Dun Dun Duuunn. The Daily 5

Have I told you guys recently how much I LOVE summer break?! That being said, I feel like I am busier now than when I had kiddos!! I have been work work working on my Silhouette! As you know I am a Police Wife, and Have been making these cuties and then some wine glasses for my teacher friends! I am up to my elbows in alligators is sales from Etsy!

BBbuuuttt anywho, Have you heard the good news?! The Sisters have come out with a NEW Daily Five book! I have read the old D5 books, but have never implemented it. So this is something new that we are going to try this year, I am super nervous, but I know there are plenty of Kindergarten teachers who do it! So why can’t we

Along with all my Freebielicious girls, we are hosting a Daily 5 book study! Starting TODAY! So without further ado, here is Chapter One and Two!

What I really picked up on in the first chapter was the engagement in Seat Work, Centers, Workshops and D5. My first year teaching I had to do worksheets at their seats. I quickly discovered that that wasn’t going to cut it with 18 5 and 6 year olds. So the next two years I went to centers. I loved centers, I gave them activities, they filled out the worksheet and turned it in. It was hands on yes? Each center had cards, and I ran about 6 centers, putting 4 kids in each group. I was a happy little camper, until this past year. I read D5 and Debbie Dillers books again (as I do every summer!) and decided I could add MORE to my centers. So I added Puzzles, iPads, Writing Center, Listening, Sensory Table, Blocks, Computers and SmartBoard. (If you want to read more check out this post here)

I had a very meticulous way of organizing my kids, and we stuck to our plan. (This is an older pic, so some of the centers are different)

 

But I am now seeing the light! In a way I am already doing parts of the D5. Just not well enough. We will talk about how I am going to change my “centers” into a more D5 like rotations later on.

The first section in Ch2 is Trust and Respect. I can’t tell you how many times I was told last year, “Oh my kids could NEVER do that” or “My kids can’t handle working independently”. I TRUST my kids. I teach them from day 1 that they are INDEPENDENT little creatures, who can do things on their own. Is it scary to let go of control of 22 little buggers, absolutely! But I trusted that they could do it on their own, and it was amazing at how independently they could work, (That is until I stepped out into the hall, then I had a tail of about 5 kids)

Then it talks about Community. In my class we talk about how we are a family, and we all love and support one another. I had a little friend this year, that had some problems, and I could always count on my little mother hens, trying to help and make sure he was doing what he was supposed to. We supported each other. We love Dr. Jeans cheers, and when someone benchmarked we would do a Cheer! (You can find those here, Thanks to Mary from SharingKindergarten and Dr. Jean for sharing those for FREE!)

The next section is Choice. I already said above, that I don’t give my kids choice. That is going to have to change. I heard a lot of “Awe man! I have to go to XYZ?!” If I give them the choice, if they don’t want to go to that station, they don’t have to right that second. I am going to try this. My kids LOVE their clip chart, so I am going to add one for what station they are going to go to. I just added this to TPT. Grab it if you can use it!

The next section is Accountability and how we are moving the accountability from us to the students. Holding the students accountably for their own learning.

Finally, the chapter closes with Brain Research and Transitions. This is where I whole heartily agree with the D5. I have kindergarteners, I can’t teach Reading for 90 minutes straight. My kids have the attention span of a mosquito. I break my lessons up into ten minute sections. Ten minutes of Sight Words, Ten minutes of Word Families, Ten minutes of Listening to a Story, Ten minutes of building words. In between those sections, we need to get up and get moving. I use GoNoodle, YouTube, Adventure to Fitness ect to get my kiddos moving.

No go ahead and read some more posts about Daily 5!

An InLinkz Link-up

Welp, that is my rambling on Ch 1 & 2. NOW I have to go do homework on Network Infrastructure… (I would MUCH rather be reading about D5, but college is calling)

Will see you next week for the next chapters!!