Angela, I love the videos that you created for word work. Would you please tell me what you used to create them? Thanks so much!
Cathy -------------- Original message from "Angela Almond" <angela_alm...@scs.k12.nc.us>: -------------- > mosaic@literacyworkshop.org writes: > >Hi, > > > >I'm planning to start The Daily Five next year with my second > >graders. I have read the book and have bought The CAFE book as well. > >I have a few questions. > > **I teach fourth grade so keep that in mind while I respond!** > > > > > >1. How long is YOUR Daily Five? I don't know how the sisters fit the > >DF along with writing, math, science, social studies and specials all > >into the afternoon. I've done the math and it literally does not add > >up to the amount of minutes in the day. And that does not even take > >into account recess (which all our kids need), transitions, getting > >ready for home, birthday parties, assemblies, etc. What works for > >you? > > **I actually do a Weekly Five because I only have 30 minutes of Daily Five > time each day. I only teach reading so in each of my blocks, I teach for > 45 minutes and then do Daily Five the last 30.** > > > > > >2. After you do your mini-lesson ( say a comprehension strategy) and > >students make a choice, do you expect the students who are at the DF > >component that corresponds to the mini-lesson (in this example RS and > >R) to be working on that comprehension strategy? How does that work > >for with word work? Maybe there is a closed sort that corresponds > >with the word work lesson, but you haven't taught that lesson yet and > >students are working at that station. Do they just work on that > >closed sort the next day? > > **I had the kids show their thinking if they were reading with a partner, > listening to reading, or reading to self. This meant they had to put a > sticky note with their thinking on a bulletin board. Sometimes I would > direct them. If we had been working on making connections, I would say > during the transition time "When you show me your thinking, I want you to > make a connection." Then the last 2-3 minutes of Daily Five time I would > say "Show me your thinking." Kids would take their favorite sticky from > their book and put it on the bulletin board. As everyone was getting > ready to change classes, I would read a couple out loud. Sometimes, I let > them just think freely with no guidance.** > > **As far as word work goes, I had 2 things they did each week. One was a > Making Words lesson that I recorded myself teaching. It's kind of hard to > explain so here's my website that you can check them out on. > http://eastscs.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=286211&pageId=2520070 > Fourth graders each have their own laptop so this was easy in my room but > this may be difficult if there is a limited number of computers in the > room. The other activity they did was a word stem activity. I would have > a stem (like "urb"). They had to add a word with that stem on a poster > board, write a sentence on a sentence strip using their word and put it in > a pocket chart, and then do a short activity using the stem in their word > work journal.** > > > > > > > >3. How long do you keep the word work materials available before > >changing them? A week? > > **I kept the word work materials available for a week usually. However, > if it was a short week or things were a bit busy, I might keep the same > materials available for 2 weeks and if a student had already done it, they > just wouldn't do word work the second week.** > > > > > >4. After reading the chapter on choice, I realized that the teachers > >(I must have missed it somewhere earlier in the book) are assigning > >which component the students will be working on. How have you done > >this? > > **I assigned students days to do word work. All others were free choice. > I have a list of students and I call out one child at a time. They tell > me what they want to do and I write the abbreviation down beside their > name. If a student chose something that I did not want him/her to do, I > would ask them to see me before they got started. I would then talk them > into changing their mind. I made sure the kids felt it was free choice > (even when I made the choice).** > > > > > >5. I didn't see any trouble shooting in the Listen to Reading about > >the scenario when half of the class wants to RS or LR. How do you > >make sure that each child does all of the components? I noticed there > >were only 4 listening spots. How do you make sure everyone gets their > >turn? > > **In fourth grade, I actually didn't care if they did the listen to > reading or partner reading each week. My only requirements were Read to > Self and Word Work at least once a week. As far as listening to reading, > my school has a subscription to Dell Sylvan publishing that has e-books > online. So, that was their listening to reading option and since each > student has their own laptop, that worked out well.** > > > > > >I appreciate all your help. It seems that there are some management > >issues that weren't addressed in the book. > > **This was my first year doing Daily Five and I am the only teacher in my > county that uses it. It has been my saving grace since SSR was not > working in my classroom. I took the summer before and spent a few weeks > picturing how I wanted it to look in my classroom. I wrote up a notebook > full of notes and then typed up my plan. The great thing about Daily Five > is that it is flexible enough for anyone to take it and make it theirs! I > already have some things I'm going to change for next year-I am going to > do away with partner reading and listen to reading because I have read a > lot from others and the Sisters, themselves, that says these two are not > essential for the higher grades and my kids really abused it this year and > I am going to only do 1 word work activity each week and alternate them > between weeks.** > > **Good luck! Just make it yours!** > > > Angela Hatley Almond, NBCT > Fourth Grade > East Albemarle Elementary School > > > > > > > All email correspondence to and from this address is subject to North > Carolina Public Records Law which may result in monitoring and disclosure > to third parties, including law enforcement. > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
