Daily 5 Book Study- Chapter 2

Today I’m catching up with Primary Inspired and the rest of our book study to read Chapter 2, which is all about the foundations of the Daily 5, and I have to say- in my classroom, THIS is what made it work!

So many of the foundations we built in Daily 5 didn’t just hold for Daily 5. They became the basic foundations of our interactions throughout the day- and I think that’s why it was so powerful.

Here are the basic foundations:

• Trust and Respect
• Community
• Choice
• Accountability
• Brain Research
• Transitions as Brain and Body Breaks
• 10 Steps to Independence

I mean, look at those. I want my classroom to be based on these things- not just in reading, but in everything!

Since I’m no longer a traditional reading teacher, I’ll talk a little about how this looked in my 3rd grade classroom a few years ago, but also how I’m looking at incorporating these foundations into my science/ social studies classroom this year.

Trust/ Respect/ 10 Steps to Independence

Imagine a school building where you feel your principal doesn’t trust you, or doesn’t respect you… or where you’re told vaguely what to do, but expected to go from zero to sixty immediately without any support. (Yes, I’ve been to those PD meetings too!)

I know I cringe at the thought- and yet, sometimes this is the kind of environment teachers put their students in.

Probably the biggest one I was guilty of? Not trusting my students to be independent.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think my kids would try- but I didn’t think they were capable of it. And honestly, before I taught them the expectations, modeled them, practiced them, and took the time to build up stamina… they probably weren’t capable of independence.

I loved this quote:

“If children came to our class needing to be taught to become better readers, we had such respect for them; of course we would teach them the skills and strategies to achieve that goal. However, it students came to our class without the stamina or engagement skills needed to sustain reading and writing, we didn’t realize we should teach them these things just as we taught reading skills and strategies to them.” (Emphasis mine.)

Um, DUH. We teach so many procedures at the beginning of the year- so why had I never thought to spend time on this?

The first day I taught Read to Self to my third graders, I told them the goal was 3 minutes- but secretly, I thought sure they’d be able to get to 5. Especially given our school population (a lot of professors’ and engineers’ kids in a pretty well off area), I thought we’d hit 5 minutes.

Yep, didn’t even make it to three minutes that first day.

The little one who was the first to “break” from his concentration was a kid who probably had ADHD, but his family didn’t even want to consider a diagnosis. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to go the medicine route, but to not see if there was anything that could help him broke my heart- because he was one of those students who desperately wanted to make his teachers happy. He came in every day with a smile on his face, but with such an impulsivity that being “good” was so, so difficult. He had come into my classroom that fall with a warning from his second grade teacher, but that first day of Read to Self, I saw the biggest thing holding him back.

He could sit still and focus for a little over 2 minutes. That was it.

Over the next few weeks, we built up our stamina. This sweet little boy tried so hard- and we made it to 25 minutes of reading, including him.

I was so, so proud of him- and more importantly, he was proud of himself, and he was slowly learning to be more in control. It didn’t mean he never talked out, or that he was never impulsive, but he had so many less behavior problems- and I think it was absolutely because training to sit still and focus on learning in Daily 5 carried over to the other times in the classroom that he needed to sit still and focus on learning.

Now that I teach science and my students switch classes, I need to think about how I can trust them to be independent. I’m already thinking about some of my routines (stations, labs, coming into the room, moving to the carpet, getting supplies, notebooking, etc.) and how I can directly teach what it looks like to be successful, and scaffold until they build stamina at it.

I think anchor charts, modeling, and practicing will probably take up a few days- but I think it’ll be worth it!

Community

Building community in the classroom is so important. It’s what makes students feel safe and comfortable trying, even at the potential expense of failure, because they trust their teacher and classmates to respect them.

I found this easiest when I taught youngest kids. Around third grade is when, developmentally, our kids start to move from caring mostly about themselves to worrying about what others think. This year, when I taught 5 classes of 4th graders, I found the community-building piece even harder.

Is there really anything more important, though?

We usually don’t switch classes in the typical sense until the third day of school, so I’m digging into what books I want to read (like Exclamation Mark) and what activities I want to do to really build a rapport with my homeroom. (See my exclamation mark below?)

For my other science classes, I plan on starting the year again with learning about neurons and synapses. It sounds too hard for them, but it’s a great lesson for my students to think about how we learn. (I plan on posting about it later this summer!) I want to add a few activities that dig into our own strengths and weaknesses, too- the more we realize that everyone has strengths and everyone has struggles, the less ashamed of our struggles we will be!

I loved this quote about building community so much that I tweaked it into a poster for my classroom. Feel free to click on it to download a copy!

Choice/ Accountability

One of the hardest parts about letting go of all the “stuff” in the literacy block is the panic of:

“How will I know if my kids are actually doing the work?
And how do I grade it?”

They’re understandable questions. When my kids did literacy centers, I’d come home on Friday with a stack of center work to sort and grade, and while it was a lot of work, I had some proof that they were or weren’t getting their work done… and it was easy to put something in the gradebook.

What I should’ve been asking myself, though- did their grade really reflect their achievement in reading, or just their ability to complete work independently?

I really struggled with this because I didn’t start the Daily 5 with my school- I started it alone, and I was afraid that the parents or principal would balk at the lack of evidence, or the amount of student choice. The big key for me was making sure that my students had accountability- and it came in the form of individual conferences and their reading notebook. (Read more about our easy reading notebooks here.)

We were required to keep our 90 minute reading block as just reading, so Work on Writing was really Writing about Reading in my room. We used simple reading notebooks (read more here) and checking their reading log and reading their entries were great for assessing my students’ reading. My students always knew what they had to complete because of our Weekly Must Do’s board.

As for choice, it was a little scary to give them freedom to choose- but I found that if I gave them guidance about how to make good choices (not just fun ones), they were actually suprisingly responsible- even without me recording their choices. You can read more about Daily 5 choice and accountability in my room here:

Brain Research/ Transitions as Brain and Body Breaks

If I were to go back to school for my doctorate, my research would probably have to do with the brain and learning. It fascinates me- always has! It’s part of why I started out studying biology, and why I read books like The Woman Who Changed Her Brain in my free time. (Very interesting, by the way!)

Seeing the brain research behind Daily 5- especially this nugget of research from Ken Wesson- really made me think:

The average number of years our children are in age parallels the average number of minutes they can maintain attention during direct instruction- whole group, small group, or one-on-one, as measured by PET scans.

What? That means my ten year old students should not be expected to attend longer than ten minutes to one single task.

The good news is that John Medina’s research says after ten minutes, the brain can refocus with a slight shift. I’m already thinking about how I can switch locations, input, etc. to shift slightly. Whole Brain Teaching, technology, GoNoodle… so many ideas!

I definitely think the transitions were a huge part of making Daily 5 successful in my room! I was initially worried about the transitions taking too much time, but they were helpful for letting my kids get the wiggles out- and they helped my kids focus during the mini-lessons and Daily 5 rounds.

Whew!

See how much thinking I got out of one chapter of this book? The Daily 5 book really makes you examine what’s important in your classroom. You can read what the other bloggers in our book study thought by heading over to Ciera’s blog, Adventures in Room 129.

*Note: Links to books are affiliate links.

Daily 5 Book Study- Chapter 1

My first year in my own classroom, I spent so much time looking for free center activities and then printing, laminating, and cutting.

In the first chapter of the Daily 5 book, the “two sisters” talk about all the “things” done during literacy time. They say,

“We had spent the majority of our time preparing for
and reviewing the children’s busywork.”

And, um… guilty.

When I read the Daily 5 book for the first time, I remember feeling a little underwhelmed because it was all so simple. It’s just a framework- a way to set up your literacy block- and it involves so many less reading “things,” and so much more actual READING.

(Did I also mention that this means you don’t have to spend every waking moment cutting out laminated centers?)

I picked up a copy of the 2nd edition of Daily 5 to join in a book study with Brenda from Primary Inspired and some of my friends. We’d love to have you join us, even if you’ve read the first edition of the book!

The second edition of the book goes into so much more detail about each individual lesson you teach to set up your students for success, and it talks about how to do a similar framework in math. The back of the book has about 30 pages of helpful templates and lesson plans, too!

Compared to the first edition, this one gives you a little less of the “why,”
and a little more of the “how.”

The first chapter does delve into background of the Daily 5, though… and I love the way the authors, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, use research to justify so much of what they do!

Probably my favorite thing about Daily 5 and the two sisters is that it is FLEXIBLE. I’ve never been one to read someone else’s theory and copy it exactly in my classroom- because every class is different, and every teacher is different… and because these two authors are actual teachers, they get that.

“The Daily 5 is not a prescriptive program to be followed blindly, the same way each day, month, and year. Instead, we as educators need to respond and react to the diverse needs of our own students.”

Wait—is that ACTUAL RESPECT FOR EDUCATORS AS PROFESSIONALS? Is that TRUSTING us to make decisions that benefit our kids? Awwww yeah!

As I read the Daily 5 this time, I’m sort of looking at it through a different lens. I’m not a self-contained teacher anymore, and I primarily teach science now.

We do teach a reading RTI block, though! This year, my group was around 20-25 students, so I’m hoping that next year I can use an adaptation of Daily 5 to give my kids a lot of reading time and small group instruction… so this whole flexible, go-with-your-kids’-needs philosophy is perfect!

If you’ve never used the Daily 5 framework before, it’s made up of two main parts:

• Mini-Lessons
  • less than 10 minutes (based on brain research)
  • based on strategies from CAFÉ (the 2 Sisters’ companion book)
• “Rounds”
  • teacher meets with small groups or confers with individuals
  • students choose between five options:
    • Read to Self
    • Read to Someone
    • Listen to Reading
    • Word Work
    • Work on Writing

In my classroom, it worked so well- because my kids were engaged in real, meaningful reading tasks… and probably most importantly, they were systematically taught how to do these tasks independently.

And because they were independently engaged in activities they chose, my kids didn’t interrupt my reading groups or conferences.

The first time my principal observed during Daily 5, she was blown away. She said she kept trying to find kids off-task… and couldn’t.

That’s the power in the Daily 5. It’s huge. And best of all, it’s flexible to you, your students, and the things your admins require of you (usually!).

We are so excited to read this book together and share our thoughts! If you’d like to get a copy of the book, you can get one here.  {affiliate link}

We would love to hear your comments and questions along the way! You can also go to Primary Inspired to read more about chapter one from the other teachers in the book study.

Do you use the Daily 5 in your classroom? If you do, what do YOU love about it?  :  )

10 Ways Teachers Can Foster a Love of Learning

My summers as a kid included Library Day.
It was usually Wednesday. We’d go to the library, I’d proudly take my Summer Reading Program log to the counter, and then I’d pick out a stack of new books. I usually had to stop when I couldn’t carry the stack anymore.
I love reading. Always have. But my brothers, who were raised in the same household as me- with the same parenting, same read-alouds, same library trips- didn’t get that same love… so it’s not JUST home that matters! It takes teachers, too.
Over at Adventures in Literacy Land today, I talked about one of the ways I was unintentionally killing my students’ love of reading. Here, I want to share about some of the things I do in the classroom to build a love of reading in my students.

• Read great books aloud.
  Pick a really wonderful book that your kids will love, and don’t be afraid to leave out the “lesson” once in awhile. The lesson can just be that reading is fun. (This year, I read aloud Holes by Louis Sachar. They’d beg me to read more! Helloooo, isn’t that what we want?)
• Build a big, diverse, and growing classroom library.Your kids should always be able to find something they love to read that they can read. That means you need variety in a lot of ways- and your library can never be “done” because you should always be looking to add books for your current students. Plus, adding new books through the year brings excitement! Remember, too, that it’s not just traditional books that “count”- and letting kids check out books for home can be a powerful way to encourage more reading.
• Create some buzz about books. Talk up good books. Read just the first chapter as a teaser. Find book trailers online. Browse through the month’s Scholastic Book Order and make suggestions. I have a stack of books at home and a long list on Goodreads of books I want to read next- and we want our students thinking ahead, too!
• Let them see you as a reader.Tell them about the current book you’re reading, or how you stayed up late last night to finish. Let them see you reading the book for a few minutes. Be as excited about new books as they are. Tell them about your moments as a reader- when you choose books, when you’ve abandoned a book, when a book was hard, the books you loved, and the books you hated. Some teachers even create a display in their room to show what the teacher is reading, which I love!
• Start reading routines.One time in my classroom, it started storming. We had a wall of windows, and we could see the trees swaying, the rain pounding, and the lightning flashing. A few of my 2nd graders were clearly a little scared, so I told them how much I LOVE storms- especially reading to the sound of rain. (I really do!) We decided to stop our lesson, turn down the lights, and curl up with good books (me included). From then on, whenever the rain started to pour, my kids would ask if we could pause our lesson to read… and one of my students’ moms told me her kid started to do it at home, too!
• Get kids hooked on a series or author.
  We read aloud The Boxcar Children, and the librarian had a hard time keeping the mysteries in stock. We read aloud The BFG, and my kids would almost fight over who got the next Roald Dahl book. Sometimes, reading teachers need to give kids a taste to get them hooked! (Try not to feel too much like a drug dealer, although books are not a bad addiction to have.)
• Build a reading community.I’m just starting Reading in the Wild, but she’s already made this point for me. Lifelong readers suggest books to their friends, go to book clubs, lend books to family, share what they’re reading on Instagram, join Goodreads, etc. I try to give my kids occasional time specifically for sharing what they’re reading with others. Setting up a way for kids to suggest books to each other is great, too!
• Make reading comfortable.
  Set up an environment that is physically comfortable. Some kids will stretch out on the floor, others will curl up on a rug, and a few just like to sit at their desks. As well as being physically comfortable, kids need to be used to the routine of just reading, and they need to feel comfortable choosing and reading whatever they want without judgment from their classmates. One year, the boys in my class got really into Rainbow Magic Fairies books… yes, really!
• Let kids choose books… but get to know their interests and needs so you can help!Sometimes, kids need to read books at their instructional level… but most of the time, getting them to love reading is more important. If I walked into a library and someone picked books for me, they’d probably never even make it out of the bag. As teachers, we can help guide students in the direction of books that fit their interests and their instructional needs, which is really important to them being successful!
• Give them chances to be successful.Nobody likes to feel like they’re bad at something. When I worked with intervention kids last year, some of them had felt “bad at reading” for years- so when I started giving them specific goals and feedback, helping them track their progress through recordings and fluency graphs, and even giving them chances to “teach” other students or read to younger kids, their confidence grew so much. Make sure every kid gets to feel like they’re good and growing.

If kids love to read, they will read more. If they read more, they’ll get better at reading.
Helping kids to learn to love reading needs to be a HUGE part of our literacy time. Our kids need strategic instruction, too, but if we leave out the passion, our kids won’t be as strong at reading and will only read in school… probably for the rest of their lives.

What are some ways you build a love of reading in your classroom?

Currently… loving summer!

I just have to thank you for the love on my last couple of posts. I’m going to step off the soapbox for now and share a little more lighthearted look at the last few days!

I spent a lot of hours (over 25 for sure) from Monday- Thursday working on my classroom. I worked on organizing my classroom library (again)… and spent a lot of time going through the supplies left in my closets when I moved in last year. Sooo good to do a little purging and get it all packed up!

A lot of hours at work for the first week of my “summer off,” though!

Definitely shared a lot with #teachersummerwork  : ) Thanks to those of you who have joined me! (Not sure what I’m talking about? Read more here!)

Now that I’m done in my classroom for a bit, I’m linking up with Farley to share…

{listening} – Yep, I love Netflix. Suggestions for my next show are very welcome : )

{loving} – My husband works 2nd shift, so we don’t usually get a lot of time together during the week. My dog is also loving a little extra time with her people!

{thinking} – I need to set some goals or I won’t get everything done! The To Do list is so, so long… including lots for my class, even more for home, and some TpT projects, like a few updates to Text Detectives, finishing Text Detectives Jr., and creating a new product series!

Hint, hint…

{wanting} – There’s a teeny chance we could be moving and I hate not knowing for sure! Fingers crossed that I know soon!

{needing} – To get healthier again! I’m back to tracking what I eat- just makes me more aware- by using MyFitnessPal, and I use my FitBit to track my daily steps.

In full honesty, I should mention that today I ate Graeter’s ice cream… and the kids’ families gave me about $30 more in gift cards there.  So… ice cream is gonna happen. But I’m going to try for balance!

Why yes, those are chunks of peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate... love me some Buckeye Blitz. #graeters #summermeansicecream #teacherlife #teachersummer

A photo posted by Jenny (@luckeyfrog) on Jun 7, 2015 at 6:44pm PDT

 

I’m so excited to blog more this summer! I’ve missed writing about teaching and connecting with other teachers. Thanks for reading along and commenting!

My Summer Off

When people hear I’m a teacher, I don’t often feel a lot of respect. Yesterday, I wrote about how I believe teachers deserve respect for their intelligence as well as their hearts.

Today, I want to talk about another one of my pet peeves:

I’m not gonna lie. I’m very excited to be on summer break.

For me, summer break means actually getting to see my husband every day. (He works second shift.) That’s similar to a lot of teachers- summer break means more family time.

Summer also means a chance to relax. During the school year, despite what the contract says, I work long hours and often bring work home. (Yes, I realize some teachers don’t do this- but many, many teachers do.) By the summer, I am exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally-and I need time to refresh.

Now, please don’t get me wrong. We are far from the only job where people feel stressed and could use a break- and I’m not about to tell you that we work harder than any other profession out there, because I know there are plenty of other hardworking people out there- but that doesn’t diminish what we do.

Summers “off” are a luxury, and I get that. But every job has its perks and its drawbacks, and teachers do work hard.

We earn this perk, and others- but they come with the drawbacks of the job. Among them:

• Low pay relative to our education level
• Requirement to stay current with little to no compensation for classes, advanced degrees, training, and other professional development
• A lack of respect as professionals
• Very little flexibility in our time off
• The need to write sub plans when we are sick or need to be gone
• Not being able to always leave work at work, and rarely being able to finish everything that needs to be done within contract hours
• The emotional strain of worrying about students & not always being able to help
• The need to follow the ever-changing whims of our politicians (or sneak around them to do what is actually best for our students)

In recent years, a lack of job stability, an increase in workload due to widespread budget cuts, a loss of autonomy and trust in our professional knowledge, the pressure and stress of significant change due to new standards and tests, and the risk of losing pay over statistically unreliable test scores have become prevalent concerns, too.

We chose this job despite the drawbacks. And non-teachers did not choose this job despite its perks. If you are jealous of a summer off… are they worth those drawbacks to you?

And summers off? Here are just a few of the things I do for my job during my summer “break” (and I know I’m not the only one):

• Continuing professional development
  In order to renew my license, this is necessary. Every great once in awhile, I’m able to get a grant or a reimbursement from my district… but this year alone I’ve already spent over $500 to attend professional development this spring and summer, and I’m spending at least 5 days at PD this summer along with reading a couple of professional books. (One is not required by my district, but it was given to us and recommended.)
  
• Organizing and prepping my classroom
  My school year started with one paid day before students arrived- and half of it was spent in meetings. For me, a teacher new to the classroom, that meant less than 4 hours to move my teaching supplies in, unpack them, organize them, and get them ready to use with students- not to mention putting even basic décor up in the classroom to make a welcoming environment. Yeeeah- I spent DAYS there before school started. I just didn’t get paid for it. Even now that I’m not a newbie, I have to pack up my classroom at the end of the year and unpack it in the fall- plus organize anything that my ten-year-olds didn’t keep in perfect shape all year. (Hint: That’s a lot of things.)
  
• Organizing and prepping the curriculum
  Getting a room ready isn’t enough. Once students arrive, I need to dive right in to building a classroom community and teaching procedures. Most schools also have an open house or back-to-school night just before or just after the beginning of the year, and it’s good to have information to give parents about the course and what you’re doing. Of course, to even be able to do that, you must spend significant time planning out your year by looking at the standards, studying the provided resources, and finding resources to supplement them if they’re not perfect (which, let’s face it, they never are). Even if you’ve taught it before, there are always things to tweak and improve… and of course, every few years, something changes that you need to relearn.
  
• Buying classroom supplies
  I have been so lucky to work in districts where basic supplies are provided. I know teachers who get one box of copy paper for the year, and when it’s gone, they have to provide their own. (It doesn’t go as far as you think.) Even with the basics provided, I have bought thousands of dollars in books, science supplies, organizational bins, and so much more for my room. I spend part of my summer in dollar stores, Target’s Dollar Spot, and every single store that sells school supplies trying to find the best deals on the things my students will use. And sometimes, going back again because there’s a limit per transaction.
  
• Meeting with other teachersI’ll be going to a couple of unofficial, unmandated, unpaid meetings with my team- because we know that being on the same page is important enough to meet outside of paid time. We’ll be helping make fair class groupings for next year (which benefits the kids and teachers) as well as planning our discipline, homework, etc. so we are ready to share with parents that first week.

All of these are things I do on my own time, and in many cases with my own money- because I have to in order to do my job well.

Please know- I'm not complaining about the amount of work. I chose this profession.

I continue to choose this profession, year after year, because I love it and I think it's worthwhile.

All that I want is for the general public to know two things…

I don’t get paid for the summer “off.”
Even though my paychecks continue, I am only paid for the 185 days of the school year as per my contract (exact number varies slightly per school).

I DO work over the summer.It’s just on my own schedule, and typically unpaid (or I pay for it myself). Many teachers also work another job during the summer to make ends meet.

As teachers, I think it’s important for us to get the word out about what we do during the summer. With so much negative media about teachers, I’d love to drum up some buzz on social media straight from the horse's mouth that shows we ARE hard-working professionals.

This summer, when you go in to school, read a professional book, go to PD, shop for your classroom, or anything else work-related on your “summer off,” please post on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #teachersummerwork.

Help us get the word out about how much we really do. It’s not that you can’t also post about when you cherish moments with your kids or when you kick back on the beach and enjoy a cool beverage (like many other professionals do on the vacation time they’ve earned)- but if even it’s just YOUR Facebook friends that see the work you’re doing, you may help to change the public perception of “lazy” teachers who get their summer 100% “off.”

Let's show them how hard we work for the kids, even when we're on summer "break."

Are you in?

Teaching Is NOT a "Cute" Profession

This weekend I met someone new, who asked about my job. When I said elementary teacher, her response?

“Awww.”

Don’t get me wrong, there are ‘cute’ aspects of my job. Kids say funny things. Kids can be adorable. I get to read cute books and make cute things occasionally.

But that response drives me CRAZY.

Teaching, as a profession, is seen as a nice job. You must be a kind, caring person with a good heart. And I absolutely agree with that.

What most people don’t seem to realize is that it’s also an extremely difficult job.

I’m a manager of 29 very different personalities- except I don’t get to ‘hire’ the best qualified for the job, and I can’t fire them if they’re not doing it.

I’m a diagnostician, constantly digging deeper into assessments and observations to determine exactly why a student doesn’t understand, and then determining an appropriate treatment plan, like a doctor treating a disease.

I work with concepts that seem very simple decades after one has learned them, but are actually very difficult at first. I explain them in a way that makes sense and allows all other learning to build upon it. What is easy to do is not always easy to teach. I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve met with advanced college degrees who know their field well, but can’t explain the simplest concepts in a way others will understand- and I do it daily.

We take on so many roles in the course of our day- and while caring for the kids and showing them love is a vital part of the job, we need much more than a sweet heart to do this job.

We need intelligence and creativity. We need education and training. We need passion and perseverance. And when we do our jobs well, we have the power to change our students' lives very directly- teachers are the biggest determinant of student success.

A recent study showed that an excellent kindergarten teacher's students in a single class will go on to earn approximately $320,000 more than their counterparts in other classes.

And the world still thinks we’re babysitters.

For one- even babysitting would not be easy. Entertaining 20-30 small children for any length of time is no small feat. (For many adults, even entertaining 2-3 is tough!)

And for another- we’re not just expected to occupy their time. We don’t just color or fingerpaint. Naptime is nearly completely gone from the elementary world. Movies are usually a very rare thing- because we are actually there to make sure they learn something. A lot of things, actually.

The very foundations of most things you do on a daily basis.

So, when you think of teachers… please don’t awww.

This isn’t a “cute” job. It isn’t a “nice” job. It absolutely, positively isn’t an “easy” job.

I am smart.
I am well educated.
I am a professional.
I work my tail off.
And I love teaching, but I deserve to not just be appreciated for the heart it takes, but also respected for the brain it takes.

And so do all teachers.

{Pin it here.}

---

I believe, as teachers, we need to make the world more aware of the WORK we do. Not to be lauded with accomplishments, but to gain respect as professionals. Read my next post and join me in correcting one of the misconceptions that annoys me most!  : )