Mrs. McLaren's Little Super Heroes

 Daily 5 Chapter 2 – Summary

(Sorry this is super-long!  But, good information!)

While reading Chapter 2 there were several things I thought about and pondered in regards to this fall and beginning with my new kindergarteners.  Some of them will be forcing me out of my comfort zone a little bit, but I’m willing to take the plunge. I hope I can swim!!

Trust:  I am a firm believer in building positive relationships with my students.  By showing them I respect them and value them, as a person I’m able to teach them that this is how others want to be treated as well.  All students (even the little stinkers) are worthy of my respect if I am to trust they will make the right decisions during the Daily 5.  I believe a key component is we must built stamina and have guided practice, so they will know how to manage on their own.

Choice:  Boy does this one hit home!  How many of us like choice??  I do, I do!!  Letting the children have the choice of what order they do each of the different activities in the Daily 5 I feel will be the key to whether it works well or not.  I know in my teaching when I first started I liked to teach the things I liked best first.  I wanted to make sure I got them in during the day.  It wasn’t a biggie if we didn’t get to the subject areas I disliked.  Yeah, right!!  I had to learn to train myself to start with the subject I liked least.  And over time, this usually became my favorite.  I believe by giving my students choices they will be more motivated and feel in charge of their learning!  I also liked  “Purpose + Choice = Motivation.”  I strongly believe you need to tell children what the “purpose” of an activity is.  This helps them understand why were asking them to do what it is we want them to do.  I know I want to know why I’m being asked to do something, so out of respect I should do the same.

Community:  Were one “big happy family”!  Well, most of the time we are.  :0)

Creating a community within the classroom enhances a positive atmosphere for learning.  We will be spending the majority of our days together as one big family.  It is so important each child value the other.  Debbie Miller has a poem to help build community in her book “Reading with Meaning”.  I’ve used it in the past and each child signs the poem and each has his/her picture around the poem to signify they are part of the classroom community.  It’s really a classroom “promise”.   I left it up all year and each day we shared together our “Classroom Promise.”

Sense of Urgency:  I’m feeling a strong sense of urgency to get started on the next school year.  But, I want to stop and enjoy my summer first.  Awww!  All of these wonderful ideas floating around in my head, I know as school gets closer to starting I’m going to lose a lot of sleep. 

Back to the kids:  Again, we need to let children know the “purpose” for doing something.  They need to understand the “why”.  Helping each child understand, the “why” or the sense of urgency will establish a culture where they believe their learning counts and is important.  I loved the story on page 22-23 about the two vice principals visiting and Jenna asking them “to take it outside?  I am working on Read to Self.  I really need to practice to be a better reader. My brain is buys and your loud voice is stopping it.  How am I ever going to be a better reader if you are so noisy?”  Wow!  There is a sense of urgency!!

Stamina:  Taking each piece of the Daily 5 in small time allotments to start is an excellent way of beginning to build stamina, even if it is only for one minute the first day.  I will need to remember to work with individual children or small groups right from the get go and not walk around the room praising those staying on task.  This will be a hard task for me, but one I must make sure I follow.  Yikes!!  Wish me luck!

What do I need to do or change?  I need to change gears first of all.  I’m moving from teaching Title I Reading to K-4 graders to a full time kindergarten teacher.  I know I need to try to remember how young they are at the beginning of the school year and needy!!  I’m sure I will be “needy” too!  My poor co-teacher!  I will need to model, model, model and help my students build their stamina, while letting them know the purpose for what we’re doing.  I need to think about how to set up my classroom so children feel it’s our room and not my room.  I need to breathe!!  It will all be okay!  I know it will and I’m super excited about teaching kindergarten again!!

Other great ideas:  I’ve been searching Pinterest and TpT for ideas for the Daily 5 and Cafe.  I’ve also been working on some different poster sets to go along with the Organizational Binder sets I’ve created. These will be offered for “free” at my TpT store.  So far, I have a set for “Monsters” “Super Heroes” and “Hippies”.  Just click on the words to go directly to my TpT store to download the poster sets.   Here are a couple of samples!!

 Please remember these are an “unofficial adaptation” and are not endorsed by the 2 Sisters.  To access official resources check out http://www.thedailycafe.com.