Today we began our third choice for Daily Five. Students have 30 kindergarten words that they will be working on memorizing. They need to be able to read and write them by the end of the year. The words are printed on card stock in groups of five. Once they learn the five words on that page by heart, they get a star sticker and they move on to the next list. I sent home a copy of these words with the curriculum packet last week. If students learn all 30 words, they will receive the next 30 words to work on. Students have lots of choice for materials to use during word work. Play doh, dry erase markers and white boards, sand, magnetic letters, tile letters, markers for rainbow write. Please see our shutterfly account for pictures from today's word work! This is our third independent chart that we have made as a class for Daily 5 (we have already learned Read to Self and Work on Writing), and I was so impressed that students could name all the ways that they can be independent! Seriously amazing!!! Thank you for your donations to our class! Our wish list has been taken care of and we now have the materials that we need! Thank you, thank you!!!
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We had our first visit from our fourth grade buddies in Mr. Reardon's class. Students read books with their buddy today. We have buddies every two weeks. We read with our buddies, do art projects with our buddies, and sometimes have recess with our buddies. See our shutterfly account for pictures!
Our class would love:
Sidewalk chalk Play dough 4 pencil boxes Magnetic letters (Medium size) Kinetic Sand Please be sure to stop by our classroom (in the hall) to sign up on the volunteer calendar. I would love to have volunteers beginning in October for Writer's Workshop on Wednesdays and Thursdays (10-10:40) and Computer Lab on Friday (1:40-2:10).
I am very sorry to say that my throat culture came back positive for strep throat this evening. With that being said, I have to be away from work for 24 hours, which overlaps with curriculum night tomorrow night. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. However, I plan to send home all of the information that I was going to pass out to you on Wednesday, when I return to work. I am available right after school next week if you would like to set up a time to go over any questions regarding curriculum.
During curriculum night, I usually spend most of the time talking about what volunteering looks like in my classroom and what a typical day looks like. I plan to email you a time for our parent/teacher conference, which will take place on Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22. There is no school for students on those days. Volunteering: This year, I would like to have parents sign up to come in during our writer's workshop block on Wednesdays and Thursdays beginning in October. The time for our writer's workshop is 10:00-10:40. I like to have one volunteer per day. I would also like to have one parent volunteer on Fridays during our computer lab from 1:40-2:10. I will also have a weekly prep spot for parents to sign up to do prep in the building for me (cutting, copying, etc.). The day/time that I would like a prep helper is Tuesday from 8-9. I will hang a calendar in the hall this week right outside my classroom and you can sign up on the days that you would like to come in to volunteer. You can sign up before or after school or if you are in the building during the day. In the past, I have had volunteers sign up once a week and others who only came in once or twice throughout the year. Daily Schedule: In terms of our daily schedule, in the morning we have our literacy and writing block and in the afternoon, we have math, specials (P.E., music, library, counseling, computer lab), social studies/science and explore. I hope that you are all checking the blog and shutterfly account. See below for website links. Please let me know if you have any questions. And, again, I am so sorry to miss curriculum night tomorrow. Mrs. Ronyak (across the hall in room 100) has offered to host anyone who would still like to attend tomorrow evening. We have very similar teaching styles and collaborate on everything that we teach. Hope you are all staying well! Students have been working hard on building their reading stamina. We made our first Daily Five independence chart where students listed ways in which they could be a successful reader. While students are busy working independently on reading (and the other four options), I can work with students one on one and in small groups. I posted pictures on the blogs of students working on their stamina. Our goal is 20-25 minutes! Right now, we have made it to five minutes! Our first writing unit, Launching Writing Workshop, will introduce students to what writing will look like this year in our classroom. We will be learning expectations and procedures for our Writing Workshop time so students will become confident and independent writers by the end of the Kindergarten year. Students will…
Students also voiced their hopes and dreams for the year as we continue to work on making our classroom agreements. Students are also learning three ways to read a book and how to choose good fit books for their book boxes.
It won’t be long until you hear your child talking about “The Daily Five” and CAFÉ.
The Daily Five is a way of structuring the reading block so that every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research-based tasks are ones that will have the biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as well as help foster children who love to read and write. Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given independent practice time to read and write independently while I provide focused, intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students. When it is up and running smoothly, students will be engaged in the Daily Five, which are comprised of:
There are very specific behavior expectations that go with each Daily 5 component. We will spend our first weeks working intensely on building our reading and writing stamina, learning the behaviors of the Daily 5 and fostering our classroom community. I will also spend time learning about your child’s strengths and greatest needs as a reader in order to best plan for each student’s instruction. One thing you’ll notice is that I will not be sending home worksheets. While worksheets keep students busy, they don’t really result in the high level of learning I want for your child. Instead, your child will be taught to select “Good Fit Books” or books they can read, understand and are interested in, which they will read during Daily 5. They will be spending most of their time actually reading, which research supports as the number one way to improve reading. I anticipate the motivation and enjoyment of reading will skyrocket when this gift of choosing their own books is accompanied by extended practice and specific reading instruction for each individual child. Daily 5 is how we schedule our literacy block. CAFE is what we study during this time. CAFE is an acronym for the four major components of reading. They are:
As you can see, I am excited about giving your child the opportunity to be involved in a structure that will have a positive effect on their education. Please think of our classroom as you visit garage sales or clean your own child’s bookcase. It is my goal to make our classroom library as appealing as your favorite bookstore for browsing. Thank you for taking home projects in the parent take home tub outside of my classroom. I put a few more in there today, and I will have a few more projects next week. Thank you!
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AuthorThis is my sixth year teaching Kindergarten at a wonderful school in SE Portland. Archives
April 2016
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