I know that there is a ton of things out there for the Daily 5. I thought I'd take a moment to explain how it works in my classroom! First, I need to say, since we switch our kiddos, I do not set it up as well as it's supposed to be---with building stamina and all that... If I did, I'd still be working on that at this time of year---and lets face it. I'd be redoing everything when we get back in January! I just couldn't.
I found on a blog a few years ago (so I do not have a link to give proper credit...) that a teacher used bookmarks for students to know how to go from station to station. I decided to do that last year, to save my sanity on moving kids' names, scheduling even more, etc. I couldn't let them just have "free choice" off the bat either. I created 25 completely different bookmarks. Each bookmark has a different "rotation" schedule. It's designed to have 5 at each at any given time. {This year I redid them, and forgot about making them ALL different and had 5 bookmarks that I made 5 copies each of... and I realized. When they travel together from station to station---my room gets louder and louder and they start to lose focus. LAST year, when I had all different ones, they don't travel from station to station and things were smooth. I loved it!}
Each student will pick a bookmark either at the beginning of class, or when they are done with work before small group time starts. This year, I labelled the back of each bookmark a different letter from the alphabet. This is so they can keep track of these darn bookmarks. THIS group has such a difficult time organizing themselves and had lost at least 6 bookmarks that I had made in the beginning of the year-that we're not using anymore. Now that there is a letter, they KNOW which is theirs, and if it's left behind, they can now easily find it---of course, that is, IF they didn't lose it in a book or somewhere else.... :/
My bookmarks match the posters at each area, so that they have no trouble figuring out where to go!
Click {HERE} to grab yourself a copy of the posters and bookmarks.
I'll be back later to explain how I work my Word Work area.
Disclaimer---the above information is what I personally do. The Daily 5 and CAFÉ are trademark and copy written content of Educational Design, LLC dba The 2 Sisters. Educational Design, LLC dba The 2 Sisters does not authorize or endorse these materials.
My two-year-old is a pain at night, too! He generally sleeps, but doesn't get to sleep until after 9:00 pm. We put him to bed earlier, he just won't settle down!
ReplyDeleteHope it gets better soon!
What i have learned