Daily 5, here we come!

If you haven’t read the Daily 5, get the book now!!   I read it a few weeks ago and have been kicking it around in my head ever since.  I’m finally ready to start.  I can’t wait until Monday. Unfortunately I still have my “have-to’s” in our reading block but I believe that’s the great part about the Daily 5.  We will be able to fill in the have-to’s.

Since reading the book I’ve been watching my kids during literacy stations.  They are going through the actions but are not truly engaged!  They are all participating in wonderful, exciting activities but honestly, while watching them I am thinking…this could be so much more meaningful!  Stamina?  What stamina?!?  I’m so ready to get it going.  I’ll fill you in on the first day!

Check out the sister’s page: Daily Five

Spooky Halloween Reading Anyone?

At my school we are encouraged to participate in a number of service projects.  One of our classroom projects is to donate books to children who do not have them.  My students were shocked to find out that not everyone has an endless supply of books!  I think it was a wake-up call to them.  Since then we have diligently been working on providing books for others.  One of the EASIEST ways we found to do this is to simply read.  That’s right, READ!  If you have not discovered the website We Give Books , you are missing out!  It is especially fun if you have a Promethean board or SMART board.  It’s very easy to use.  We use it as a fluency station and my students love it.

My favorite part, aside from helping others become readers, is I can create my own library!!  We are focusing on non-fiction this nine weeks.  I went to We Give Books  and built a nonfiction library for my students to read.  It’s that easy!

My students are going to be THRILLED tomorrow.  The site is now featuring Halloween reads.  I’m sure I’ll hear lots of “Eeewwwws”!

Happy Reading!

Halloween Books

Starting off with a FREEBIE!

I have bounced back and forth between weekly reading logs and monthly reading logs.  I've finally decided that in order to make it more effective, I'm going with weekly logs!  My kids seem to do much better with weekly accountability rather than monthly.  We're also able to have more "book talks" since I see the logs more often.  We have also been focusing on building vocabulary in our room.  To help with this, I copy the wonderful words onto the back.  That way they have their reading logs and their vocab logs all together!  It's a win-win!
I'm still learning and would LOVE advice on how to "cutie pie" everything!  Please leave me a comment with any suggestions!

Reading Log
Wonderful Words