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This going to be a LONG week!  We have our first round of conferences this week.  I still am trying to wind down from our Fall party from Friday and our annual tailgate!

I am beat already and don't have the energy to post!

So, the first 3 people to comment on this post with their email and the name of their top wish for one of my TPT items will get it for FREE!

Here is my store link.  Happy shopping- remember the first 3 to post their email and the product that they would like will receive it for free!  ;)  I figured that I'd make it easy!  ;)

-Danielle :)

Accountability buddy

My principal suggested that I try giving one of my students an accountability buddy.  I asked my wonderful custodians (one during mid-day to check in and one to check in at the end of the day) to check in with my little guy. 

I created this form and social story to try out.

If you would like a copy to tweak and make your own, just email me at daniellelasota@gmail.com and ask!  I will send you a copy!  :)

Have a very happy Wednesday evening!

-Danielle

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Round 1 of our parent-teacher conferences are next week!

Some of my pre-conference forms have been rolling in and I have noticed very similar questions that have been asked.  I created a handout to give my parents at conferences.

I also give each parent a list of quarterly expectations, an apple and my students make an apple shaped parents are teachers too poem.

These are the items that I show parents during conferences:

-Their child's DRA, fluency and sight word graph (quarterly expectation is labeled)  You can download these for FREE here.

-Statistics from my class DRA, fluency and sight words in graph form.  (I do this so I can show parents where their child lies in my class.  When I first started this I was unsure if it was a good idea but I keep doing it because I have many parents that don't realize that I have many students equally as high as they their child etc.)

-I also spend the time creating an action plan to help their child with a skill (either to catch up or enrichment.)

1st Grade Common Core Standards Revised

I revised my recording common core standards to include skill cards.  If you already purchased it you can re-download it to receive the skill cards.  ;)

Here is a peak at the new cards!  ;)

These are yet another option of how you can record your student mastery.  My fantastic kindergarten team at my school use skill cards.  When they introduce a skill, they add a skill card to book rings for each student.  When a student masters the skill, a sticker is added to the back of the card.  I started using skill cards 3 years ago using Ohio Standards. 

These are new skill cards for the 1st grade common core standards.  :)

Have a fantastic Monday!

-Danielle

The Need for Change

This year is a more challenging year than ever before.  I have 25 students that are divided by reading either almost a second grade level OR they are under my reading expectation.  I really only have about 1-2 students that are right where I expect them to be at this point in the year.  With that being said, I also have half of my class that is having a hard time being independent.  I love the daily 5 and have used it for 5 years but I have to adapt my teaching this year to meet the very diverse needs of my students.

Here is my plan:

I am planning on having my comprehension group (most of them are very independent workers) monitor their own learning.  I am completing giving them their materials and letting them go!  *Please change the word "their" to 'they' above!  :)

I will be teaching the remaining 14 with the accuracy group.  You will notice that most of it is completed in whole group or just quickly with a partner. 

I created sight word practice sheets that are the words that cannot be sounded out for my accuracy group to complete as I am teaching a quick comprehension lesson to my comprehension group.

I also have a 15 minute read to self time daily that I only introduce and hand out new leveled readers to students.  I have been unable to do groups due to the lack of independence in my room this year.

After I introduce the book, I have students read one on one with me.  This allows me the freedom to walk around and make my presence known.  :)

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My students have needed something to hold them more accountable during read to self.  I was inspired by Hilary Lewis' response homework logs and created a reading response notebook using the same idea.  My students read one book, then fill in their reading response and after that just read to self for the rest of the time. 

I have an hour long writing workshop time which is working very well.  Almost all of my students are very engaged during this time.  I am very pleased with their eagerness to write.   

We also have a ten minute long read to someone time.  During this time I am still only walking around and monitoring.  I am hoping to fit some more structured teaching in here soon!

This is all new to me... no small groups!!!  Any suggestions?!?!?

-Danielle 

Turkey Unit is Finished!

I finished my turkey unit just in time to make all of the copies!  November is a BUSY month with parent teacher conferences so I always try to copy what I can ahead of time!

Here is a peak:

You can get your copy here.  :)

I will take a photo of my students' turkeys.  They are hilarious!  For the first time ever I had someone disguise the turkey as a chain saw!  I also had princesses, asparagus (they said, "Who eats that stuff anyway?"), rabbits etc.

Happy Friday evening!  To any central Ohio teachers- I hope that you enjoyed your COTA day!  :)  I spent mine napping and watching pay-per-view movies!  :)

-Danielle

Animal Report Collaboration!

I have been really proud of my kids this week.  I normally teach animals in the Spring when their writing skills are more developed.  The first grade teachers decided to teach it in the Fall and form a shared animal hallway display.  (I will post photos as soon as we finish!)

I had my students write reports together with the simple report form that I created.  As a part of the report they have to create a poster with facts.  They had to discuss and decide together on the background, border and heading for their animals.  I just LOVED listening to their logic and how they decided to compromise.  "Well, I want to make green stripes and you want to make pink polka dots so why don't we make green polka dots?"  I was just gushing with pride!

I took a lot of pictures but this is the ONLY one that you cannot see their little faces. 

They also have been doing well with their animal report publishing.  This photo is still missing the introduction and conclusion pages because those group members are finishing it up.

I can't wait to use and develop more group projects to do this year because they did so well! 

Tomorrow is the last kid day for this week!  Yay!  ;)

-Danielle