Daily 5 Party

I have joined the party full-force!  I am reading the Daily 5 book and scouring the vast WWW to find anything Daily 5 and CAFE.  I managed to stumble and land face first in this Wonderful group of bloggers working their way through the Daily 5 book.  I am so happy to read the words of these bloggers and find that it echoes my own thoughts starting the book.  I hope I can catch up to them!  Here is the link to Lory's Page when she began this book talk.  At the bottom are a number of other bloggers, each contributing their thoughts.  All of these sites have great ideas of their own.

I am still building that black, white, and red all over bulletin board.  I plan to stop by school tomorrow to do some measuring of the board in question so that I can move forward with the whole display and not find out I made it too big when I get there in August.  Here is what I have so far...Still a work in progress.

I am reading one of the links at Fourcornerslife blog and she has some interesting points about the importance of choice and building stamina.  Returning to 2nd grade, I am excited about the improved maturity (potential?) of slightly older students.  I am hoping to build on their desire to be "big kids" and that intrinsic motivation.  I am also really crossing my fingers to build that stamina.  I find it hard to button my own  lip and let them work without praising the ones who are doing well, so I hope to build my own stamina, too.

CAFE and Daily 5 What's black, white, and red all over?

My newest bulletin board!

Following the uber-responsible example of Mrs. B, I am trying to organize my summer home time.  I am so proud of myself today - I went to the gym and spent two hours working on my teaching goals.  Yay me!  I downloaded The Daily 5  book to my iPad and I am reading, highlighting, searching online, printing notes, and working on a plan for the bulletin board I will use for the Daily 5 and CAFE.  I have an adventure theme for my second graders in September and I got a bit carried away on the last day of school and put up a WILD zebra print wrapping paper as backing for this particular board.  Now, looking at the layout of my classroom I realize that board will be a huge focus up on the front wall and the perfect place for my ambitious Daily 5 and CAFE displays.  I have to get some measurements on the exact size of the board so I can continue to create the pieces I want to make for the display.  In the next couple of days, I'll keep reading The Daily 5 and making a "sketch" of the bulletin board I want to have.  My main focus is to keep the fun zebra background in a way that doesn't make any of my students queasy come September.  Check back soon to see how I am doing.

.......A few hours later I'm baaaaaack.  I just wanted to add that Mrs. Durning's site at Second Grade Is Splendid has a great series of posts for the Daily 5 as it is in her classroom.  I find myself going back to her again and again.  Thanks Mrs. Durning!

Always Planning!

School ended just last Friday, so here I am (like so many of us!) cruisin' the internet, setting up a game plan for next year.

I have packed (to move back to the grade I was in last year - argh!) and moved all my own stuff with minimal help from the custodians.  I say I move it myself so that I know where it is in August, but in reality, I end up throwing last day items in the cubbies and wishing I could fast-forward to August when I will sit in a hot (but QUIET classroom) and organize all over again. At least I saved the custodians some work.

My theme next year will once again be Adventures in Second Grade!  I have a Fairy Tale adventures word wall, a Jungle adventure board, a Safari adventure helper board, and a Pirate adventure board.  I was able to carefully tack together and move my entire word wall to the new room and I will update my words for second grade. Yay!  I also was able to get up some zebra wrapping paper for my Jungle board - now I just have to figure out what I want to go there....

That brings me to my learning list for the summer.

~ Whole Brain Learning - Last year I did some basics (Class-Yes, Teach-Ok).  In September, I'd like to do
 more.

~ Daily 5

~ CAFE - Both of these I admired first for the beautiful displays I saw on Pinterest (here is the link to my section School Ideas I Love ) and then for the great opportunity to create a more independent, self-directed second graders.

Do you think that is enough?  What are you working on for the summer?

Dare to Dream!

This is such a crazy time of year - and I love it!  There are so many projects, culminating events, and (arg!) paperwork to do that I feel like there isn't enough time!  Then I start seeing lists of children for my incoming class and I start thinking what fun things we can do next year.  With new classroom assignments, I start cleaning, and purging, and planning my blank slate of a classroom.  So many other teachers hate to move their classroom.  Of course, who does want to start all over every year or two?  But, as a pile-maker and never-got-filed lover, I have to appreciate the cleaning that I am forced to do, even if only to pack up my stuff.  I am so drained at the end of these June days, but also have an underlying excitement of starting fresh!  I can't wait!

Switch-A-Roo

In my own elementary years, you knew who the teachers were in each grade.  You could be in Kindergarten and say, "I can't wait to get Mrs. X in third grade."  You knew that teacher would be there when you got to that grade.

In my current school, that is not the case.  Every year there are a number of changes at every grade level.  Teachers are sometimes moved if they've been in one place too long - no matter if you have become a pro at the grade.  Teachers are broken up from friends if they are too tight - no matter if you work as a great team at the grade.  Teachers are left even if they request a change - no matter if they have good reason for needing a change.  Teachers are moved while on maternity leave with no ability to come pack their own rooms.  

I am happy with my expected move to 2nd grade.  I was only in 2nd for two years before being bumped back to 1st grade.  I was loving all I could do with those older guys and at two years in the grade, I was finding a nice groove.  

So I look forward to a fresh new year, despite having to pack and move my room again. UGH!  Well, at least it makes me clean house!

What happens at your school?  Do teachers stay put?  Do teachers get moved around?  I'd love to hear from you.

I'll have to change the name of my site, too!

Using My Whole Brain?

This school year, the wonderful Mrs. D brought up the topic of Whole Brain Teaching.  She mentioned some quick ideas to use every day and I started using those in my day.  Of course, I let it slide after a while since I never truly embraced it all the way.

Skip forward to end of April.  I am cruising around those wonderful first grade blogs out there and I come across other mentions of Whole Brain Teaching at 3rd Grade Thoughts with some great teacher-made posters at The Kinder Polka Dot Patch.  So here I am on a beautiful Saturday, doing what all teachers do.  I am watching those videos on YouTube and thinking, should I start this now?  Or wait until a fresh new year?

Tell me, what do you do with new ideas?  Do you jump in right away, following your whims?  Do you finish out the current group and start fresh in the new year?

Do you use Whole Brain Teaching?  Share!

This week our math topic focused on non-standard measurement.  In our second day of exploration of this, one of the boys wanted to add me to his list of interesting items he measured.  I allowed it, but refused to stand still while he did it.  Instead, I marked the top of my head with a dry erase marker on the window of my classroom door.  Word quickly spread around the group and the need to work together to rally their 20-ish cubes per kid was quickly realized.  Great teamwork!