Internet OBSESSED part 1

Ok, I KNOW that I definitely want my students using our class website (another blog of course! your can see it HERE if you'd like) to publish their work. Let's be honest, I LOVE the internet - and it helps that it will be really good practice for all this wonderful Common Core typing business, which I am seriously excited about! - but I kept running into privacy issues and I am not paying $30 for an edublog when I know I can figure it out for free.... again INTERNET ♥

I thought I might have them post to a google drive account, but then I'd have to get them to log in and then would they all need individual log ins? More steps. I gave in and am now IN LOVE with dropbox - the best thing about it is that it creates a folder on your computer that will automatically sync! I then went about creating a folder for each student (I numbered these, way quick-easy-reusable).

Next, I made a handy dandy HOW TO page to put up right near our computer stations, but of course we will also take notes and practice, practice, practice ------ SIDE NOTE, I have student computers this year!!!!! and there is a computer lab?!?! What!?!?! Why am I so excited about this, poor kiddos my last two years, we didn't have these types of luxuries ----- but I digress, you can download the How To Guide for free HERE

So, the plan is that I will log in to my dropbox account (this will already be logged in on the student computers in our class) and probably copy/paste their work as a blogger entry on our class site with their names and everything. My summer school kids were super excited about being published on the internet! Fingers crossed it all goes well ♥

Checking in for Daily 5

After scouring the internet and plenty of blog stalking I came full circle and decided the check in will go much more smoothly if I do it myself.... But.... What about Word Work? And Listen to Reading? And the pillows the kids can pick up and take wherever they want? These are all things there are only a certain number of. It has to be first come, first serve.... Fairness first. So I came up with this:

It's not the cutest thing you've ever seen but it works! The dashes keep track of who we start with for each new round, the L stands for library (only 2 friends at a time can trade their books out for new good fit books), the T stands for teacher - unless I pull aside a group or if I'm checking for fluency, there are 6 headphones so the first 6 to choose Listen get to do so, the same goes for word work.
Because we hardly ever have time to get to all 5 rounds in one day, I keep the same check in sheet until we do so, each round's choices are colored to match the round number - this way I can make sure that every student goes to every center even if it is not on the same day.

Daily 5, all figured out and working its magic

I don't know what I would have done this year without the Daily 5, thank god for all that blog stalking I did over the summer. I bought the sisters book online and read the entire thing cover to cover in about 2 days, easy. It is now November and my class is in full Daily 5 mode, and I might add they absolutely love it!

So here is my routine: I teach a 15min (or so) focus lesson - in this order: Vocab, Comprehension, Grammar, Word Work (spelling/phonics) and Work on Writing. In between, I say it's time to check in, and the class rings in "for Daaaaily 5" it's so frieking cute, I love those kids!

After scouring blogs, sites, and teachers pay teachers for every type of check in imaginable - I'm talking pocket charts, clips, signs, etc etc etc - I ended up doing the simplest thing, pretty much what the book suggests, I use a simple check list I made (I WILL ADD A PICTURE AS SOON AS WE GET BACK TO SCHOOL NEXT MONDAY!) for each check-in I color the Round number with a crayon and then check student choices with the same color crayon. I hang the check list up on the wall during the round, sometimes little ones forget their choice 2 minutes in! haha or they just like to double check :)

After a few days of lessons/rounds that went juuuuust a little over 15 min, we never ever had enough time to get to all 5 rounds, so we brainstormed as a class and came up with a new idea! Instead of starting over with a new checklist everyday, I keep using them until they are all filled up - this way I can make sure all my students are practicing all 5 aspects.

 I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have my students in number order, so I start with number 1 - she or he gets to choose first, the next round I start with number 2 and so on. That way it is first come first serve when it comes to both Word Work and Listen to Reading, both of which have limited materials ( I make sure to keep track of how many choose these two options )

Next, I have a Daily 5 captain every day - this friend gets to pull sticks (Popsicle sticks with every student's number on them) to excuse the class from the carpet, that way it is in random order and there are no arguments about places to sit, word work materials, etc. We ALWAYS check in at the carpet and we ALWAYS come back to the carpet at the end of each round. I swear my class practically lives on that carpet!

One last thing, I project the week's sight words on the smart board during each and every round - students who are doing Word Work, HAVE to work on these words (I have found it keeps them on task) also, at the end of each round while we wait for every one to make clean up and make it back to the carpet, students are snap spelling and reading each word, keeps them busy busy and not talking or messing around. Just a little management tid bit that is also turning out to be a great quick assessment of sight word recognition, hooray!

Moral of the story....... Seriously...... buy this book best $14 I have EVER spent - I got mine used on Half.com but there are a ton of other sites, see HERE for shopping options