Teachers Pay Teachers

I wanted to share a resource that helps me with Daily 5 and much more in my classroom.

How often have you made something for your classroom that you KNOW other teachers would use?  Do you hate "reinventing the wheel" and recreating good ideas you have seen?  Teachers Pay Teachers is a website that allows teachers to sell their self-made classroom materials.  This includes worksheets, Powerpoint presentations, printables, bulletin board materials and much, much more.

Of course, I don't know many teachers who want to pay a lot for their classroom materials!  The great thing about TPT is that every seller must post as least one FREE item.  It's free to join, free to download and free to use most of the materials.  You can also earn points by giving feedback and by making purchases to buy more items.

A few examples of things I am using this year (both paid and free):

• Chevron Classroom Labels by teaching with peace
• Alphabet Classroom Display by Easy Peasy Primary Resources
• All Set?  You Bet! Classroom Management Materials by Deanna Jump
• Daily Math Journals by DeeDee Wills

Some great FREE Daily 5 Resources:

• Daily 5 Anchor Charts by Mrs. Jones' Creation Station
• Daily 5 Posters by Mrs. Hos
• Daily 5 Posters by Kristine Weyher

There is too much to show here, but hopefully you find some good resources for all areas of your classroom.  

And if you're a do-it-yourself type (like me!), you can become a seller with just a few steps to help fund your purchases.

Beware - you can spend hours looking through this stuff!

Read to Someone

We made it to 8 minutes of Read to Self after about 9 days.  Our best incentive was the other kindergarten class beating us to it!  Once they were able to hit the 8 minute mark, my class was sure they could do it, too!

As I promised them, once we reached 8 minutes of quiet independent reading, I introduced Read to Someone. First, we made a chart to hold our ideas about how to make sure everyone was reading.

Read to Someone chart.

New Read to Self chart - I made them smaller so they fit under my whiteboard, a more permanent position.

We reviewed the ways to read a book with a partner.

Next, we modeled EEKK (Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee) and how to share one book.  After one pair modeled in front of the class, everone had to sit EEKK at the carpet to see how it felt.  This was difficult for a few students: one with special needs that tends to avoid sitting so close, and for those who have trouble controlling their bodies in such close proximity to others.  This will take time for them, but we keep practicing and reminding each other.

We also modeled a quiet voice - just loud enough for our partner to hear.  I have them show me with their hands how big their voices need to be for different activities - Read to Someone needs a voice about as big as holding an apple; Read to Self needed silent voices (hands clapped together flat), and recess uses big monster voices!

We began reading in short practices.  For the first days, I chose partners.  I used my jar of name sticks and just pulled two at a time.  I didn't worry about matching reading levels or splitting behavior challenges - I just matched them up to get them seated and trying to sit next to someone and choose a book.  I used my timer for 4 minutes the first day, and the class did a great job.

What is so nice for my class, and I would assume for most kindergarteners, is that this mode allows them to talk.  They had such a hard time not talking for several minutes in Read to Self.  Now, they can stay still much longer because they are in a conversation with their partner.

Today, I allowed them to choose their own partner.  They had one minute to find a partner for themselves.  When they had one, they stood on the carpet with their backs together.  Anyone without a partner was matched after that.  Everyone got right to reading, and we did a solid 7 minutes with no disruptions.

A note about the book: The Daily 5 Book has a lot of detail about training kids to take turns reading, check each other's comprehension, etc.  My students are not really reading in depth, so we have focused on taking turns "reading" or telling the story, making sure that both partners get a turn to talk.  As we move through the year, I expect that they will be reading more and we will likely need to revisit how we spend out time together in Read to Someone.

I-PICK

Once my students were able to sustain 3 minutes of reading, I felt they needed the boost of choosing their own books.  Since they are only beginning kindergarten, most are not “reading” – they are looking at pictures and inventing stories, maybe identifiying a few letters or sight words, but not reading the full text.  A choice of their own book for their book box was a good incentive to hit that 3 minute mark, too!

I introduced the IPICK chart quickly.  Again, they are choosing books for pictures and interest, but not for reading level.  I focused on “I choose a book” and “Interest”, encouraging the students to choose books with pictures and ideas they thought were interesting.  I plan to come back to this later as they begin to actually read words and look for books that are a good fit.

Then they got to choose one book from my classroom library.  It is divided into fiction and nonfiction, and in labeled bins.  It will take them a while to learn to put them away, but for now, they can find topics they are interested in or books similar to what I might share in class.  I made sure that some of the stories I have read aloud were included so that they could have the opportunity to revisit and retell a story they had heard.

Non-fiction, divided by topics; big books haven't been used yet, but will eventually be available.  The little bins on top will eventually have a small selection of DRA-leveled books.

Fiction - mainly by author or series.  I also have a bin I call "Buddy Books" - doubles that I will let them use for Read to Someone.

A few days later, and we are going strong.  We are up to 6 minutes of sustained reading.  They know the Read to Self expectations very clearly, and love to see our Stamina Graph go higher and higher.  On Friday, I will let them trade in their current books for new choices to keep in their book boxes for the next week.

I set another incentive for them: when we get to 8 minutes, we will add a new way to read (hopefully next week). 

Week 1: Introducing Read to Self

We dove right in the first week of kindergarten!  It was not easy, but we're making good progress so far.

Our first lesson (on Tuesday) was on 2 ways to read a book.  I chose a level 2 reader from my leveled books called The Picnic.  

This book have very simple (and fast!) text, and the pictures add a new dimension that is not in the words with ants stealing the picnic food.

I believe this book came from the Avenues set...

The goal is to show students that the pictures are just as important as the words, and that the pictures can tell a story all by themselves.

First, I "read" the pictures.  I played up the silly idea that the ants are taking the food, and really tried to get them involved in the story.

Next, I went back to the beginning and read the words.  We noticed that the words did not tell us about the ants, so we needed to read those pictures to see the funny part!

Lesson 2 (Wednesday) was learning the third way to read.  I retold the story (with the kids' help!), remembering where the funny ants were, and when we called the picture "the orange juice" and the words just said the juice.  How interesting!  I wrote the basic ideas on a chart.  This whole piece was very FAST - we needed our attention for the next piece.

I used little icons and gestures to help my non-readers remember what was on the chart.

That day, we also attempted our first Read to Self.  No illusions here - it did not go well.  I set up book boxes for my students ahead of time.  In their boxes on the first day was one letter book (the first letter of their name.)

I got these boxes at Ikea - packs of 5 for $1.99.  It's the best deal I've found.  I reinforced the front with fancy duct tape, and then added a name sticker on top.

These books have just pictures of items and a single word that begins with the title letter.

I made an I-chart (but I forgot the I!).  I talked with my students about what it looks and sounds like for everyone to read to themselves.  We had a few children model the correct way.  I tried to have a student model the incorrect way, but he was very focused on showing me he could do it correctly!  

We got ready, went to our reading spots and . . . lasted about a minute.  One just got up to put his book box away, a few started laughing about pictures in their books, and others were moving around the room.  I wanted to stay positive, so we charted 3 minutes on our Stamina graph.  Like the book says, they can't tell time!

Lesson 3, we reviewed, reviewed and reviewed, modeled, modeled, modeled.  I added a second letter book to their book boxes to help them have more to read, and reminded them that they could read a book again!  We were ready and . . . two minutes.  Maybe.  Again, kids were talking, getting up and sharing books.  

We aren't doing Daily 5 on Fridays, so we had a little break.

This morning, we were ready.  I added a third book (a non-fiction book from my classroom library - more pictures, more interesting!) to their book boxes.  We reviewed, we modeled.  We read our charts.  I introduced my timer, which beeps when the time is up.  I made sure they knew what they were listening for.  Then . . . 90 seconds.  Put the book boxes back, came back to the carpet to break it down.  I asked them what went wrong, and they knew exactly what (and who) needed a fix.  We reviewed again and . . . 2 minutes.  

I was really hoping to make it today, I decided to go for it.  We reviewed.  This time, they felt like others were talking to them, so they had to tell them to be quiet, and therefore it wasn't their fault!  I quickly taught them to silently remind a friend to be quiet by putting their finger in front of their lips (without a SHHHH sound).  We modeled that, too.  Then, I told them that if they could do 3 minutes, they would get to choose their OWN books for their book boxes . . . oooh!!  We were psyched!!

They did it!!

They "read" (or sat quietly) for 3 minutes, per my timer.  I ignored one bathroom trip, and one student with special needs who still struggles to not talk (though his neighbors silently reminded him).

Everyone got a smelly sticker, and tomorrow we will learn about picking a Just Right book!