ReTeaching made simple

My BTSA goal is to better use assessment to plan - I think it's CSTP4 ?! So many acronyms and numbers lol. In any case, I've been working on figuring out how to best make this happen.... I've got a system going now and it seems to be working pretty well.

First things first, we have made Daily 5 a priority - the kids love it and it gives me time to meet with those small groups that need a little extra help.In the past few weeks I've gotten my self organized as far as who, what, and where I'm making this reteaching happen. 

Fridays are assessment days, we literally take like 5 tests! I'm a jerk :/ but I need to know where they are. Over the weekend, I do all of my grading based on a 5 point scale (the fist to five assessment) sending those progress reports every week is seriously keeping me on top of it!

I separate the 1s and 2s to return and keep the rest to display on our Writing To Learn wall. This is working out really well! I give feedback on the 2s, enough so that they can be redone without much additional instruction and I pull the 1s into our small group reteaching! Seriously exciting!!! Im such a dork, lol.

The nice thing is the kids get a second chance to show me what they know and/or get a little extra help from me and their grades have improved dramatically :)

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.

Class is where the heart is

I've been on vacation for a whole two weeks.... and I'm definitely ready to go back and hit the ground running to get my all stars ready for the CST. Today I made what was supposed to be a quick trip to my classroom to get everything set up for next week, and of course I ended up staying for at least 2 hours. On a happy note, I finally have the room organized the way I want! on a sad note, it took until December to get it going haha. It didn't help that when they gave me my keys in August the room was twice the size, then due to super high enrollment they literally built a wall and split my room in two - needless to say we are pretty pressed for space, but we are making it work and I am in LOVE with my classroom :D Here it is!:::!!!:::

Our classroom library, the book boxes for Daily 5 were the best dollar store find ever! check out the tupperware aisle. We've got the book return basket (blue) and the book hospital (green), pillows that the kiddos can take to be comfy during Daily 5 and our teddy bear, aptly named Someone - for when there is an odd number of students reading to someone.

The catch all corner - whiteboards/markers/erasers, Listen to Reading station  (love these wireless headphones!) writing paper, lit circle folders - each team has one, stoplights - my SOLO cup management system, BUILD math tubs, math manipulatives and extra reading anthologies.

Word wall - I printed each letter Capital and Lower case on a different colored  sheet of paper and laminated them.

Words with the sound of the week and sight words.

I only added this picture because I want to brag about the number line a little - it has really helped students who are struggling with comparing numbers.

The math corner - green pocket char holds examples, I'll put up random notes on the white board, the rest is student work - I have their hundred charts up right now.

I have a few kids who KEEP ME ON TIME! probably helps to have these above the door :)

PUBLISH - We are in between writing prompts - as you can see - this is the are reserved for publishing Star Writing :D the clothespins on a line make it super easy to put work up quickly. Each star has a students name on it.

laminated and stapled to the wall - not the prettiest most 'pintresty' thing in the world but it's working :)

My corner - I gave up the giant teacher desk for two student desks, shoe organizer, and my hanging files. I absolutely love how it is working out. Of course all my all stars names are right behind my desk :)

I attempted to add labels to my hanging organizer buuuuuut .....

A little bit of whole brain teaching :)

Classroom jobs rotate in number order.

A little bit more whole brain teaching. 

Part of our morning routine using our calendar and counting the days we have been in school.

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