Daily Five

We're pretty new to this whole uploading documents on blogs and it's taken us a while to figure out how to do it...But we think we've got it!


My new school is going to be using the Daily Five as a guide for our literacy instruction.  I've actually been using it for a few years now, but I've revamped some of my documents...And wanted to share them with you.  (These ideas were taken from the book!) 

Last school year I kept track of how long it took my kiddos to "Read to Self" and "Buddy Read" with the Stamina Graphs.  (I believe the book refers to "Buddy Reading" as "Partner Reading").  Each day we'd discuss our successes from the day before and try to read just a little bitter longer...At the end, we'd graph our results and talk about reasons why we did or didn't do better than the day before.  Steve and I also have poster templates for "Read to Self" and "Buddy Reading" on our website!  Check them out!

I recently make these Daily Five Reading Group Cards for the K-2 teachers at my school.  Since we are going to use Daily Five school-wide, we wanted something that would be consistent for the kids from year to year.  There are only five different literacy "centers" or "stations" (Word Work, Work on Writing, Read to Self, Buddy Reading, and Listen to Reading) so it's pretty easy to manage the cards.  I've also attached some other cards that have color words on them.  I name my reading groups by color and have corresponding book boxes for organization.  If you'd like more ideas on how I organize my reading groups, check out our Guided Reading Page!

I'm sure I'll be adding more Daily Five documents and ideas throughout the school year...Please feel free to share any Daily Five materials you have too!

Math Stations

If you like this book...

You will LOVE this book!  

This coming school year I will be teaching first grade at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) school & I'm trying to get my hands on as many math teacher resources as I can this summer. This is another math resource that incorporates the same ideas and strategies as it's literacy counterpart.

Break the Code to Enter

I am always trying to find new ways to help my kiddos with high frequency words.  I got this idea when I was talking with a colleague of mine...I created a "Break the Code to Enter" poster that I hung on the outside of my classroom (right by the door).  When kids walk in the room, they have to "break the code" by hitting each one of the hands as they read the high frequency words.


I purchased handprints from Lakeshore Learning and taped them to the poster.  The handprints and "Break the Code to Enter" sign were taped to a poster board that I cut in half.  (Double-sided tape works best!)  I then laminated and cut out the poster.  Self-Adhesive Labeling Pockets were applied to the laminated poster, reading for my words to slide in and out.  Each week I will be able to change the words for my kids to hit!  

Great Book

We are huge fans of Tanny McGregor's, "Comprehension Connections".  Yesterday I found "Comprehending Math: Adapting Reading Strategies to Teach Mathematics, K-6" by Arthur Hyde.  This book talks about new ways of approaching math instruction by resting new concepts on existing knowledge.  So far, I'm a big fan of this book too!

Teamwork

So why create a blog when we already have www.readingresource.net?  One word: FUN.  Creating our first website was a lot of work and after seeing the success of Reading Resource…Katie and I both decided we needed a complimentary outlet to share our ideas and work in a little less formal way.  So after much debate on a name “Two Can Do It” was created.  We know, cheesy name but it is a small tribute to the school where Katie and I first met whose mascot was the toucan! It was there as “toucans” we learned the value of collaboration and teamwork.  The kind of teamwork demonstrated above! 

New Pad

So, I am pretty excited about my new lime green classroom for this upcoming school year!  I'll take pics as my room progresses and share them with everyone.  

     

Two Can Do It!

After much debate, our blog name has been finalized!