping into the Daily 5 and why I decided to get the book. Thank you, Universe, for sending me the message. It makes complete and total sense to limit my whole group instruction time, but I just wasn't sure how to do it. I knew that working in guided reading groups on my students' level was what to do, but what about all the "non-negotiables" I had to teach? At some point I realized that just because the lessons are non-negotiable doesn't mean the same thing for the worksheets. To be quite blunt, the practice pages that go along with our anthology lessons suck. Most of them don't even reinforce the skill I'm supposed to be teaching. So the banishment of the worksheets has begun. I sorta asked permission... if necessary I will beg for forgiveness later.

No more worksheets,

Lots of books!

No more teacher's dirty looks!!

Technically I'm not going to be doing the Daily 5. I'm going to pretty much be doing the Daily 3, maybe the Daily 4 one day if I'm lucky. No matter the numbers the premise is the same. When my kids are not working with me in a guided reading or skill group, they are going to be reading, writing and working with words. The kids are going to be involved in setting their personal goals, and their parents (whether they like it or not) are going to have some assignments to work on at home to help my 13 below level readers meet their grade level benchmarks. There will be no worksheets and no busy work just real reading and writing.

My days will generally look like this:

1. Grammar Lesson

2. Daily 5 block - this is where I'll be meeting with Tier 2 kids from our team and my aide will be working with my solid on level or advanced readers

3. Reading Skill or Strategy Lesson

4. Daily 5 block - I'll meet with one of my two groups of below level readers and either check in with my on level or advanced readers or have individual conferences

5. Writing / Phonics / Structural Analysis Lesson

6. Daily 5 block - I'll meet with my other below level group and then have individual writing conferences with students

Fridays will be my day for progress monitoring and goal setting with the kids.

That's how my vision boils down on paper. This week we'll see, sorta, how it works. I'll be spending most of my time doing my individual goal setting conferences, and then next week I'll really be working more with the guided reading groups. Once I have this tweaked I'll need to start thinking about how technology and collaboration fits into this plan. But let's just take one step at a time...