Saturday, November 23, 2013

My New and Improved Daily 5!

I finally finished my first round of the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation Assessments.  WHEW!  I chose the first round to be focused on math.  I wasn't nervous because my students LOVE math and it is something that we do every day.  The electricity in my school ended up being off for 3 hours that day of my observation but I am lucky enough to have a classroom that gets good afternoon sun.  I love using technology and student fact rotation and my whole group items were all on the computer.  I decided to make a go at the lesson anyway- without lights or power!  :)  My students did a fantastic job and I was so proud of them for making good choices especially with the excitement of no power!

I had my post conference and have already started to think about my next observation in January.  I will be teaching reading.  I have built in differentiation already but while looking at the rubric- I started to get nervous that I don't have enough differentiation!  At a professional development meeting a couple of weeks ago my team and I sat down and started to think of a tic/tac/toe board to allow more Gardner/ Bloom's choices.  I went from these and created boards for read to self (fiction and non-fiction), work on writing. vocabulary (well-the more difficult board is adapted by my lovely 3rd grade friend), and word work.

So I just slightly adapted my schedule and added the boards to my reading block.  For the next couple of weeks I am going to have our 3rd grade buddies come and practice using the boards with us.  Most of these are choices that students already know how to do- they just may not have seen it in this format.

Here is an overview of my block:

Reading Block

8:55-9:10 Guided Reading Group and Work on Writing

*Students use Work on Writing choice boards in page protector sleeves and mark off when they write the story.  Often students take 2-3 days to finish their writing.  So each writing choice board lasts 2-4 weeks.

All choices have been taught and practiced individually before they are given the choice boards.

9:10-9:30 Whole Group Comprehension

*We have a focus text of the week from our reading series.  On Monday we listen to the story and use stop and talking points with partners.  Next we either introduce or review our Reading Power comprehension skill song and discuss how to use the strategy.  (Make connections, ask questions, retell, make inferences etc.)

*On Tuesday we listen to the story again but stop and retell after every two pages using motions with a partner.  Next we review the song and ask for volunteers to tell how they used the specific comprehension skill.

*On Wednesday we have partners discuss how they use the comprehension skill before reading the book.  Then we read the book and I stop halfway through and ask partners to share how they used the comprehension skill.  Finally we finish the book and I have partners discuss how they used the comprehension skill again/ fill out an organizer together.

*On Thursday students take our reading series multiple choice comprehension assessment.  Students are also asked to read a book and fill out an organizer using the target comprehension skill.

*On Friday students are asked to share their organizer from the day before with a partner.

9:30-9:45 Guided Reading and Fiction Read to Self

*Students read a fiction book and complete activities off of one of the fiction read to self charts.

9:45-10:00 Guided Reading and Non-Fiction Read to Self

* Students read a non-fiction book and complete activities off of one of the non-fiction read to self charts.

***I have 2 back to back rotations because intervention students are pulled out and cannot miss whole group instruction.  This is also why the more difficult rotations are planned for when struggling students are pulled out.

10:00-10:20 Word Study

*Monday- students are given a spelling pre-assessment using words from our reading series.  If students pass all words- they are given 2 challenge word lists (1 list for home and the other the student glues into their cheap spiral word study notebook.)  Then students are introduced to the 2 new common core vocabulary words for the week.  If they don’t pass all words- they are given 1 list to glue into their word work notebook.

*Tuesday-Thursday there are 2- ten minute group rotations

First Grade List Group

 
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
1st Rotation
Introduce new sort cards, model sort and ask students to discuss in partners how the words were sorted.  Give students new cards- have them cut out the cards and repeat the same sort.  They will keep their cards in a baggie and write the words for the sort in their word work notebook.  Review one of the vocabulary words with students.
Students share what they did the day before for vocabulary and word work.  Students complete the same sort from yesterday but as a speed sort.  Students suggest new ways to sort the words and then students complete the sort suggested.
Students share what they did the day before for vocabulary and word work.  Students are given a pre-assessment for their spelling words that they will take tomorrow.  The missed words are assigned as words to focus on during word work.  If no words are missed- students are encouraged to practice words for next week.
2nd Rotation
Student practices 1 new vocabulary words.  If finish early/ get stuck- they move on to word work (where they practice their spelling words.)
Student practices 1 new vocabulary words.  If finish early/ get stuck- they move on to word work (where they practice their spelling words.)
Students start word work or practice more ways to review the new vocabulary words.

 

Challenge Word Group

 
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
1st Rotation
Student practices 1 new vocabulary words.  If finish early/ get stuck- they move on to word work (where they practice their spelling words.)
Student practices 1 new vocabulary words.  If finish early/ get stuck- they move on to word work (where they practice their spelling words.)
Students start word work or practice more ways to review the new vocabulary words.
 
2nd Rotation
Ask students to share what they worked on for one of the vocabulary words.  Introduce new sort cards, model sort and ask students to discuss in partners how the words were sorted.  Give students new cards- have them cut out the cards and repeat the same sort.  They will keep their cards in a baggie and write the words for the sort in their word work notebook. 
Students share what they did the day before for vocabulary and word work.  Students complete the same sort from yesterday but as a speed sort.  Students suggest new ways to sort the words and then students complete the sort suggested.
Students share what they did the day before for vocabulary and word work.  Students are given a pre-assessment for their spelling words that they will take tomorrow.  The missed words are assigned as words to focus on during word work.  If no words are missed- students are encouraged to practice words for next week.

10:20-10:35 Guided Reading and Word Work

*Students complete word work by practicing their spelling words in their word work notebook and a choice board.  If they feel that they have mastered their list anytime during the week- they are encouraged to use a dictionary and write their own list of words that they do not know.

 

 

 

***I Use some of these vocabulary words/ cards:


 

*Read to self takes place throughout the rotations.  Students use Raz-Kids and are scheduled accordingly to miss a rotation that is either too difficult, which often results in behavior problems.  I also make sure that students are not scheduled during a rotation that they really need to practice. 


Here is a peak at what I uploaded to TPT Daily 5 Choice Boards (It is on sale now!)







 

 

 

 

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Accountability needed?- pin it to win it

I absolutely adore my class. 
They have character, spunk, and are not afraid to get loose!  :)
During the past few weeks we have had a lot of fun activity days including: Candy Corn Bandit, Fall party, 50th day, voting day (which was SUPER fun- I'll have to write a post about it soon!), Literacy Luau etc.  This has helped attribute to the full on personalities surfacing in my 17 boy and 5 girl class.  :)

That being said- sometimes some of them need a bit of accountability!

The times where most choice is during reading and math.  So I created choice boards that will be inserted into a page protector in the front of their reading folder and front of their math folder.  They will use a dry erase marker to cross off their choices that they have made during the week.  I have many kiddos that ALWAYS choose measurement for review center.  Which this is beside the point of a review math center.  I also have kiddos that appear to be reading a book during read to self- but they may not actually be doing it.  Therefore this should help!

Here is a peak of the reading and math choice boards:





If you pin it and comment below- I'll email a copy to you for free.  :)
(Hopefully I'll all caught up on who I owe- if not- email me and demand it!)  :)

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Monday, November 4, 2013

Interactive Math Fact Books

I taught using an awesome graphing interactive whole group book last week and it made me want to make them for my future math units.

I created one for sums of ten facts and one for doubles plus 1 facts.

Here is a peak of the doubles plus 1 fact book:
 
 
 
 

We will complete these pages together whole group before we rotate to our math stations.  The last 4 pages are some of the math on my own pages that my students will complete independently.

Here is a peak at the sums of ten book:
 
 
 
 
 
I still need to write about my graphing week.  I used some incredible resources that I found on TPT.  :) 
 
Have a great week!  :)

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