The Daily 5: We're Old Pros

Here we are, the Daily 5 experts! Less than a week after the launch, we are a well-oiled machine in room 9. There is no guesswork - students know expectations, how to access materials, and work successfully every round. 

Listen to Reading

 Work on Writing

 Read to Someone

Word Work

 Read to Self

 Reading Group

Book Shopping

New Changes!

If you have not heard already, we officially have butterflies!!!! This past weekend, our chrysalises began to split, and we came in Monday morning with 3 butterflies already fluttering around the net. As of this afternoon, we have 17 butterflies and only 1 chrysalis left!

If you're wondering what those drippings are on the bottom of the net, ask us what new vocabulary word we learned this week! 

The Science of Butterflies

Since you last saw our caterpillar friends, much has changed in our classroom. Our tiny creatures went from being less than a centimeter long to about 3 in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, they are difficult to photograph. We learned that as caterpillars walk, they spin silk from their mouths. Eventually, their tiny habitat cups become cloudy with silk, making it almost impossible to see through. Just this past weekend, though, our caterpillars went through enormous changes - each and every one molted one last time, hung in a J-shape from the tops of their habitats, and have all now transformed into the chrysalis stage! They were carefully moved to our class habitat where they will hang by their silk buttons and complete their metamorphosis by soon turning into Painted Lady butterflies. 

The Daily 5 Begins!

I am SO thrilled to announce that the launch is complete, and we have officially begun the real Daily 5! As of today, all five choices are available: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Listen to Reading. Despite a few glitches with headphones and tape recorders, we completed 4 very successful rounds of literacy choices. 

More photos to come later this week, so check back!

Our Class Promise

Creating 'Our Class Promise' came on the heels of discussing our Hopes and Dreams for second grade as we decided that a few things needed to be "in place" before we could work towards our own goals, and help others reach theirs. We talked about things we should do, say, and be in order for our year together to be successful.  It is so important for children to create their own set of rules in a classroom. They become wholly invested, and are far more interested in following the rules they've created themselves. 

We began by creating a huge brainstorm list of anything and everything students do when they make the right choices. Some ideas included: don't put your hands on others; clean up your mess from snack; use manners; work your hardest; have respect... the list was endless. The following day we revisited the giant mish-mash of rules and decided (with a little teacher help) that our rules all fall under three distinct categories: care for yourself, care for others, and care for your environment. We also realized that some of the rules seemed negative - instead of saying "don't hit", we can say "keep your hands to yourself, or instead of saying "don't call out", we can say "raise your hand or say 'excuse me' when you have something to say. Together, we edited our rules, combined a few, and came up with what we now refer to as "Our Class Promise"...

To sign our promise, we each traced and cut out our hand. By taking this last step, we are each promising to try each and every day to make good choices, be good citizens, and take care of our surroundings.

The Daily 5: Read to Someone

We added another piece to the Daily 5 puzzle: Read to Someone, or partner reading. Although you may think choosing a partner is a simple task, sometimes in a class full of 17 busy second graders, things can get a little confusing! We learned a series of steps to take when looking for a partner to read with.

Here, friends are practicing step 1: raise your hand, voice off! That's the signal for "I need a partner".

 Step 2: Using a friendly voice, ask the person if they would like to be your partner

 Step 3: Find a comfortable spot, place the book between both partners, and get started! 

GoNoodle

There has been so much research in the past few years about the importance of movement in the classroom, a method of teaching I am a huge supporter of. Taking a "brain break" mid lesson, activity, project, etc. helps students refocus their attention so they can learn new material, and also helps them process and retain information effectively. Recently, I discovered a fantastic website, GoNoodle, which provides free brain breaks for classrooms! In 2G, we particularly love "Run with Us" where students are trained by olympic track stars like Lolo Jones in various track and field events! 

Lolo Jones guides us through pre-run stretching and warm-ups. 

Here we are running the 100M sprint in the World Championship! We won the gold!!

A big thank you to my teacher-friends Miss Champlin in Manchester, NH and Miss Higgins in Salem, NH for showing me this awesome site! 

GoNoodle.com

Check us out! We're trying some calming stretches before listening to a read-aloud.

The Daily 5: Word Work

Although we haven't practiced independence with task #3, we explored the choices available each day for Word Work (my favorite!). Students select a word ring containing spelling words, "word families", vocabulary words, etc. and use the materials provided to build and record them. Some of our options are...

stencils

magnet letters

keyboard typing

bananagrams

The Daily 5: Work on Writing

In addition to building Read to Self stamina, we've done the same with our independence during Work on Writing. We explored our brand new writing journals, learned how to set up a page, and talked about ways to brainstorm when we're having "writer's block". 

We also practiced what to do when we don't know how to spell a word. Instead of inturupting a friend, getting out of our seats, and braking consintrashin, underlining words allows us to keep the flow of our thoughts! :)

The Daily 5 Launch!

We've finally launched The Daily 5, and the results so far have been truly remarkable. In short, The Daily 5 is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills they need to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks (Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading) that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing the task. 

To begin, we learned 3 
ways to read a book...

...and also an acronym we can refer to when book shopping for good-fit books: I-PICK. To learn exactly how IPICK works, we used the metaphor of a good-fit pair of shoes. Shoes all serve us a purpose, and we like how they look on us, but they might 

not be a good fit for our  friend... just like a book!

We've also charted ways we can be independent during Read to Self and Work on Writing. These charts are called I-charts (I for independence). Here we are building Read to Self stamina. Ask us how we're independent during this task!

Check out our cozy spots!

Hopes and Dreams

One of the most important activities in our class happened today when we talked about our hopes and dreams for second grade. Crafting and sharing hopes and dreams with each other shows children that 1) what you care about matters in our classroom and in our school; 2) your hopes and goals are taken seriously; and 3) you have a say in what we'll learn this year.  Along with the hopes and dreams parents craft at home, our goals will be on display all year. We will revisit them at times, check in on our progress, and even write new goals. To learn more, visit www.responsiveclassroom.org