Untitled. Untitled. One of my FAVORITE teacher websites!! What do you do when your lesson goes MUCH quicker than you planned?
I know we all have some back-up ideas, and sometimes just having the kiddos read or catch up on late work is ideal. But - if you're looking for something different that nearly any age will like - then check out this site! There are about 24 stories on there now, but they seem to add to them regularly! (I recommend checking it out at school first to see what your speed is like. I've worked in districts where this website doesn't work too well...) **The Polar Express is one of the stories they feature! Can you see yourself using this website? Happy Tuesday! Literacy Centers. Literacy Centers Music Big Book Center - The first center I am showing is my Music Big Book Center.
This is by far the most popular center in my classroom. Stamina graph. I've said this before and I'll say it again, "The Daily 5 has changed my professional career.
" The Daily 5 is a reading management system created by The Sisters, Gail and Joan. If you haven't read the book, you must give it a try. No more Sundays spent creating, cutting, copying, and coloring literacy centers for the up-coming week. When you follow the Daily 5, the students work on the same five stations every week. They are Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, and Word Work. During my reading block, I do three rounds of the Daily 5. Here's part of my Focus Wall. I like to leave their Stamina Charts up all year as a reminder of their accomplishments.
I post the I-charts we created at the beginning of the year near our guided reading table. Here's my CAFE menu bulletin board. The Daily 5 is a lot of hard work in the beginning, but the pay-off comes when your principal enters your classroom and NO ONE looks up because they are too busy working! Daily 5 stuff. Mrs.
Vensko's Reading Workshop: "With the introduction of choice, a child's world changes! " (Boushey & Moser, p. 20) The best way to become a better reader is to practice each day, with books you choose, on your just-right reading level. So, during Reading Workshop in our classroom, students have time each day to practice, practice, practice! Students are carefully taught how to choose a good-fit (just-right) book to read. In addition, we use the McGraw-Hill Florida Treasures reading program and you can see how I incorporate the basal into the daily focus (mini) lessons. Daily 5. I forgot to mention modeling in part 3.
The first month is almost all modeling and anchor charts. The original anchor charts are on large chart paper, but I only keep them up for about a week. I type what is written and we turn it into a contract. I store them in a folder with prongs and they all have to sign the front. The sticker on the front is from the Daily 5 book and says: 1. Literacy Centers {free printable} Last year my district started using McGraw-Hill's reading series.
While the station ideas for each week's main selection are good, sometimes I find myself spending a lot of time explaining the directions. After reading The Daily 5, I decided to create some generic literacy centers that could be used with any story/selection. So, drum roll please...I present to you a set of 16 centers that can be set up in your classroom with just a few materials that you probably already have on hand. I created a few stations for Words, Reading, and Writing.
Here's what is in each category: Poetry Task Cards. Here's a set of Free task cards for your poetry center.
It includes 24 cards with various levels of tasks and a template card page so you can create your own cards. Along with the cards, I'm starting a new series to share with you: A Poem a Week. I feature a poem a week with my students and place the poem in the poetry center for the week for students to work with. Most of the poems I use are from unknown or anonymous authors that are virally posted online. So, I'm pretty sure that they're safe to adjust for the purpose of a poetry center and share with all of you. **Please note that these cards have been changed to be priced at just $2.00. Here's the first poem set with one to come each week for the next 35-40 weeks.
By the way....they'll all be Free! Word, letters, sounds, syllables. Centers signs with clothespins. Daily 5 posters.pdf.