Book Boxes

Oh.my.word!  The book boxes turned out to be fabulous!  The students LOVE them and they are now all stocked up with good fit books for our Reading CAFE time.  We have been working hard to build our reading stamina and today marked a special milestone for us in room 8.  Today we read for a solid 20 minutes without breaking our stamina!  Hip hip hooray, we met our goal!  I am so proud of the students for diving into reading this year!  It is sure to be a year a great growth.  We have even learned how to take AR quizzes to monitor comprehension after reading a book.  My teacher heart is bursting with joy for my little readers!

Week 2 in Review ~ Chrysanthemum, Math, "Me" Projects, and Reading CAFE

Well I think it's safe to say everyone is feeling comfortable and right at home in room 8!  I love to see new and old relationships blossom as the students work hard and have fun together.   This week we have definitely started to press on the gas peddle just a bit as we have been busy bees!  Here is our week in review...

 Our anchor text this week has been Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes.  We have used this sweet book for several lessons including, story structure and story retelling.  I planned to do a syllable sort, and make posters charting what makes us wilt and bloom, but we didn't quite get that far ( I have to remind myself it's only day 7 ;), I also planned to snap pictures of the kiddos work to show you...but...I  forgot.  Thank goodness for tomorrows!

In math we have been building on many foundational skills.  We have been working with the hundred number chart, telling time to the hour, attributes of pattern blocks, repeating patterns, and word problems.  We even had our first math test AND our first round of math centers!

I am completely enjoying learning all about my new room 8 family!  This week the kiddos shared their All About Me posters, made their own special name book, created adorable self portraits, and wrote a paragraph telling all about themselves.  Can't wait for you to see their work at Back to School Night on the 11th.

We have officially launched our Reading CAFE!  And I think we are all super excited about it!  Something I love about second graders is how hungry they are to become skilled readers.  CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary.   I will be systematically and explicitly teaching the students many important strategies needed to be a skilled reader, we will set goals, and practice, practice, practice!  We have done three lessons so far, Check for Understanding (comprehension), Go Back and Reread (comprehension), and Voracious Reading (fluency).  We have also been learning how we do "Read to Self" in our classroom.  Our reading stamina is already up to 11 minutes and 40 seconds!

Thanks for hanging in there for such a long post!  I have been talking (writing in this case) so much these days, there is just so much information to get out there these first dew weeks.

Here is this week's FLIP.

Happy Sunday!

The Daily Five and Literacy CAFE

I am so thrilled to be kicking off The Daily Five and Literacy CAFE this school year!  Through a great deal of research, readings, blog posts, and even a couple of webinars I am completely sold on the positive effects The Daily Five and Literacy CAFE can have on students' reading abilities.  A few months back as part of my graduate studies I decided to conduct an action research project on The Daily Five.  My conclusions clearly identified that The Daily Five was definitely born out of research and is in line with best practices of literacy instruction.  Here is an excerpt from the book The Daily Five by "The Sisters" Gail Boushey and Joan Moser illustrating the research base of the system and defining the 5 components of The Daily Five.

Read to Yourself The best way to become a better reader is to practice each day, with books you choose, on your just-right reading level. It soon becomes a habit.

Allington, R. and P. Johnson, 2002. Reading to Learn: Lessons From Exemplary Fourth-Grade Classrooms: New York: Guilford Press.

Morrow, L., L. Gambrell, and M. Pressley, 2003. Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

Marshall, J. C. 2000.  Are They Really Reading? Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Krashen, S. 2004.  The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Pressley, M., R. Allington, R. Wharton-McDonald, C. Block, and L. Morrow. 2001. Learning to Read: Lessons for Exemplary First-Grade Classrooms. New York: Guilford Press.

Routman, R. 2003. Reading Essentials: The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Read to Someone Reading to someone allows for more time to practice strategies, helping you work on fluency and expression, check for understanding, hear your own voice, and share in the learning community.

Allington, R. 2001. What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs. New York: Addison-Wesley Longman.

Miller, D. 2002. Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Work on Writing Just like reading, the best way to become a better writer is to practice writing each day.

Fletcher, R. and J. Portalupi. 2002. Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Graves, D. 1985. “All Children Car Write.” Learning Disabilities Focus 1(1), 36-43.

Routman, R. 2005. Writing Essentials. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Listen to Reading We hear examples of good literature and fluent reading. We learn more words, thus expanding our vocabulary and becoming better readers.

Allen, J. 2001. Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Trelease, J. 2001. The Read-Aloud Handbook. New York: Penguin Books.

Spelling/Word Work Correct spelling allows for more fluent writing, thus speeding up the ability to write and get thinking down on paper.  This is an essential fountain for writers.

Marten, C. 2003. Word Crafting: Teaching Spelling, Grades K-6. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann.

Snowball, D. and F. Bolton. 1999. Spelling K-8: Planning and Teaching. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Gentry, R. J. 2004. The Science of Spelling: The Explicit Specifics that Make Great Readers and Writers (and Spellers!) Portmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Stay tuned for more to come on The Daily Five very soon!

Along with my research on The Daily Five I have been digging in to find out all about The Literacy CAFE.  The CAFE system also created by "The Sisters" works hand in hand with the Daily Five and is firmly established in research.  CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary.  I am so excited to build my Literacy CAFE Menu Board and am working away on my reading notebook.  

Please check back soon for more thoughts and pictures.  Meanwhile, do you use Daily 5 and CAFE in your classroom?  I would love to hear about your experiences!  Please share! 

Oh my cuteness!

I just had to share this cuteness overload!  For my graduate class I am conducting a research project on reading centers and The Daily 5.  I asked my students to help me gather data by participating in a survey about reading perceptions and reading motivation.  Everyone was happy to help me out (yay!) and I just had to share some of their precious responses! Out of the mouths of babes!
Q: Do you like reading?
A: Yes because it makes me smart.
A: Yes because it's good for my brain.

Q: Are you a good reader?
A: Yes because I love it!
A: Yes because I practice.

Q: Do you read at home?
A: Yes because it settles me down.
A: Yes I read from 8:00-8:25

Q: Is reading important?
A: Yes because I want to learn.
A: Yes because you read most everything.
A: Yes because it gives you brain power.

Q: Is reading hard?
A: No because if I find a word I never read I sound it out.  Then I read the sentence so I understand what the word means. (I'm doing a happy dance over here reading this response!)
A: No because I practice!