Editable Literacy Center Poster Pack

I've just finished updating an old pay item. The old file had posters, rotation cards and I-Can charts for the Daily 5. However because of copyright, sellers can't sell items that are Daily 5 specific, even though teachers have always done independent reading (Read to Self), word work (Work on Words) etc. I was just going to convert the file to a freebie, but didn't really think that was fair to all the people who bought it. So, instead I've updated the file to make it editable and not Daily 5 specific. 

It comes with 12 posters, each with a different image, plus a page of editable rotation cards for each. Some centers you can do with the images include: independent reading, big book center, poetry/readers theatre, computer station, reading with teacher/helper, buddy reading, puzzles/games, pocket chart center, writing/sentences/reading responses, overhead center, listening post and word work.

 

I've also included portrait and landscape I-Can Charts, which are also editable. You can use these to type up expectations or the activities that students are required to do each week. Alternatively, you can print them blank, and write in a dry erase marker what the requirements for an activity is each week (if you change them out each week/fortnight). You could just pop the chart into the tub and the expectations are right there!

So, the file is no longer Daily 5 specific, although you can definitely use this product if you use the Daily 5. If you have purchased this file before, you are able to download the updated version for free. If you want to keep the old file, don't save this one over it!

Best of all, because it's an editable PowerPoint, you can call the centers/centres anything you like and use the font and font size you prefer (handy if you have a state font you like to use). If you use the Daily 5, you can still use this pack, but just the pages you need.

It's available on TpT and Teachers Notebook.It's 20% off for the next few days.

The CAFE Headers that used to be in this pack can no longer be included in a pay item, so I've got them listed at TpT and Teachers Notebook for free. 

I've also added 3 more cards to the CAFE Reading Strategies Cards. You can download the updated file at TpT and Teachers Notebook.

Also, I'd appreciate it if you voted for me over at Circle of Mom's for their Top 25 Teacher Moms . You don't need to register or anything, just click on the Vote button. 

I'm off to go watch some more Olympics (I'm cutting and laminating my Olympics activity pack while watching it!). I'm thinking my laminator is going to overheat and explode with how much I've been laminating lately! My Olympics Math and Literacy pack is 20% off at the moment!

CAFE Strategy Cards

I've had a couple of questions and emails about my CAFE Strategy cards. 

 

I made these up quickly one day when I got tired at looking at my messy handwritten ones! You can grab them for free from my TpT store.

I actually had a great first day back today! The kiddies loved how I rearranged our room and were excited to be back. I had 7 away though! It was great just to have the 18 kids!

Daily 5 Write About Reading

Thanks everyone for your feedback on my Multiplication Madness freebie! I'm glad so many people could use it.

This is the first post in my Daily 5 series - doesn't that sound all fancy! Basically, I'm just going to take some photos and write about what I put in my Daily 5 tubs that I wrote about here (so not that fancy at all!)

You may have read before that I do Write About Reading instead of Work on Writing because I do writing and spelling separately from the Daily 5. When we do the Daily 5, I want my students to really focus on reading. I also wanted to have a set time when they worked on responding to texts we have read as a class and during guided reading. 

Each week, I have some type of response required from each of my 5 guided reading groups. Since I am doing running records this week (a school requirement that we do formal running records each term in order to set individualised reading goals), I am not taking guided reading groups so I have no photos. The responses vary depending on the text, the reading level, our class comprehension focus and the needs of the students in each group. For example, when we worked on retelling as a class focus, my lower groups did a simple BME by drawing pictures, others may do a story board with pictures and sentences and others may do a Story Map to identify the Characters, Setting, Problem and Solution along with the main events.

Most weeks I also have a reading response that I want the whole class to complete. We have been working very hard on our Stereotyping English unit. We've created Character Profiles and compared stereotypical characters to those found in texts such as The Paper Bag Princess and Emily and the Dragon.

So this week, after modelling and shared writing activities, I asked students to compare the dragon or Princess Elizabeth from The Paper Bag Princess to a stereotypical dragon or princess in a Venn diagram. Therefore in the tub this week, I have copies of the text, a Venn diagram sheet and clipboards so students can get comfy around the room (I find it funny that they'll even clip the sheet to the clipboard and go sit at their desk....)

 

They can also use the charts we've created on Prince Ronald from the same text to help them if needed. 

The Character Profile above is based on what we visualise when we think about "Princes".  Below is the same chart (Appearance, Qualities, Thoughts, Actions) for Prince Ronald from the book and the comparison Venn diagram.

 

I also had a question about something I mentioned in a previous post. I said we'd done a Hot Potato Tree Map.  A Hot Potato is just a variant of the Graffiti Wall. Basically I printed out a tree map for each group - one for Dragons, Princes, Princesses, Mum and Dads. The groups had about 2-3 minutes to write anything they could on the tree map. The tree map then rotates around the groups with each group reading through and adding more ideas until they get theirs back (I actually rotated the kids around, but both ways work).

I knew they'd be repeats and spelling mistakes so I collected them up after we went through them and wrote them on coloured paper to put up for future reference (handwriting is not my speciality!). 

I like to use Hot Potato strategy when I introduce a topic to find out what they already know or think (like above) or at the end of the unit to review a topic. You can do it for anything (not just Tree Maps).

Freebies and Daily 5 CAFE pack

Since my post with photos of my Daily 5 and Guided Math set-up, I've had some email requests to share my files on TpT. Ask and ye shall receive! I've just added my Daily 5 posters, CAFE posters, Daily 5 I Can type charts, rotation/center labels and other bulletin board bits and pieces to Teachers Notebook. About 63 pages of bulletin board goodness!

      

       

The Math Set will be up soon. 

For those who like the polka-dotty theme, I have also done up time and boggle pieces. These are not my original ideas!

The clock numbers I first saw on Amy's blog, but  she got her inspiration from Kris at I {Heart} Teaching. I have these up in my room at the moment and they look great with all the other polky dottiness I have going on! I'll get a pic on Monday. 

I'm not sure who started the Boggle craze! There are soooo many great pins on Pinterest that I'm not sure who posted it first. So thank you all for the idea! Again, I just wanted some pieces with polka dots. 

You can grab both these freebies here in Google Docs.

I'm about to take my son to his footy match. There's an hour of training before the game (in addition to his 2 hours of training twice during the week). I really dislike games that are in the middle of the day - talk about a waste of time (my pet hate!). You can't really do anything beforehand, and the day is over once they finish! Of course, I don't mind doing it and I love watching him play, but I don't know how people with more than one child cope with all the running around after school and on weekends. My hat goes off to you!

Daily 5 Set Up

I love the Daily 5 and I love CAFE even more. I have struggled though, to keep the resources organised. When I rearranged my room over the holidays, implementing an organisational system for the D5 was a must. 

I made these charts earlier in the year as I introduced each Daily. It reminds students what they can do during each. I've since added a pic up the top in the middle - I hated that empty space! I wish I had room for these on the wall or a board, but I don't, so they are on the window.

I picked up some cute pink, blue and green tubs at a cheapie store, reduced the posters above, and attached them to the side. They hold the materials students need for each Daily. 

I keep these along the top of a bookshelf (not on top of each other. I just did that to fit them all in one photo). I'll do a separate post on what I keep in each tub over next week or so. 

I have also given my listening post area a little make over. The headphones go on the little shelf under the table. I've put my rocking chair there and a new little rug. The little table used to be grey, but my ex came to school with me and painted the two that I have blue, and some little shelves I have green. Much nicer than the grey! I keep a book on the stand that I am going to read that day. They love to come in and see what book I've put out.

The other little table is in our small group teaching area.

All of the essentials - pens, stapler, post-its, sticky tape, calculator. Ignore my pile of keys - that lanyard gets heavy I tell you! I use the pink trays for my daily materials. I now move the pink box in front of the frame and keep my planner there instead so I can always see what I'm doing. That comes in handy because I'm always writing myself little notes or wording for charts that I stick in it.

I also bought two little bookshelves. I keep my Missing Parts Tub on here (the blue one on the first shelf). The picture in the frame a mum made for me a couple of years ago. It has lots of inspirational words in the trees and a lovely message on the back. These shelve are kept at the front of the room near the IWB so I can always have things handy. Drawers that I keep coloured paper in are also there.

I'll be back soon with what I keep in each Daily 5 tub. How do you store your materials?

Read to Self Tips

Jane over at The Learning Curve has just started launching Read to Self to her class and wants some tips to make sure non-readers are reading. She managed 10 seconds on one attempt and 50 seconds was the best. First off, I have to say that when I started this week, a minute and a half was the best we managed of 3 attempts so our other 2 were pretty poor! All I can say is, don't stress - it has been that way every year for me, but we always build up enough stamina within about the first month.

Here are my tips for Daily 5 'newbies' - a term I've taken from my son.... everyone is a 'Noob' to him :) However, I'm no expert, this  is just what works for me and tips from the book!

1. I build up lots of enthusiasm before we start.We go through our I-Chart - "Can you ..... ", Class "Yes!" We build pictures of what we will look like in our mind. Yesterday I commented that a teacher I 'know' already has her class reading for 8 minutes (this was actually a teacher who had emailed me and has a Year 5-6 class, but my kids don't know that!). We can't let them reach 20 minutes before us! Perfect for setting a purpose and creating a sense of urgency!

 Our I-Chart ... a bit messy, but we made it as a class

1. I make sure that my non-readers have good fit books. This includes very early readers, picture books with few words or books we've read as read-alouds like "No David" which they can read from memory and using the pictures. If non-readers don't think they can read the books they won't read.
2. I time them from the time I say something like "It's now time for Read to Self", not once they are actually settled and reading (this is different from the book, the Sisters recommend placing the children around the room before getting started during the launch phase). This is because I'm also checking that they can get their book boxes quickly, find a place where they won't be disturbed, get started right away etc. So that minute and a half didn't include that much reading! Each time we pack up they put their book boxes away and have to get them again after we've checked in.
3. Check in after each attempt using the thumbs up/thumbs sideways using the I-Chart. When we check in about whether we read the whole time, I always say "Did you read, read the pictures or retell a story the whole time" to reinforce to my non-readers that it is ok to read the pictures. We share individual celebrations. Sometimes I get my kids to turn and talk about what their goal is from the I-Chart and then we reflect on that after our next attempt.
4. Be consistent! Do it 3 times every day during the launch and stop when you need to because of inappropriate behaviours. It takes a little while to build up their muscle memories so they can't be expected to do it correct for extended periods right away. 

Jane also commented that the kids were looking up to see if she was watching. I make a point of sitting at my guided reading table and not making eye contact with anyone. The room is so silent that I can hear when kids are off-task and those kids who want my attention know they aren't going to get it! Continue with the modelling for as long as you need to as well.

And just think, if you didn't take the time to build up their stamina, train their muscle memories and ensure they actually are reading good fit books, do you really think they will be on-task and reading once you start pulling groups for guided reading?

Introducing Read to Self

On the first day of school, I introduced Read to Self as one of the reading activities we would be doing every day this year - you should have heard the groan!! These little people do not see themselves as readers at all. I'll have to change that!

I introduced Read to Self by explaining that there are 3 ways to read a book. The chart I made in class was a little messy so after about the next week I'll replace it with the one below and put it up in our library area - at the moment the one I wrote is in on my little easel so we can refer to it often. You can grab it in Google Docs by clicking on the picture.

I then demonstrated the 3 ways to read a book - I know the sisters recommend doing it over 2 days, but I've always done it in one. This is the third time I've used Pat Hutchins "Rosie's Walk" to introduce the 3 ways of reading and it's always a hit, even if they have read the story before.

I first read the words in a very boring voice WITHOUT showing the pictures. I ask whether they enjoyed the story and, of course, they say NO, that's BORING! They notice that I skip every second page and think I'm not reading all the words but I explain that there are no words on those pages.

We then read the pictures. This is always so much fun! We notice that the fox wasn't in the words at all and that we had missed a major part of the story by only focusing on the words! We make predictions about what is going to happen to the fox on every second page. We notice that there are marks on the page that show the direction of the rake flinging up for example and that we can follow the gaze of the fox to see that he is watching Rosie very intently and near the end he looks very weary! We notice that Rosie seems oblivious to the fox, but there is always a little cutie that says maybe she is walking that way on purpose because she looks so smug!

They always beg to read the book again, so we always end up retelling the story as well! We use the pictures and what we know about the words to retell the story. I get volunteers to retell or offer suggestions for some pages after I have done the first few.

Another good book I read to continue demonstrating the 3 Ways to Read a Book is David Goes to School by David Shannon. 

After this, even my most reluctant readers want to start reading from their book boxes (which I've already set up with books since we haven't learned how to choose books yet). But before we can, we make an I-Chart (I'll have a picture tomorrow, but they always look the same!). We modelled the correct and incorrect ways to Read to Self which is always a hoot!

We, finally, start reading! We only lasted about a minute and a half the first day. We practised 3 times and that was the best! The first two times most kids talked as they went and got their book boxes, the second time they started sharing their books with others and talking about them (not a bad thing I know!). And the third time someone got up to get another book they saw on display. 

After each time, we checked in and reflected on how we went using our thumbs up or thumbs side ways (so-so, room for improvement). I also explained that once we have practised Read to Self more and built our stamina, we will then start Read to Someone and that is when we can share our books with each other but NOT during Read to Self. They are really looking forward to that!

Each day we are practising 3 times each day and they are getting better. We are aiming for 20 minutes. 

I'm off school today for Australia Day, so Happy Australia Day to my follow Aussies!

Flip the Sound Accuracy CAFE strategy + FREEBIE

I felt really bad about 'wasting' a whole week camping so I decided to do up a pack on the Flip the Sound strategy. I found this was a strategy that many of my students this year had to work on.

So, seeing as though I did not want to brave the shops on a weekend this close to Christmas, I made up this pack! It's too late for them since I start with a new bunch next year, but my students next year will benefit!

I thought having the sounds on display would help them with remember the sounds so I made up a display wall header and cards. These are some of the cards showing two sounds these letters can make:

I also made 2 charts/posters to have at the guided reading table. This is the second one. The other covers the vowels and y.

I also made up a flip book for students to record words that have the spelling/sound.

Here's one I put together for the instruction page:

 

I have the writing down the bottom so students can flick through easily to find the page they need and so it doesn't get cut off when they staple the book together.

It also includes 2 blank templates.

It covers 12 letters/letter combinations (short and long a, e, i, o, u, the sounds of y, c, g, ch, oo, ea, and ow. 

If you're interested, you can grab it on TpT and Teachers Notebook on sale for the next couple of days. TpT also has a preview.

 Now, the freebie. I found this song on ProTeacher. 

Please note that I DID NOT write this song. The song was posted on Proteacher at this link by sn02py. Thanks for sharing it - I'm not creative enough to come up with one!

Graphics courtesy of  JW Illustrations, KPM Doodles, Goodness and Fun, Alice Smith at DigiScrapKits and Scrappin Doodles.

Fonts: CK Handprint

Daily 5 Work Board/Rotations Freebie

I have to say that I LOVE the Daily 5. However this term I have needed to modify it to the Daily 2 :( We have been given new guidelines for how we have to set up our English and literacy time (and show how we differentiate between the two) and what rotational type activities we HAVE to do. 

So.... I can do 2 rotations each day so I'm making up a board that will show what students will do for each rotation (rather than having them choose). I am sticking with the Daily 5 components as such (I've always done Write About Reading rather than Work on Writing and do a separate writing workshop) but I've also had to do Writing Skills as one of the rotations.

We've been told we have to do guided reading (check - Read with Teacher), independent reading (check - Read to Self) and a 4 Resource Model activity (check - Write About Reading) and we are allowed to do a Word Work (check) and Writing Skills rotation (check). I've included these so that there is some variation and not always independent reading and a reading response (how boring!). We also have to do three 31 minute (yes, 31 minute!) English lessons per week.

I haven't finalised how I'm going to do this yet, but I've made up some rotation board labels in case you are interested. I've included all the Daily 5 type ones even if I can't use them :(

There are 6 to a page. 

And my favourite because I have brown hair and wear glasses!

 

 

Daily 5 - Read to Someone

13/07/12 - I've now changed this pack to be called Buddy Reading so that it is not specific to the Daily 5 program. 

I'm very excited because I've just added a new item to TpT . I've collated all my Buddy Reading/Read to Someone (part of The Daily 5) files which I've made over this year. All of this is included: 

It has 3 prompt cards or bookmarks for partners while doing Buddy Reading: 
 
1. Coaching bookmark for when a partner is stuck on a word

2. Check mark (double-sided) in color and black and white with a check on one side and prompts on the other to Check for Understanding

3. Two types of fluency checkers when readers reread passages and their partner rates them with smilely faces as to how they have improved (it can also be used for self-assessment)

The pack also has:

• 32 Discussion Prompt task cards + 4 blank ones to make your own (or just email me and I'll add them).
• Buddy Reading Discussion Starters
• Buddy Reading Discussion Prompts to help readers give more information (as a poster and 2 to-a-page.
• Buddy Reading Poster
• Buddy Reading E.E.K.K. poster
• How to Buddy Read poster
• Buddy Reading Stamina Graph

 You can check it out here.