Butterfly Life Cycle

Thank you to Ms. Bainbridge for the SUPER cute butterfly life cycle project!  I was not pleased with the lesson and knew they needed more hands-on to get a better understanding of life cycles.  Miss Willis found a video on United Streaming and I found the craft compliments of PINTEREST!  Super easy - Super fun!

Phases of the Moon

FUN FRIDAY!
     I love having something extra for them to work on that is a treat!
     I had three tests on Friday, so they deserved a break!  They took a spelling test on digraph review words from first grade, a noun test (common, proper, possessive and plurals) and a math rounding test (nearest tens and hundreds). 
     For our Science lesson, they took paper plates and divided it into fourths.  They wrote the four moon phases that we covered (Full, 1st quarter, New and 3rd quarter) onto the plate.  Then they had to eat the Oreos to make it match the plate.  They loved it! The one she is holding has the Oreos glued to the plate.  They did not glue theirs; they ate them once I checked them off! 
It was a FUN FRIDAY!

Daily 5

     So, how is it going?  It has taken me a few weeks, but it is really running smoothly now!  I have 5 groups:

Read to Self

Word Work

Listening Center

Computer Center

Teacher Table.

     I divided the students into 5 leveled groups.  Some groups have four, three or two in a group.  They go to TWO centers per day.  It works out that each student is coming to my table every two days.  I made a small section on a bulletin board with the centers labeled and attached to the board.  It is in a pocket chart, but I stapled it directly to the board.  I gave each group a number.  I rotate the numbers each morning.

So it looks like this:

Read to Self            1

Word Work            2

Listening Center       3

Computer Center      4

Teacher Table          5

     On Monday, Group 1 will go to Read to Self for the first 21 minutes and then to Word Work for the second 21 minutes.  On Tuesday they will start at the Listening Center and the move to Computers.  On Wednesday they are at the Teachers table and back to Read to Self.

     On Tuesday morning, I will move the numbers like this:

Read to Self            4

Word Work            5

Listening Center       1

Computer Center      2

Teacher Table          3

     I told the children that I would NOT move the numbers during Small Group Reading, but we would all know to drop down to the next center at the chime.  The first day one of my girls went over to "help" me move the numbers and the rest of the class jumped all over her - NOT to move it during SGR.  I have so many "helpers."

     I have 45 small cubbie boxes in my room.  Twenty are for their backpacks and Basal books and the rest are for storage.  I cleared a row of five and made a box for each group.  I have group one's sight word cards, leveled readers, fluency check sheets... and so on in THEIR cubbie.  Group two does not need all of that, they have their guided reader books and a different set of fluency packets...

     I love sitting at the half moon table and being able to turn around and EVERYTHING I need for that group at my fingertips!  It has really worked so much better than last year!

   I am glad I took the first few weeks to teach "Read to Self", listening center, word work!  When we divide up into groups, the talking is minimal and everyone is actively engaging in reading!!  My principal would be so proud!  Small Group Reading the way it should be!  So what does your small group reading look like?  I would love to know!

My Classroom

 I am having a wonderful year!  All of our planning this summer has really paid off!  I have enjoyed having all of my reading and language arts lessons planned out and ready to go!  It has really been a smooth start!
Here are a couple of shots of my classroom.  I spent a couple of hours getting everything ready for small group reading.  I have taught many segments of the Daily 5 over the past few weeks.  Now we will see if it pays off!
I am enjoying the table tops.  Everyone has a partner the way I have it set up.  The one thing I did not plan on was one of my students not speaking English!  Every year has its challenges...that is this years challenge!
I am absolutely LOVING Pinterest!  I have made so many anchor charts from all of the great finds on there!  I LOVE it!!!