Thursday 28 March 2013
Student of the Week- March 25- 28
Jesse
Jesse did a wonderful job reading his poster to his classmates today and answering their questions. He also told us about his favorite stuffy, Koda, that he has had since he was only one year old.
Sunday 3 March 2013
Classroom Constellations
After learning about constellations in our solar systems, students created some of their own.
Friday 1 March 2013
DAILY 5
You have probably heard your son or daughter talking about Daily 5 in our classroom. In reading, the classroom structure we use is called “Daily Five." The Daily Five is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like,
and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.
When all five tasks have been introduced and the children are fully
engaged in reading and writing activities, I am able to work with small groups and confer with children one on one. We have been at this stage since Christmas break. This structure is effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to Daily Five time. Some of the student-initiated activities I see this month are beginning graphic novels, chapter books, picture books, and writing using alliteration. Ask your child about Daily Five and see what he/she has to say. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina and maybe you will even hear about some of the fantastic things your child has written, read, or listened to during our structured reading time. The best part about this program is that the students really look forward to the reading and writing and they are engaged in literacy centers in a very meaningful way.
The five tasks include:
1. Read to self
*Each student has a book bin with "just-right" books, a poetry duotang, and a personal dictionary. As a class we have built up our reading stamina to 30 minutes and during this time they are required to "stay in one place, remain quiet and calm, get started right away, and read the whole time." We've been practicing this since September and our first try only lasted 4 minutes. We've come a long way!!
2. Read to someone
*Students choose a partner and take turns reading to one another. The boys below are demonstrating "elbow, elbow, knee, knee" as practice their reading. Our class has also been teaching our little buddies this technique when they read to us twice a week.
3. Work on Writing
*Students have many activities they can do during work on writing. It is often a time they can extend what they are learning in Language Arts (ie. write an acrostic or sense poem, write animal facts, write a story or journal narrative, etc.).
Dominic is using all the classmates' names to write alliteration phrases. For example, "Ava the adventurous."
4. Word Work
*At the moment this is typically a very popular literacy center and students can search for interesting, "triple-scoop" words, practice spelling words, etc. They use supplies such as magnetic letters, the Smart board, white boards, alphabet chip cards, plasticine, and stamps to help them practice new words or words they need to learn to spell correctly. We've also played BOGGLE once or twice as a group.
Ali is playing "Missing Letter" with her list words.
Keira is practicing words with alphabet chips and silly letters.
5. Listening to Reading
*Students typically listen to books at the listening center but our system isn't working at the moment. They are listening to me read the novel, "Despereaux," aloud.
and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.
When all five tasks have been introduced and the children are fully
engaged in reading and writing activities, I am able to work with small groups and confer with children one on one. We have been at this stage since Christmas break. This structure is effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to Daily Five time. Some of the student-initiated activities I see this month are beginning graphic novels, chapter books, picture books, and writing using alliteration. Ask your child about Daily Five and see what he/she has to say. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina and maybe you will even hear about some of the fantastic things your child has written, read, or listened to during our structured reading time. The best part about this program is that the students really look forward to the reading and writing and they are engaged in literacy centers in a very meaningful way.
The five tasks include:
1. Read to self
*Each student has a book bin with "just-right" books, a poetry duotang, and a personal dictionary. As a class we have built up our reading stamina to 30 minutes and during this time they are required to "stay in one place, remain quiet and calm, get started right away, and read the whole time." We've been practicing this since September and our first try only lasted 4 minutes. We've come a long way!!
 |
| I caught Hannah "Reading to Self" this morning. She is engrossed in the Harry Potter series and is often so "into" her book that she doesn't hear the chimes ring when it is time to switch activities. |
2. Read to someone
*Students choose a partner and take turns reading to one another. The boys below are demonstrating "elbow, elbow, knee, knee" as practice their reading. Our class has also been teaching our little buddies this technique when they read to us twice a week.
3. Work on Writing
*Students have many activities they can do during work on writing. It is often a time they can extend what they are learning in Language Arts (ie. write an acrostic or sense poem, write animal facts, write a story or journal narrative, etc.).
 |
| Matthew is beginning his "Minecraft at Christmas" graphic novel. He's including sound words and speech bubbles for his characters. |
4. Word Work
*At the moment this is typically a very popular literacy center and students can search for interesting, "triple-scoop" words, practice spelling words, etc. They use supplies such as magnetic letters, the Smart board, white boards, alphabet chip cards, plasticine, and stamps to help them practice new words or words they need to learn to spell correctly. We've also played BOGGLE once or twice as a group.
 |
| Brooke, Shayla, and Sara are practicing this week's list words on Smart Exchange. |
 |
| Teagan started this activity on Thursday and motivated a number of students to write their list words over and over and over again. I promise I didn't make them do it!! |
5. Listening to Reading
*Students typically listen to books at the listening center but our system isn't working at the moment. They are listening to me read the novel, "Despereaux," aloud.
Anti-Bullying/Kindness Day Activities
Student of the Week- February 25- March 1
Keira
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| Keira shared interesting facts about herself and told her classmates about her two favorite stuffies. One of the stuffies has been around before Keira was even born and she got the other after she hurt her eye. She also showed us her special fairy and pegasus figurines. Keira did a great job presenting today! |
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| Keira with Victory and Koalie. |
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