Daily 5 - Chapter 2 and Super Summer Sale!

Thanks for all the great ideas on how Daily 5 could work for Kristi and I that you shared last week. I'm beginning to wrap my mind around it a bit and realize that I will have to find what fits me (us). I'm starting to get excited about the possibilities though!

Here's the chapter two discussion questions and my responses:

1 .What goals do you have for your classroom as you work to implement the principles and foundations of the Daily 5 discussed in chapter 2? What support do you need to do this?

My main goal would be to create that sense of urgency. I'm not sure I have done a good job explaining why what we are doing is important to becoming better readers.

I think my biggest challenge will be to create book boxes for the kids. I don't have much of a classroom library and will need too consult our librarian on how I could get the books I need.

2. What stands out as the most significant aspects of this chapter?

Purpose + Choice = Motivation

I think my students would try harder and take more ownership of their learning if I can develop that sense of urgency. I also think that choice is a good thing. That word scared me a bit at first, but if you realize that really all students are required to do the Daily 5 each day and they are only choosing the order in which they do them, it is not so scary. Ha!

3. How do the foundational principles of the Daily 5 structure (trust, choice, community, sense of urgency, and stamina), align with your beliefs that support your teaching strategies and the decisions that you make about student learning?

Trust - Hmm...it was a lot easier to trust the class I just had than my first year class. I had a handful of boys that made me feel like I had to be prepared for battle every day. If I have a class like that again, I would worry about their off-task behavior...Choice - Like I said before, I think it is a good thing. In fact, in the past my students have always had what I called "CHOICES" when they finished their work.Community - It is always neat to see a class develop a community (team - my theme is sports) atmosphere.Sense of Urgency - I want to do better at this!Stamina - I think in the past my students have built stamina to silent read and with a buddy, but it was certainly not something that I did with intention and training. It just sort of happened as they realized what was expected of them. By the way, if you're following along with me on my weight loss challenge, this week is not good! We are having VBS every evening and they have a table of great food available for the workers and homemade cookies for the kids. Yesterday I had to make 8 dozen chocolate chip cookies - and I didn't eat any of them only ate 2... Friday's weigh-in could be very sad!

Looking forward to seeing what you all have to say about chapter two!

Crystal

Go to Chapter THREE

P.S. Kristi and I are having a Super Summer Sale at our TPT store June 21-25. Our entire store is 20% off and since most of our items are $2 or less, you can grab some great resources for CHEAPO! :-)