Sunday Rewind - Classroom Reveal 2015

Week one - only two days with kiddos - is done! Here are a few pics of my classroom. Love all things owls and blue. Enjoy!

 Writing bulletin board.  Very easy to see if any are missing!  Love the owls border and names.

 Math manipulatives and Ipad station.

 Setting up for Work Work. Daily Five begins next week.

 Tossed out my desk.  This is now my teacher corner.  So much more roomy.  I try to keep the table clear for small groups etc.  I have M - F bins for stashing all the papers,  books, and activities for a week at a time.  The binders hold units and instructional materials.

 Document camera and projector along with my supply cart.  Keeps the things I use most at my fingertips.

 Book bins labeled with kids names.  Time to get Read to Self started.  Excited for Daily Five to begin.

 Overview from the back of the room.

 Large chart paper and large pocket chart for fluency activities.

 My favorite corner of the entire room - my classroom library.  The books are sorted by genre and type:  ex:  Cats,  NF Animals, Fic Animals, Fly Guy... You get the idea.  I made the decision not to sort by AR levels however mosts of the books have AR information on them.

 Owl Word Wall - waiting for all those sight words we learn in first grade.

 Writing bulletin board

 Rocking Chair for story time and carpet activities

 Student Cubbies

 Added Clips to label student cubbies - so easy to move them if needed.  No goo or residue to clean off the wood.

 View from the front door.

Calendar - needs a couple for items to be complete.

Well we are off to a great start.  I wish for each of you a wonderful school year full of learning!!!

Clara ~ Teaching 365

Daily Five - How is it going?

Read to Self - 20 minutes - whew we made it.

Work on Writing - nearing 15 minutes.  The kids love their journals and have made amazing improvement in their writing already.  I am amazed.

Word Work - Surprise, surprise - going well!

 After rereading the sections in the Daily Five book multiple times, long discussions with my teaching partner and gathering materials, we dived in. My awesome partner made cards with the spelling lists for the kids to use for Word Work.

Some of the materials at the word work center are:

Rainbow Write with Mr. Sketch markers

Magnet Letters 

Scrabble Tiles 

Alphabet Stamps 

Wikki Sticks
Alphabet beads

After trying two other systems that were not effective, efficient, or kid friendly, I bought a set of bins with clip on lids that can both house the materials for storage and 

can be moved easily by kids to their work spots in the room.  Can you say happy teacher?

Listen to Reading - After many challenges to get this going, I can finally get the listening station going using the IPads in my classroom. I will download audio books onto my Mac and then sync it to the IPads using Dropbox.  By using a Belkin Rockstar headphone splitter, two students can listen at the same time. Whew... Magic! You can attach up to 5 sets of headphones to one IPAD.  Woohoo:)

Read to Someone is the last part of Daily Five that needs modeling, practice, and stamina building. Who knew that choosing partners could be so challenging for six year olds? We have a long ways to go on this one for developing independence.

How does Read to Someone work in your classroom? I could definitely use some insight.

By the end of this week, I will have all five parts of Daily Five going and it is only October 13.  Definitely cause of a mini celebration for this milestone in first grade.

Daily Five - Word Work

Here is an update on Word Work in my classroom.  The kids are loving the materials and I am loving how much they are practicing their Words to Learn.  The Words to learn in my classroom are 10 beginning spelling words plus 5 new sight words each week.

The kids are practicing their spelling words and having fun at the same time.  They take it very seriously.  Have you implemented Daily Five in your classroom?  I would love to hear how it is going for you.


Daily 5, By Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  

Step 1 - If you don't have the book, get it.  I have read it through twice now and it has changed my perspective on how I will implement literacy centers in my first grade classroom this fall.  If you are at all interested in The Daily 5, get it, read it.

Work Work - Fun ways to have the kiddos practice spelling skills.  "The Sisters" in the book Daily 5, explain the importance of Word Work for reading and writing development.  Some of the goals of Word Work are:

• Experimenting with words for learning and practicing a spelling pattern
• Memorizing high frequency words
• Generalizing spelling patterns
• Adding to our knowledge and curiosity of unique and interesting words

                                   (The Daily Five, page 85)

Materials:  A key consideration for Word Work is identifying the materials students will use for their practice.  While there are tons of choices, The Sisters recommend selecting materials and then keeping it consistent for the year.  This supports their proposition of providing authentic reading and writing experiences for your students.  If the materials keep changing, the kiddos may become focused on the novelty of the materials rather than the Word Work.

A list  of materials I am working on for the kids to practice Word Work includes the following:

• Whiteboards
• Magnetic letters
• Scrabble tiles
• Wikki Stix
• Letter stamps
• Mr. Sketch colored markers
• Tactile letters, Foam letters, Upwords game (perhaps as one rotating activity)
• Just added:  alphabet beads for stringing their words

I plan to use the process outlined in the book, Daily 5, to introduce Word Work.  The Sisters make the point that the kids will need time to "explore and play" with the materials for Word Work in order to use them for tools for spelling practice.

Now that I have gathered the materials for Word Work, I need to have a kid friendly storage system that allows easy access to the materials but also keeps them organized.  The kiddos should be able to set up, work with the materials, and clean up independently.  A tall order...

My amazing teaching partner has made cards with our Words to Learn for each week.  Let the fun begin!

How do you organize your materials for Daily 5 Word Work?  What materials have been successful for use with the kiddos?  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Please leave your comments below.

~ Clara @ First Grade Sunflowers and Ladybugs