Things I'm Loving

One of my classroom expectations is that my students need to track the words with their finger as they read. To make this task less "painful" for my students I bought these monster fingers at a Halloween store this year. I love them and my students got a new boost to track as they read. LOVE IT. 

Another thing I am loving this year is Daily 5 /CAFE. This is my 2nd year implementing this method and structure for ELA. It has been a way for me to differentiate my instruction without creating 5 different lesson plans. I have stumbled upon some helpful websites and blogs... LOVE IT!

OF COURSE VISIT the 2 sisters website http://www.thedailycafe.com/
http://flbreading.wikispaces.com/thedaily5
http://web.me.com/varkgirl/2nd_Grade/Management.html
http://pulaskidailyfive.blogspot.com/      



My absolute favorite things is catching my students really enjoying a book. LOVE IT!

Last Week

Last week was busy (as always). Our class used the ipad cart for the first time. We used the app "word speak" to practice the 'op' word family.

We also learned and practiced a new Daily 5 activity, Listen to Reading. Our class developed our I-Chart where we post what the students should be doing, what the teacher should be doing and the materials that we are allowed to use during this time to become independent at the activity. We also discussed why we do this activity. Some of our answers was that it is fun ! ; that we can hear what good readers sound like ; and we can become better listeners. So far we have been practicing 4 of the 5 activities... Read to Self , Work on Writing, Word Work, and now Listen to Reading.

In math we are working hard at developing our addition strategies. We have learned how to solve addition word problems using EWAL. EWAL stands for the things we need to fully answer a story problem... equation , work, answer, and label.

For writers workshop we are really focusing on developing our ideas. For the next week or two we will be writing about fall. Our lessons will focus on stretching out our writing. We will be adding sparkle words and details to make all our fall stories Fall-tabulous!

OH ! and most exciting of all this week....we will be gearing up to show off all our work at OPEN HOUSE. Looking forward to all my students becoming tour guides and taking their families around our classroom to see all the special things we have learned so far.

First Days CAFE / Daily 5

Wow everyone it has been a while! We have survived the first 10 days of school. My students are adjusting well to the responsibilities of First Grade. I am so proud of them. For my entry today I will focus on ELA and how Daily 5 and CAFE is going.

We now have 4 reading strategies on our CAFE board and we are building stamina for 3 of our Daily 5 activities. My students so far are doing Read to Self, Word Work and Work on Writing. We have created our " I " charts and are working to be Independent in these activities. The class is handleing this responsibility VERY well. Our mornings are going so smoothly and I am able to read with many students individually every day. For those you wondering how I structure my Daily 5 and CAFE here is how a typicall ELA block goes....
1. Read to Self (Daily 5 Round 1) : Every morning we begin ELA with Read to Self. I find that for my first graders having a structured time where everyone is reading allows me to circulate and meet with more students as well as manage the students better.

2. Mini Lesson : My mini lessons are skills that I pull from our Scott Foresman Reading Series. Each mini lesson focuses on either comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, or the grammar skill for the week.

3. Work on Writing (Daily 5 Round 2): This is also a structured time. Just as in Read to Self I find it easier to conference and mange the students quality of writing if they are all working on the this activity at the same time.

4. Mini Lesson

5. Student Choice (Daily 5 Round 3): This is our 3rd and final round for the day. During this time students choose which Daily 5 activity they would like to do. They check in and begin working. I take this time to meet with my Strategy Groups. My Strategy Groups are based on reading level rather than CAFE strategy. I found that first graders are working on all of the CAFE strategies as most are still emergent readers. It was difficult to conduct reading groups according to strategy. I meet with 1 group each day. If we can build more stamina and have more time then I may meet with 2 groups.

6. CAFE Lesson: Here I introduce or review a CAFE strategy. As of today we have tackled Check for Understanding, Back Up and Reread, Good Fit Books, and Tune In To Interesting Words. 

Because it is only day 10, we have not done 3 Daily 5 Rounds or met with reading groups. We are taking everything very slow :o) and we are working hard to build up our stamina. Below are some pictures of my Fabulous First Graders working hard during our ELA block. 

Picking Good Fit Books for our book boxes

Shoe Boxes for our book boxes - Thank you Diane for the amazing idea!!  Free, easy and cute. We keep all the tools we need to do ELA in these boxes. I allow my students 4 good fit books, a read a phone, strategy folder, and our "handy dandy" writing notebook. 

 Reading to Self

Helpful posters for when we need to pick a good fit book.

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.”
^{- Jacqueline Kennedy}