Monday, June 18, 2012

Daily Five: Chapter 1

Lory's Page
 I love Daily 5!  I have been using it since I returned to first grade 2 years ago.  Previously I had used a system of center rotations very similar to what Fountas and Pinnell outlined in Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children.  Although it wasn't a bad system, I did lose a lot of my group time putting out fires.  The listening center group was arguing over who was going to push the buttons, the kids at the ABC center were playing and not building words or the independent reading group was doing everything BUT reading independently.  I found myself resorting to worksheets some days just to keep them quiet.  To me, the biggest plus of the Daily 5 structure is the way you teach and practice the routines. Once those routines are established the teacher is free to focus on working with small groups or conferencing with individual readers.  I plan on using this same routine of building independence and stamina for math stations this year.
I had the opportunity to attend one of The Sisters' workshops 2 years ago.  They really are amazing!  I was particularly impressed with some of their strategies for working with what they call "barometer" children.
I am looking forward to hearing what other think about Daily 5 and sharing what I have learned!

Switching gears for a moment, I need some organizational advice!  One of my goals for this next year is to improve my teaching in small groups.  I am looking for a good way to organize word work and sight word activities for use in guided reading. How can I organize all of the wonderful games,activities and sorts that I have found on blogs and TPT so I can easily pull them out for use in small group when needed when I notice a group or individual needs practice with certain phonics patterns or other word attack strategies?  I was thinking of binders; one for short vowel patterns, one for long vowels and vowel pairs, etc.  How do you organize your guided reading materials?
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5 comments:

  1. TammyJune 18, 2012 at 4:04 PM

    I am also going to use the same routine of building independence and stamina for my math stations. I LOVED my reading block last year but my math time seemed out of control compared to reading.

    I am interested to see how people respond to your organizational issue. I too need some help in that area. Right now I have plastic drawers that have my supplies in them. It has worked but I don't store all of my supplies in those so when I need some new, I am searching for them in cabinets.

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  2. Mrs. SaoudJune 18, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    I read Debbie Diller's Literacy Work Stations and the book had lots of wonderful tips on organization. I find the binder challenging but did locate an online binder where you can house all your resources and print. If you are using color, then I wouldn't reprint. Instead, I think you should organize (file) content by common core standards. You'll be ahead of the game for 2nd grade if you start now. =D

    Cheryl~

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  3. LoryJune 18, 2012 at 8:34 PM

    Hi Carol... thanks for linking up. I giggled while reading your post and the fires that we ALL put out each day... no wonder we go home so tired :)
    I'm excited to hear organization ideas from those that have tried the program. I love the Debbie Diller's book mentioned by Cheryl... she does have some fabulous ideas. I used her strategies last year with my math and buddied it up with the Common Core. It worked fabulous!! My kids really enjoyed their math station time and the test results at the end of the year were great... I give the credit to her fabulous ideas!!
    Can't wait to hear the ideas/suggestions that our blog friends offer us.
    Thanks again!!
    Lory

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  4. TammyJune 20, 2012 at 5:19 PM

    I'm glad to hear that you are talking about Debbi Diller's Work Stations Book. I just bought that book in April and have not read it yet. I sounds like it would be a good read for me. I am always reading about READING and I really need to focus some of my energy on Math. Thanks for posting this.

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  5. Ms. AbrahamJune 20, 2012 at 5:29 PM

    I am also a 30+yrs teacher.... half that in first, then most of the rest in 2nd....with the past two in kindger. ...which I love love love. I have not been successful doing centers and small groups without the "putting out fires" too much of the time. I just ordered the Daily 5 book and am looking forward to your comments as I read along. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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