Starter Kit Update and My Workout for the Day

I have updated my Daily 5 Literacy Centers Starter Kit. (I changed the title so that I don't go to jail for copyright infringement) It's not free anymore but it is still a steal for $2! It has everything you may need to start up some new literacy centers OR the Daily 5. Spread the word to all those newbies to Daily5, I promise it will be super helpful to anyone interested.

So, I finally broke my "stay out of the classroom you crazy person" pact today. My plan was to go to school today and tomorrow for the finishing touches on the summer school curriculum/set up. I arrived to school around 12 with all smiles and when I walked in Jessica, an office staff member, let me know that kindergarten received some packages. her exact words were, "I have a bone to pick with you!" Our new reading curriculum arrived!! Yay!! That reminds me, does anyone use Rowland's Reading SuperKids? We need some help getting started. Anyway, she had a bone to pick with me because of this beauty... 

Look at all those boxes! Those boxes need a home. So I told her I would find a place for them and I would come back. I stayed in the office for some chit chat and then headed over to my classroom. I was ready to bust out the last of my summer school work.  Summer school starts on Monday. I have almost everything set up, almost all of my copies made and I already created my BUILD choice board. Well, HAD almost everything set up. I unlock my door, walk in and almost cried. This is what I saw when I walked into my classroom...

Furniture pile

Partially complete BUILD board. Notice the missing pieces?

My co-teacher's desk

I almost exploded when I saw this

Under those chairs? Oh, my computer center.

Leaning tower of cube chairs

So, you may know that I am an organized, neat freak, with borderline OCD. Walking into this today nearly gave me a panic attack. They did this to clean up the classroom and wax the floors. That's nice right? WELL, THEY DIDN'T EVEN CLEAN! Ugh. I hope someone out there is feelin' my frustration. So what did I do? I marched my little feet up to the office to speak to our plant manager and ask her when she will be done, that way I can come back later in the week. Well, our plant manager isn't at school until next week! NEXT WEEK! What am I supposed to do? The only thing I could do, use my muscles and move everything back, duh. I spent an hour moving back all the furniture and at least 12 hours untangling, tangling and untangling the computer cords. Not really 12 hours but it felt like it. Needless to say, I got my workout for the day and no summer school work done.

Come back tomorrow for the pictures of the completed classroom, with no furniture pile and less exclamation points. =D

It's Tuesday,  Taco Tuesday? I think so!

Have a great day!

Daily 5 Starter Kit

So I, like all my other teachers out there, keep thinking about all the changes and exciting things I want to do for next year. I introduced Daily 5 during the last month of school and I am so excited to begin next year with some new ideas, especially with the blogging world on my side! I put together a "starter kit." Anyone who has done Daily 5 knows that it takes a lot of prep to start and after that, it is smooth sailing. I put together the "start" part because that is the most fun for me! One of my colleagues said she is interested in doing Daily 5 so she came into my classroom to see how I run things and became more excited to see it in action. She also said that she is just not good at making all the "cute stuff," well Amy, problem solved! I am also working on BUILD (spin on Daily 5 for math) so I'll, hopefully, be posting more about that soon. For now, here it is! The starter kit...

I'm off to plan for summer school, and organize some of my classroom, pictures to come!
Enjoy the sunshine!

P.S.
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Daily 5- Part tres

Phew! It has been one of those days!
I think maybe my kiddos are sensing that the end is near so all of the wonderful rules & routines are slowly being put to the back of their minds and summer is right in front! Or maybe that is just me? Whatever the case, I woke up late, I forgot to prep the materials for the day, the kids were extra talkative and I was excited to post some classroom pictures today BUT I left the camera cord sitting on my desk. UGH!
Anyway, I wanted to be sure to add something else today SO I'm handing over my Daily 5 check in sheet. I figured out quickly that I needed a way to track what the kiddos are choosing each day and I can't hold kindergarteners responsible for keeping track (or can I?) so out came the check in sheet. Take it if you need it!
I have to say, the Daily 5 has been very exciting for me and my students, I'm trying to get everyone I know on board with doing it in their classrooms.
Do you do Daily 5? Pros? Cons? I'm intrigued to see how others are incorporating it.

Daily 5- Part 1

Hello All!
I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what the best first post would be but there are so many ideas that I can't choose one! Can you tell I'm excited to join the blogging world? I decided on... DAILY 5. I have just started the Daily 5 with my kinder kiddos a mere 3 weeks ago. I started it at this time because I wasn't sure if my kindergarten team and I would be using it for next year so I used my current kiddos as guinea pigs. I AM THRILLED! I love it, my kids love it, the parents love it, who could ask for more? I didn't follow the book's recommendations on how to begin the process because I had 1 week open to teach my kids how to do it before beginning so we just jumped right in.
I started by organizing their choices board...

Students make their Daily 5 choices by moving the magnet under their name.

We only have time for 2 rotations. We are all doing Read to Self first then moving to their own choice for the 2nd rotation. When we build our Read to Self stamina to 15 minutes... we get to choose white and yellow! Oh so exciting!

I Charts & Choices board

 Here are some action shots...

Stay tuned... I am going to try to figure out how to upload my posters and magnets to make them available to anyone who wants them. Let's see if this works...

Building our Stamina Poster      Daily 5 Magnets & Images (Clip art from Kindertastic.Blogspot.com)



I was thinking about what I could use my blog for and how it can help and I think I have figured it out. I work at a fabulous school whose philosophy revolves around full inclusion. This means all students of all abilities are in a classroom working and learning together. Students that have special needs, students who are gifted and students who are typically developing are working together to make our school as amazing as it is. Sooooo.... I am going to try to add tidbits of advice and reflection to my blog posts...here I go!

What would I change for next time?

*I am going to change my building our stamina tracker to a clock with just the minute hand. I have a feeling that will help the kiddos with time.
*I will make sure that the iPods have all of the books that I need on them BEFORE I give the iPod to the students! Avoid that headache! 

What to do for inclusion?

*With Daily 5 all of the students have their own book boxes with leveled readers in them. Pairing students for read to someone will ensure that everyone is participating at their ability level.

What did you think of my first post? Long right? Any thoughts or questions?