Our Day in Math and Language Arts

I have not posted anything on this poor blog in so long!  I've been so busy with just you know, everything there is.  We actually have a snow day tomorrow.  As you know, in Texas that means 1/8" of snow.  Seriously, we get some pretty bad ice storms, and that is what's happening as I type.  I love knowing the night before that I can sleep in!  I hate it when they "call it" that morning.  You don't know whether you should get up or not.

I have a couple of people who have asked to see how I do my daily stations and plans.  It seemed easiest to show them by asking them to come by my classroom, but that isn't always possible.  I have definitely posted before about the way I run my math and reading stations, but here is a really detailed description for interested parties.

We do morning work daily.  Since I'm self contained, we alternate between math and LA morning work.  Some days we finish up something from the day before.  I'm including a link to a google  form that is a "mock up" of a day in those two subjects. 

Here is our math routine:
Monday- Thursday:
20' whole group lesson (this can be extended if we do something "hands on" included in the lesson.)  During this time, we set our goals for the week and glue that into their math folder.
Four 20' Rotations -
M - "Math Facts" - I have a box of math facts in the form of flash cards, wipe off cards, but usually we are working on a particular multiplication fact.

A - "At Your Seat" = seatwork.  I have a hanging file folder for each student.  In that folder, I put either a page they can all do, or I individualize for a particular student.

T - "Teacher  Time"  I call a group up to me to work in a small needs-based group. It's here I have the opportunity to extend materials for my higher kids and do interventions in the form of reteach/retest/practice with other groups. If I need to work with an individual, I will have the group do iPad apps while I work with someone from that group. I document everything and every bit of time I spend with them!  {Here} is the form for that documentation.

H - "Hands On"  This station is done on the floor and it is usually task cards, a game for two or three or something they can do together.  I teach this game station as part of my whole group time, or on a Friday when we are having a "catch up" day.  Here are a couple of ideas for that station: Part-Part-Whole puzzles and Task Cards with QR codes.
 
During the last 15-20 minutes we discuss our stations, grade something and/or write in journals.  On Fridays, we take an assessment, journal, grade, and have "free choice" stations. They are required to finish anything in their hanging file left over from the week. If they are finished or as they finish, they can choose a station to join.  iPads are usually a top choice, but we have lots of fun games and activities around the room.  One of my favorite Friday activities is to post problems around the room and have the students walk around in pairs to solve the problems together.  I usually have QR codes for grading.  Friday is usually just whatever I need it to be.  We all love a fun Friday, right!?

My favorite Guided Math organizational system comes from The Clutter-Free Classroom.  It is worth the purchase price!!  My kids read it quickly to see where they go.  Here's the link.

Daily 5 goes somewhat the same in that I do a whole group lesson for about twenty minutes (which might be guided practice of some kind,  a foldable, or a reading lesson) and we discuss procedures before I "release them in to the wild." We did lots of practicing at the beginning of the year in each station (for about six weeks) and it was well worth it. We still have to have reminders!

(On the back, I may make a special assignment for the week such as a webquest.)

I run my reading stations in using a "free choice" type of format.  I had to have accountability, however.  I came up with this form for my students to use weekly.  I have blogged about  it before, but this is the updated version I'm sharing.  I like this for reading because I can call a group of four or just one student to work with me since they are all engaged.  My sheet for each week includes "Have to do's" and "Can do's" (for when they complete the "Have to do's.")  I have an outdated SRA kit that I think is fantastic, so we use it! They have to do a Word Work,  Work on Writing, and fiction and nonfiction reading and a response sheet of their choice.  On Friday, they have to turn it all in with the plan sheet on top.  Above are the "choice areas" and the plan sheet image showing "have to do's" and "can do's".  If any of you are interested in a pdf of the plan sheet, email me and I'll send you one!  It's pretty customized, so you might just want it for a guide to make your own.

  

I am sharing the "Snap Centers" link.  {Here} is where you can get those.  There are enough ideas to keep things going for a couple of weeks or more!

I created earlier this year for some friends who were starting stations.

I think about people who haven't ventured into this station thing yet.  There are still some out there who feel it's overwhelming!  I did too.  As soon as I jumped in with both feet, I fell in love and wouldn't do it any other way!!!

New Gadget - LOVE

I think I first saw this thing on Pinterest.  Isn't that where we find all our good ideas these days?!  I have five iPad minis in my room, and of course that isn't really enough - but I'm grateful to have them!  I have missed my listening center of days gone by.  It was a tape player and headphones.  Four or five the kids could listen to one tape at the same time.  Here is my modern version that I now officially LOVE!  It is a device from Belkin.  I bought in on Amazon for under $10. It allows up to five kids to listen to the same story at my "Listen to Reading" center.  The jack will plug into any device, but it's working great for my listening station with an iPad.  The great thing is that I can let those kids listen and it "frees-up" four iPads for other activities! I'm really happy with it, can you tell?  I know these things have been around awhile, but I'm not always first in line to buy stuff like this. If you don't have one, I highly recommend.  It makes your technology work to serve more kids by using one device!

Here are a couple of my boys using an iPad with the Belkin splitter. There were actually 4 boys listening.

Everyone is "pluggin in"

...and here is the splitter (it comes in lots of colors).  Amazon {HERE}

Centers in a Snap!

It seems like I have been doing Daily 5 stations forever...but I haven't.  The truth is, it is relatively new to our school.  I just fell in love with the process and with the ability it gives me to work with small groups or individuals.  One of the biggest perks is that the kids get so much practice in several areas of reading and writing.  I can't see me ever doing anything else - and after 24 years of teaching - that says alot about how much I love it.

I know there are lots of people who are not doing stations.  Along with that, there were people who were doing stations LONG before I was (like my mom...50 years ago!)

If you are beginning to look at blogs and Pinterest...thinking of implementing stations for the new year, this may be perfect for you!  I have created a HUGE set of activities that are super fast to print and super fast to implement!  I have three groups of teachers from a neighboring school coming to watch my stations in action next month.  I had people new to stations in mind when I created this. It is something you can print and go with.  I have thought about how overwhelmed I was when I first started looking at Pinterest and different blogs a few years ago. I felt so "out of the loop."  I didn't know where to start. I didn't know what products would be best for my class. This is a big set of easily adaptable things that cover all areas of Language Arts from shared journals to reading passages/responses to games. Here are a few pictures of the set!  Check it out {HERE} at my TpT store OR {HERE} at Buy Sell Teach (my personal new favorite)!

23 different activities included!  

Room Reveal...the Middle

I posted the "perimeter reveal" a couple of posts ago.  Here's a little peek at that again:

Then there was this little problem with that middle area of the room...

It's so much better and kids' desks are ready with their little activity to get them "settled" in during those first few hectic minutes the first hour of the first day. 

I LOVE my class.  They are so bright and sweet and mostly EXCITED to learn. I'm really excited to have a self-contained class for the first time ever.  It's such a sense of school "family."  I am going to love it!

Here are the "after" pics!

I have three tables of 6 desks...and I'll probably need more as the year goes on!

Part of my library area.  See our D5 book boxes?! 

Please excuse the little mess on the bottom shelf and the big paper sack in the foreground!

 Behind my book boxes is my "teacher area."  I did away with my desk last year, and I love it, but I still have to have some storage and computer spot.  The hanging files next to the computer are my go-to files for daily things.  I found that I wasn't using all the good stuff I had because I hate digging through a filing cabinet.  I just have everything out in the open, and I can get to it in a second.  It isn't beautiful, but it's efficient!

More of my D5 library

I hope everyone has a fantastic year!  Pray for an early fall here in Texas...we NEED recess and it keeps getting cancelled due to temperatures!

Progress Today!

I worked on my classroom today (we report the 18th.)  The air conditioner was on, so I took advantage!  I would like to say I'm done, but as you can see, only parts of it are even close. 

One bookshelf...done! 

I found this cute duct tape at Target (of course).  It's only 3/4" wide, so it covered one side of my clips for the chart! 

Kids' names go on the untaped side.  They will turn it over if they have to "clip down."

I got the reading chart bulletin board done!  

Daily 5 tubs full and ready for practice! 

You're thinking, "Wow, Julie. You got alot done!" I did actually accomplish some things today.  On the other hand I only worked around the perimeter of my room. Here is my reality.  I think I'll apply for federal disaster aid!

Teacher desk area, oh my.

Book box shelf :o(

See the middle?  Disaster!  But I'll get it done and you will get yours done, and on the first day, we'll be ready for the kids!

I'll post pictures of the finished room after next week!

It's Target Time

Within the last day or two, our Target has turned the Dollar Spot into a back to school "funland" for teachers!  I saw some of the things I bought last year, but some new stuff too!  Two of my favorite things are back.  First, I bought ALL the book boxes they had last year in lime green or turquiose.  I had to travel around a little, but I got all I needed.  (Now I'm going to need double that this year because I'll have two LA classes.)  They only had yellow or white today, so I passed for now.  They also had lots of little baskets, buckets, and paper trays.

  My favorite thing right now for task card storage are the coupon files.  I like to have each set (or two) in a separate holder.  I cut out the dividers (unless I need to leave one in there to separate two sets,) and I love the way I can organize all my different sets.  They seem to have those all the time.  Lately in gray, white, coral, and a greenish-turquoise color.

Another VERY cool thing they had again are these blank books.  I bought two packs of 8 last year and my kids buddied up with a friend and they wrote stories and published them in the blank books.  It was a REALLY fun day! We read to classes in the library (mostly younger kids).  I bought two more sets for this year.  They actually had bigger books too, and a pack of three hardbound blank books for the $3 price too.  I think it's a bargain!

I hope they didn't mind me "staging" some shots right in the aisle! 

Here's a little shot of my kids reading aloud to other kids in our library.  They wrote, edited and revised, and did final copies of their stories in the blank books.  It was really fun, and they took great pride in having a real book to illustrate and write in.

Target also had their rack of workbooks, wipe off multiplication cards, president cards, puzzles, all were great last year (and I bought a BUNCH, so I don't need any this year.)

In the back to school supplies (yes, sorry, they're out there already), they had tons of teacher/classroom supplies, even bulletin board border. I don't remember them ever having border and bulletin board stuff  before.

One last thing.  They now have this adhesive wallpaper.  It is so cool!  The sheets are 20"x16', I think.  They showed it lining the back of book cases, small sections of accent wall.  The colors were so pretty.  I wish I could figure out a way to use it.  (I'd like to cover all those maroon lockers...but I don't have $500 to spend on adhesive wallpaper to cover ugly lockers!) 

It's still my FAVorite store...hands down. 

Daily 5 - I'm Gettin' Brave Here

It is with great respect for "the sisters" as I write this post, so please don't misinterpret my ideas as sheer criticism. When I started doing Daily 5, my stations were straight from the book and it was awesome.  With little prep, I could quickly implement them.  Keep it simple, right?  However, even when I first read about the D5 method, there was this little voice in the back of my mind saying "this maybe isn't gonna be enough for me." 

Initially, the D5 stations were PLENTY for me to think about.  As they intended, I kept it simple so that I didn't spend all my time planning centers. I have to say, in this day and age of TpT, Pinterest, and thousands of teaching blogs, there is so much out there, and I quickly started feeling overwhelmed and frustrated at the same time.  I kinda wanted to "do it all."  How do I integrate all the great stuff (valuable stuff, awesome stuff) out there and still do my mini- lessons and most importantly, work with my small groups AND stick to the Daily 5 method? I had to keep reminding myself that this is really about getting that time to customize small groups to meet needs!  I also am a believer in the idea of read, read, read, so I wouldn't change a thing with the reading (to Self and to Someone/Listen to) stations.  

Here was my contention.  While I truly believe that small group work is "where it's at," I have to know that the rest of my class is making great use (not just good use) of valuable time, i.e. not just stamping spelling words. There, I said it.  I think there is a way to keep the activities fresher and more challenging (with little extra work on the teacher's part.)  If you're a teacher who doesn't mind pinning, creating, purchasing, downloading, printing, laminating, and organizing then why not EXPAND those D5 stations to something that will keep your kids extremely engaged and excited about their chosen station?  If you hate Pinterest, blogs, and TpT, then you're probably not reading this anyway. 

I had to go talk to a D5 guru who teaches sixth grade at our school.  She has about 13 highly organized stations going at once for LA each day.  I have enough "stuff" to do that but I wasn't crazy about where and how I was putting it out there for the kids to choose from. I also didn't like my accountability system with all my extra activities going on. So I went to see Abby. I found out that she has a folder for each student that has their "choices page" inside it. There is a list of choices based on what she is making available to them that six weeks (at least 10-12 things).  As a class at the beginning of the six weeks, they highlight the "have to do" things on the list.  The kids can do those things first or they can wait until the end. They might spend several days on one activity, and that's fine as long as they get their "have to do's" done and they are being productive. They have to write a short description of what they did each time they go to a station (the better their description, the potentially better grade.)  They staple any papers they did to the list and turn it in at the end of the time period.  I think I would make it due weekly for third grade just to keep them accountable.

Here are my signs for three of my stations.  What I have available there changes from week to week.  I still have Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing (which I've "expanded" as well), but these signs go with my Word Work things:

I put out the skills I am working on by offering related task cards, etc...

We do traditional Word Work and some kids need that extra spelling practice!

This is where I may put some Puzzle Mania pages or maybe some Wacky Wordies. I have Boggle (huge on the wall), sight words, basal vocabulary, etc...

I have these signs available FREE in my TpT store, and they are editable if you want to make them to fit your extra activities. Here's a picture of my "accountability/planning page" (similar to Guru Abby's) that the kids get for their folder.  I would offer it to you, but you'd have to customize one for yourself anyway, so it wouldn't help you, but you get the idea. 

Of course, I'd like to think that I'm not the only one who feels this way about D5.  I still am a believer in the Daily 5!!  (I just changed mine to the Daily 50, just kidding!)  I'm really not a contentious person, so I really don't want to step on toes, BUT (as we say in the south), this has been "stuck in my craw" for quite some time, and what else is a blog for, right?  Please let me hear your opinion!  
LOL (my mom thinks that means Lots of Love, so let's go with that!)