I'm in my 7th year teaching. Reflecting back, I see many successes and failures. I just so happened to get hired during a time when our school experienced outrageously high numbers of students in the classroom. To remain in compliance with class size amendment, co-teachers were hired. I had a remarkable co-teaching experience. During my first year, my counterpart had completed her internship for the leadership program. A veteran teacher, soon to be new assistant principal (and now principal), mentor, and a close friend... I had nothing but the best modeling expectations for me. We had a very structured classroom and children were provided choice time through a controlled choice. I did spend much of my free time, when folks would otherwise spend with their family, in my classroom preparing for the next day. My husband is a police officer on the midnight task force so I had many free nights. I look back at the many wasted hours of preparing work stations for students. I stapled writing books or cut out pieces to center activities and placed them in baggies. I checked their work for understanding and to determine groupings. Everything was time consuming and micro managed. I now think...Were the kids happy? I thought so... Were the kids engaged? They looked to be... But now I wonder if it was all so robotic and scripted through consequences rather than a deeply ingrained sense of understanding!
My goals as defined through my reading will drastically change this coming year. It's my intentions to teach anchor lessons and practice skills until behaviors become habit. I'll build a community by defining and practicing behaviors so that the kids build stamina. I'll attempt to incorporate strong self monitoring from students. And I'm releasing control to ensure I have a student led classroom which fits along side with integrating Dr. Marzano's nine strategies into reading.
This coming year my theme will be superheroes. I've already used Batkid and Superkid for common core standards... so I included Captain Kid for Daily 5. Enjoy!
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Yes... I have many new changes on the horizon. I pose this question to you... What kind of self monitoring would you do with Kindergarteners?
I'd love to read your thoughts but don't forget to link up with Lory!
your posters are darling! i love heroes! :)
ReplyDeleteI love your posters too.
ReplyDeletehive2nd.blogspot.com I added you to my sidebar.
Thanks Lindsey and Rikki! There are so many wonderful choices in blog land...
ReplyDeleteCheryl
Love the superheroes! D5 is amazing. My students LOVE it :)
ReplyDeleteTania
My Second Sense
I have already gotten so many good ideas for Daily 5! This is exactly why I wanted to do this book study!
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Susan
T.G.I.F. (Thank God it's First Grade!)
Thank you so much for the cute posters. My classroom theme this year is superheroes too! These will be perfect. You made my day.
ReplyDeleteTania and Susan, I enjoyed reading your post on D5. I agree Susan, this is a wonderful way to get so many idea.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Young, I knew my posters wouldn't appeal to all but I was sure there were classrooms, like mine, that will have a superhero theme and love them... I'm collecting my thoughts for all the decor I'd like to create! =D
Cheryl~
Cuuuuute super hero posters! I love the idea of a super hero theme!
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned self-monitoring in Kindergarten - I think the biggest thing is to really emphasize self-monitoring and independence throughout the launching phase. As you keep reading, the Daily 5 book has some great pointers on how to do this that work across all grade levels. This is a great opportunity to teach your students what it means to work independently. I've seen anchor charts that have different work samples ranging from Level 1 work to Level 4 work. I think this can be a good tool for self-monitoring. You could create it whole class with the students giving input on what Level 1 work and behavior looks like vs. Level 4 work and behavior.
When we did Daily 5 in Kindergarten we did 3 15 min. rotations. The first and third rotation were for Guided Reading. We used the second rotation to conference with students so this was also a good opportunity to for us to see what the students were working on.
Hope this helps! :)
-Marianna
The Daily Hero is a great idea! Kinders will love it! I'm hosting a Daily 5 book study over at my blog as well. I'd love for you to come over and link up with us! :)
ReplyDelete✿Nicole
Teaching With Style
Love these! I am using daily 5 for the first time. I am very excited and love these posters! They will go great with my Superhero Theme this year. I put a link on my blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks