Launching Read to Someone

As I mentioned the first week of school, our class loves to read!! These kiddos followed the Daily 5 model last year, so setting it up this year has been a breeze! The components are

Read to Self
Read to Someone
Listen to Reading
Word Work
Work on Writing

We spend about 45 minutes each day doing two rotations. In the coming week,  The students will get to choose what they will work on as long as they do each "station" twice. 

Here we are Reading to Someone,  EEK style (elbow to elbow,  knee to knee).

Anytime we are in Daily 5, the kiddos can have one comfy thing. We have rugs, pillows, and stuffed animals to choose from. We also have a been bag, rocking chair, and wingback chair. Choosing may be half the fun of Daily 5 :)

This is what it is all about: fostering a love for reading.

G - I love that letter!

Last week we focused on the two sounds of G in your Word Study. To really make the hard g (guh) and the soft g (/j/) stick, I found this awesome blast from the past!

I love finding songs that fit in with the curriculum! It just makes it so much easier for the brain to retain. I even use it for giving directions! If I tell the class, "Alright guys, turn to page 81" it becomes such a struggle.  But If I sing it, the whole class becomes my back up vocals and we jam until everyone is settled. Just another way to turn the little things into little spots of fun :)

To practice writing these words we used GEL PENS! This simple tool made writing our spelling words the best thing ever! 

"Hey! Mrs. Serio! Gel is a g word too!"

*bingo*

We also broke out the shaving cream. I remember doing this in school and it was always the funnest thing and made our desks super clean! In this, the learners had to sort their words based on if it was a hard g or a soft g. If they messed up, no worries! A little rub and it's gone :) 

To give a grade, I just snapped a quick picture of everyone desk with their name tag visible. Yay for paperless assessment!!

The Desk Debacle

This is my desk today. 

This is my desk today with a tall coffee mug, two water bottles, and a hippo on it. 

This is my desk today with two professional books and a teacher's manual on it. 

This is my desk today with my planner, meeting notebook, and brain/clipboard on it. 

This is my desk today with lesson plans open, box tops forms that need to be turned in, and an encouraging note from coworkers on it.

This is my desk.

This desk is a sign of success.  

This messy desk shows that I did not sit there all day. 

This unorganized desk shows that I was a good teacher today.

I have given and received nearly 50 hugs today.

I have changed a lesson on the fly to better suit my learners today.

I have monitored my struggling babies, and given them encouragement at just the right moment(s).

I have dried a waterfall of tears today.

I have sung Frozen with my kiddos as we worked on projects today.

I have been a teacher today.

I will clean my desk tonight, come in fresh tomorrow, and mess it up again.

I couldn't be happier.

Make or Break

After months of working on our library...

I have a whole class of can't-get-enough readers!

*happy dance*

faces blurred to protect the precious

The First Day!

 Monday morning came. In walked 40 little feet. In came 20 little minds. In came 20 smiles in all different sizes. Monday morning, my heart grew 20 sizes.

Early in the day we discussed our fears. I gave each table a piece of manilla paper labeled with fears. Their instruction was to right down their worries for the new school year without talking. Twenty little faces looked at me, worried. I told them it was fine and they could even cover it up. 

And so they began. Some knew right away what they needed to write. Others were reserved, and waited until they felt it was safe. We sat in silence for several minutes.

After I saw that everyone was finished, I asked them to stand up, walk around their table, and read their neighbor's worries to themselves. Then, we walked around all the tables.

We are all worried about the same things.

What if no one likes me?

What if my teacher is mean?

What if someone laughs at me?

I  pointed this out to the little minds around the room, and the air got just a bit lighter. I told them we are not going to let this stop us from having a great year! These fears are not going to hold us back!

We then proceeded to tear up every fear to shreds. We threw every fear into the trash. We had fun.

Next, I passed out another piece of paper, but this one was labeled "Hopes"

As they wrote, I could see the worried lips turned to pleased smiles. They wrote the things that had already made them happy that morning. They wrote about all the things they were looking forward to. 

It was magic :)

We kept these papers. We immediately put them up on the wall. 

It's going to be a great year.