Hi! My name is........ & Daily 5

It is soooooooooooooooooooooo HOT here in Texas!!!

Temps of 103 with a heat index of 110-113! I'm doing my best to stay as cool as possible.

It occurred to me after linking up with Farley's August currently at "Oh' Boy 4th Grade" that I have never formally introduced myself. A few commenters began their comments with "Hi, Lynn..." and I was left wondering:

Who is "Lynn?"

So, allow me to introduce myself:

I am Nicole at "Krazy Kute Kinders"!! For now, I'm going by my nickname since no one at my current school knows that I write a blog, and it would be very much frowned upon if my admin found out. I'm keeping a low profile at work. :-) I will also update my 'About Me' section.

Now............

Daily 5!!!!!

Here's a look at my current Daily 5 rotation chart.

*I printed this from TpT, but I can't for the life of me find my jump drive to look up the creator. Once I find it, I'll be sure to edit and give them credit!*

Normally our classroom sizes range from 18--24 students. Looking at my chart, a minimum of 24 students, can work within the Daily 5 stations without meeting with the "Teacher." I set my chart up this way purposely. There are times during the year when I must test students one on one. This set up works because I can test independently and students can still work independently without interrupting me or the student I'm working with.

At the beginning of the year, I introduce each station whole group and students are allowed to practice and learn routines & procedures for as long as they need. Some stations they learn in 3-4 days, others in 1-2 weeks. I usually begin with Read to Self starting the 1st (YES FIRST!) day of school. We begin with 30 seconds of Read to Self and build on it each day. By the end of the week, we are up to 2 1/2 minutes of Read to Self. The second week of school, we continue with another 30 seconds of Read to Self, but I also introduce Read to Someone/Buddy Reading and we practice that for 30 seconds. So by Tuesday of the 2nd week of school (we always start the week before Labor Day & we're off the next Monday), the students are doing 3 minutes of Read to Self and 30 seconds of Read to Someone. Each week I introduce a new station and the students practice procedures at the new station for 30 seconds. 

But, they continue to practice routines and procedures in the stations previously taught. 

This sounds uber confusing, I know. I'll break it down like this (BR= Read to Someone/Buddy Reading):

Week 1:                                                   Week 2:                                           

M-R2self (30 sec)                            M-R2S (3min) BR- (30 sec)   

T-R2S (1 min)                                   T-R2S (3min, 30 sec ) BR-(1 min)

W-R2S (1min, 30 sec)

Th-R2S (2min)

F- R2S (2min, 30sec)

...........................And so forth. (I'm actually TOO lazy to type all of it out. If you want to see more detail, just let me know and I'll update it.

Now, you're probably wondering how I manage my rotation chart and decide which students go where.

I don't. They do. They being the students.

I am very big on choice in my classroom (within reason of course). My thinking is, if a student has the opportunity to choose their station, they are more willing to work. 

The one choice my students don't have is when they "Work with Teacher." I decide that.

I base my guided reading groups on their skills and needs. These groups change often, which is why they don't decide when to meet with me.

Within the 1st week of school, I take pictures of my kiddos. Their pics are glued/stapled/ welded (whatever works) to magnetic strips. I call out the names of the students that will meet with me for that particular day. They place their pictures behind the numbers in the "Meet with Teacher" section and they head to the small group table. The rest of the students are called by group or seat color and they choose which station they want to work with. I make it known that each student MUST visit each station by the weeks' end. NO EXCEPTIONS! I track their stations with an Excel printout. Every now and then, I have to tell a student to choose between my picks ("You may go to either Read to Someone or Listen to Reading") when it seems as though they're picking the same station, but I track their choices for this very reason.

My Daily 5 Block is set up as:

Mini Lesson: 10 minutes

Rotation 1: 15 minutes

Mini Lesson 2: 10 minutes

Rotation 2:15 minutes 

Mini Lesson 3: 15 minutes 

Only 2 stations per day, and 3 mini-lessons. Oh...my small group stays with me for both rotations. So they get 30 minutes of direct small group instruction.

I want my students to experience working with all of their classmates, not just who I choose. 

Yes, of course to choose to work with their friends. Duh..they're 5! But they WORK. They hold each other accountable too, and it's more fun working with a friend anyways. Routines, procedures and expectations play a huge part in my classroom management during Daily 5, and any other lesson.

So that's how I do Daily 5 in my classroom!

I'll be posting later this week with classroom pictures. I went to work in my classroom today and I am SORE and TIRED, but I got a lot done!

Happy Blogging!