I wanted to share some fun ideas for vocabulary and word work that we've been using this year. I've been trying different activities to get my students practicing our vocabulary words. I try to sprinkle as many fun, game-like activities as I can throughout our day. Vocabulary is an easy one to incorporate some fun into. We don't do every activity every week. I have found the key to keeping the magic alive is mixing things up often!

My class LOVES playing Magic Hat Vocabulary. They either pull a card out of the hat, or there are plastic bunnies inside the hat with vocabulary cards inside of them. The students tell what the word means, the part of speech, and use correctly in a sentence. This gives us a chance to really practice the words. Learning Resources used to sell the hat I have, but you can find inexpensive magician's hat and wands on Amazon. You can find the bunnies at The Dollar Tree around Easter. The kids adore the novelty of this! 

If you would rather not use a hat, you can use a large paper lunch bag. I created a cover for the bag, and editable cards. If you would like to download this freebie, click on either of the pictures. 

Another fun activity we play in my classroom is Swat That Vocab Word. I display the vocabulary cards for the week in a small pocket chart, and students play two at a time, and whoever swats the correct word with a (clean) flyswatter first, is the winner. I usually have one student give the definition, and the other student uses it correctly in a sentence, but I like to mix it up. This gives us so many opportunities to discuss the words and language- synonyms, antonyms, suffixes, prefixes, etc. You can click on the picture below to grab this freebie. 

Hot Potato Vocab is another fun game we play. I bought my Hot Potato Game at Target after seeing it posted on Instagram. The vocabulary cards are inside the paper bag, and students pass around the hot potato. When the music stops, the student holding the potato has to pick a word out of the bag and give the same vocabulary information as the previous games. If you would rather not purchase the game, you can just pass a paper bag around with the words inside and play music in the classroom. When the music stops, whoever is left holding the bag has to choose a word. You can download the printables and vocabulary words by clicking on the picture below. 

I wanted to share a bit of what we are currently doing during Spelling/Word Work time. When I was in fifth grade, by favorite teacher had monthly themed spelling sheets that had several spelling activities on them. What I loved most was getting to choose what I wanted to work on. I decided to create something similar for my students. There are separate monthly sets, (and a few other spelling packs shown) or a bundle that now includes the entire year! I've been using these during my literacy block rotation, but they would be great to send home as homework too. 

I have several other spelling and word work ideas and freebies in this post if you would like to check it out.

I hope I've given you some useful tips you can implement into your day to make things fun and engaging. I would love to know if you have any other ideas to make spelling and vocabulary practice meaningful and engaging for your kiddos! :)

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Inspired Owl's Corner

Happy Monday! I'm so excited to be sharing my Monday Made It projects this week over at 4th Grade Frolics. Come check out what I've been working on and grab some freebies! Be sure to link up your projects too! 
Have a great week! :)

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Inspired Owl's Corner

It's hard to believe our last chapter is here! That means...an end to my summer! But that's ok- I'm looking forward to implementing Daily 5 in my classroom this year. 

Our last chapter addresses using Daily 5 under special circumstances such as challenging students, substiute teachers, new students, and parent volunteers. I like that the book opes with "We deal with each one firmly grounded in our core beliefs of community, accountability, trust, and respect." Those are great words to live by in any situation! Below are my take aways form this chapter. 

Challenging Students:

• AKA "Barometer" Students
• Children will be successful if we help them and give them tools to be successful.
• Be sure to fully teach the 10 Steps to Independence.
• Stay Out of the Way! (I really need to remember this!)
• Be sure these students have good fit books.
• If behaviors continue, have the student stay in for a few minutes at recess to practice appropriate behaviors for Daily 5 and acknowledge correct behavior. This is practice, not punishment. Do this for a few days if necessary.
• If behaviors still persist, the student may need more support. He/she may need to sit in a special spot and use fidget tools such as clay. A sand timer can help the student build stamina. The student can keep a personal stamina chart.
• If necessary, do quick check-ins with the student.

Substitute Teachers:

• Write detailed Daily 5 lessons plans ahead of time and use them each time you have a substitute.
• It's important to keep routines as normal as possible when you have a sub.

New Students:

• When new students arrive, review the I-Charts with the entire class.
• Give the new student a buddy or buddies to learn the procedures from. The new student shadows the helpers. 

Parents:

• Parents may have concerns about a new language arts structure.
• Explain the structure, procedures, expectations, and outcomes of Daily 5 to parents.

My Biggest Take Aways:

• Trust yourself!
• Trust your students! 
• Constantly reflect on your teaching.
• Take the time to teach The 10 Steps to Independence- it's not a race!

In case you missed our other Daily 5 book study weeks, be sure to check the posts below. Make sure to visit the other bloggers who are linked up on the bottom of each post, because many of them have taught Daily 5 before and have some amazing ideas (and freebies, too!)

Chapter 1:   How Daily 5 Has Evolved
Chapter 2:   Our Core Beliefs: The Foundations of Daily 5 Chapter 3:   The 10 Steps to Independence Chapter 4:   What Do You Need to Begin Daily 5? Chapter 5:   Learning Read to Self Chapter 6:   Foundation Lessons  Chapter 7:   When to Launch the Next Daily 5 Chapter 8:   Math Daily 3
Thank you for joining us! I hope you learned something new about Daily 5 that you can use in your classroom. I plan to blog about my Daily 5 journey this coming year, and I hope to hear how you are doing as well!  Here is a set of Daily 5 and a set of Math Daily 3 posters that I found on TpT. They are from Reagan Turnstall. They are super cute! Click on each picture to see them and download them in her store. 

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Inspired Owl's Corner

 Welcome to Chapter 8 of our Daily 5 Summer Book Study! Today we are changing things up a bit and talking about math instead of ELA! Last year I heard about Math Daily 3, but I knew it would be difficult to implement since I was teaching a 2/3 combo. I struggled to have adequate time to meet with individuals, but luckily I had a very high class. This year I'm teaching a straight grade, so I am planning to run my math block similar to Math Daily 3. 

If you need to purchase a copy of the book, click on the picture above. You will definitely need it to implement Daily 5 in your classroom!

After reading Chapter 8, I have some ideas in mind that I want to share with you. I have also found some wonderful freebies and other products in my search for Math Daily 3 activities. After learning about Daily 5, it just makes sense to implement the same procedures during math, since students will already be familiar with the procedures of Daily 5.

• The structure of Math Daily 3 is similar to Daily 5.
• Younger students have one round of Daily 3.
• Older students have two rounds since they have more stamina.
• Focus Lessons, Students Choices, and Teacher Choices are all components of Math Daily 3.

• Begin with a whole-group focus lesson.
• Meet with a small group that needs more support.
• The rest of the class participates in the first round of Daily 3. 
• Individual teacher conferences take place after small group, then the first round ends.
• Begin second whole-group lesson. 
• Students begin second round of Math Daily 3 choices.
• Teacher works with small group, then has individual conferences. 
• Third round of whole group instruction takes place with students practicing on their own. 

I found a wonderful Math Workshop pack by the amazingly talented Tara from 4th Grade Frolics. This board would be perfect for Math Daily 3, and matches my classroom perfectly! I love that this is editable too! Click on the picture below to check it out.

These the Things I Plan to Use:

• Organization- Sterilite drawers, toy bins, and tool boxes work for organizing supplies and activities.
• Game Boards 
• Dice
• Counters
• Playing Cards
• Math Tools
• Math Notebooks
• Whiteboards (I like using a piece of white cardstock in a page protector.)
• Task Cards (I plan to add these to my choices.)
• Math Centers (I plan to have these sitting out ready to grab and go.)
• Roll and Cover Math Facts Practice

Below are a few of the activities I plan to have my students work on during Work by Myself and Work with Someone. I love this pack from PAWSitively Teaching. I have the growing pack, The Purposeful Problem Solving Bundle, which is a steal! The Worm File below is a freebie that is similar to the other themed packs in the bundle. Click on the picture below to check it out. 

She has another pack that I'm also going to set out during Math Daily 3. I think it would work great for second or third graders. The students use bottle caps to cover their answers. Click on the picture to see more examples of this pack.

The pack below is a freebie from my larger Addition Enrichment Math Pack. It is geared towards third grade, but could work for second and fourth. Click on the picture to grab your copy. 

I have a few other math task card freebies that you can grab HERE.

The graphing pack below is part of my Graphs Galore Bundle and is one of my students' favorites! It has a set with QR codes, without QR codes, and it comes in color and blackline. I'm going to give away a set to one person who leaves a comment about Math Daily 3. Be sure to leave your email so I can let you know if you won! This graphing bundle also comes separately in Set 1 and Set 2. 

I think task cards are going to be great to use during Math D3. The key for my students has always been changing things up, so I plan to rotate the task cards and other activities throughout the year to keep them engaged. It's important for students to practice their current concepts, but reviewing older concepts is just as important. 

• Similar to Daily 5
• Teach students to be responsible with gathering, using, and cleaning up materials.
• Teach students how to work independently.
• Stamina building begin on day 1.

• Model how to use one of the activities.
• Model gathering, setting up, and cleaning up.
• Label the activity on the Math Daily 3 board.
• Create an I-chart together.
• Teach the 10 Steps to Independence. 

• Students use pictures, numbers, and words to express their thinking.
• Use problems from your curriculum or problems of the day. I will use math notebooks during this time. 
• Be sure to model each activity you plan to have students do, and add it to your math board.
•  Choice begins when students are working independently with Math by Myself and Math Writing.
• Students practice and build stamina.
• They choose either Math by Myself or Math Writing for each round.
• Math with Someone is launched after practicing this for about four days, but use your students as your guide.

• Students practice building stamina with an activity that requires a partner.
• Teach the 10 Steps to Independence. 
• If the noise level is too high, less partners can participate in Math with Someone.

I'm a little nervous about Math with Someone. I really need it quiet when I'm working with a small group, and I have a large class. Hopefully, if I follow the 10 Steps to Independence and model correctly, my students will be focused and independent like they should be.

I have to say... after reading this chapter, I was left wanting to know more about Math Daily 3. I wanted more ideas about activities students could do during Math D3 and more examples of group conferring. This chapter really needs to have a book of its own! I'm hoping the Sisters come out with one someday. 

Be sure to come back on Thursday, July 30th for Chapter 9. We will be wrapping up this book study on that day. 

In case you are just now joining us, I have provided links to the other Daily 5 Chapters below. Be sure to check out the other teachers who linked up with me. There are some Daily 5 Pros in this group who have taught this newbie a ton! 

Chapter 1:   How Daily 5 Has Evolved Chapter 2:   Our Core Beliefs: The Foundations of Daily 5 Chapter 3:   The 10 Steps to Independence Chapter 4:   What Do You Need to Begin Daily 5? Chapter 5:   Learning Read to Self Chapter 6:   Foundation Lessons  Chapter 7:   When to Launch the Next Daily 5

Make sure to visit the other bloggers linked up below! A few of them have been implementing Daily 5 and even Math Daily 3! I can't wait to read what they have to say! 
Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend!

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Inspired Owl's Corner

It's time for our Daily 5 Chapter 7 Summer Book Study! This chapter is all about when you should begin the next Daily 5 choice. The Sisters recommend the following:

• Intermediate Grades: 12-14 minutes of stamina
• Primary Grades: 10-12 minutes of stamina
• Kindergarten: 7-8 minutes of Stamina 

It's recommended to use a graph to show the minutes of stamina and to leave it posted so the students can see their progress. It's also suggested to not compare your current class with previous classes because every class is different. If it takes this year's class longer to get up and running with D5, it's ok! Let the students be your guide. 

The Sisters recommend beginning with Work on Writing as the second Daily 5 choice. Current research supports writing every day, and Daily 5 gives students the time they need to write daily. Students may work on their Writer's Workshop pieces, or they may do another type of writing. I plan to have my students work on a combination of assigned writing and Mel D's Ultimate Writing Station for Work on Writing. It gives tons of engaging student-friendly writing choices, such as letter, memo, song, poem, and email writing! My past students have loved it! Click on the picture to check it out!

I plan to launch Work on Writing as suggested, by discussing why it's so important to write and the expectations for Work on Writing time. Together we will create an I-chart for Work on Writing, students will model and demonstrate the appropriate behaviors and the undesirable behaviors. Basically, we will be following the same steps we used for Read to Self and the 10 Steps to Teaching Independence described in chapter 3. Students will practice and build stamina, and Work on Writing ends when stamina is broken.

I plan to introduce choice after students have built their stamina to 12 minutes. Students should be very motivated and excited at this point to get to choose what Daily 5 activity they do next! 

 Check-In is suggested, and should only take a few minutes to do. You can call each student and ask which choice they are starting with. I can see this helping the students to stay focused and accountable. I am not sure if I am going to use The Cafe Book or my own version of small group instruction while students are working independently, but I will also be checking in with my small group during D5 time to make sure they are working on what they need to be focusing on.

 After the foundation lessons have been taught, and Daily 5 has been practiced, it's time for Read to Someone. Hopefully, if I've followed the 10 Steps to Teaching Independence, my students will rise to the occasion and stay focused and on task during Read to Someone. Honestly, this is the Daily 5 choice I am most nervous about implementing!
The Coach's Playlist below was a freebie I shared last week, but I'm adding it this week in case you missed it. I plan to give these to the pairs who are working on Read to Someone. Click on the pictures and grab a copy if you like! 

For this choice, I may have my students go to online story sites and use their headphones with their tablets. I might have to wait until later in the year to introduce Listen to Reading until my students have been properly trained on how to use their devices. I can see how students can stay very focused during Listen to Reading. 

I know Word Work will be most of my students' favorite choice! I'm planning to store some of the activities in my Big Lots cart below. I shared this picture and the freebie labels that go inside it last week, but wanted to share again in case you missed it.

I have lots of Word Work activities already in place. Here are a few of them:

• Magnetic Letters and serving trays from Dollar Tree
• Foam Letters- I am going to have the kids   trace them onto their paper, not stick them on, so we can reuse them.
• Spelling Stamping-I have TONS of stamps from my scrapbooking days!
• Crossword Puzzles
• Boggle
• Spelling City on the tablets
• Spelling Illustrations
• Digital White Board Spelling
• Letters for Learning- I love this set from Tara at 4th Grade Frolics! Check out her Gumball Spelling too!
• Vocabulary Four Square Sheets (See below- my second graders did these last year. It's a freebie in my store.

It's suggested to do a Word Work rotation for only 10 minutes because the student behavior  can turn from focused working to play. I might see how it goes and then decide how long the students do Word Work. After Word Work, they move onto either Work on Writing or Read to Self. The important thing is to make sure you are teaching the 10 Steps to Teaching Independence and how to properly take out and return the Word Work materials.

Well, there you have it! I hope the D5 training period in my classroom goes this smoothly! If not, I guess I will just have to work out the kinks!

Be sure to check back on Saturday when we will be discussing Chapter 8 which is Math D3! 

Also be sure to visit the other bloggers who have linked up. A few of them have been using Daily 5 for years, so they are the real experts!

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Inspired Owl's Corner

It's hard to believe we are on Chapter 6 of our Daily 5 Summer Book Study hosted by Brenda from Primary Inspired! That means my summer is almost over and most likely yours, too! This week is all about the Foundation Lessons and continuing to train students' muscle memories for independence. Read-to-Self and Three Ways to Read a Book  are reviewed, and new components of Daily 5 are introduced. I really like how the Sisters advise that you base the order and number of foundation lessons you introduce on your students' needs. There isn't just one right way to do this- we use our judgment! 

Thoughts and ideas about Read-to-Self Foundation Lessons:

• Review Ways to Read a Book. 
• Review I PICK Good-Fit Books.
• Have students choose a successful spot. Students will need to choose their own spots. Discuss with them what they might think about when making that decision. I realize that sometimes I think I can tell them once and they will get it. I need to remember to go over procedures daily and model!
• Release the students a few at a time to find their spots so you don't have a stampede.
• Once time is up, or stamina is broken, this round ends!

Work-on-Writing Foundation Lessons thoughts and Ideas:

• Setting up a notebook: I'm planning to give my students a spiral notebook for writing. I love the idea of having students personalize them with cutouts from magazines, stickers, or drawings!
• I really like the suggested idea to cut the top corners of 5 pages of the notebook so students can write "think abouts", which are their ideas. These ideas become writing topics when students can't think of anything to write. Brilliant! 
• At this point, students are guided to create their "Think Abouts" and are told they will be referring to this part of their writing notebook when they are stuck and can't think about what to write. Perfect for those who say, "I don't know what to write."
• Before we begin Work-on-Writing, I will read the story, "Nothing Ever Happens on 22nd Street. This is a great story about a girl who thinks she has nothing to write about, but some pretty exciting things in her neighborhood unfold before her eyes! We have the discussion that authors get the ideas for their stories from what they hear and see around them. 

Read-to-Someone Thoughts and Ideas:

• Students are taught to sit Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee, or EEEK. Students sit closely to each other so they can read quietly. This should help with the noise level in my tiny classroom!
• Next, proper voice levels are modeled. It makes sense that the loudest voice in the room is the one that regulates the noise level, so it's important to use a quiet voice when modeling Read-to-Someone.
• Check for Understanding is another important skill to model. After students finish a page, the partner who was listening summarizes the text. The reader either agrees or clarifies what was actually read. If the listener is incorrect, the reader reads the text again, and hopefully, the listener has corrected the summary.
• Partners can read one at at time, chorally, or one reads one book, another reads a different book, one at a time.
• Students are taught how to read shared text together. 
• If a student doesn't know a word, the partner needs to wait three seconds, and then ask, Do you want coaching or time?" If the partner says, "time", the listener needs to wait patiently while the reader tries to decode the word. If the reader says "coaching", the listener helps the reader use a decoding strategy. In addition to the Time or Coaching anchor chart I plan to have posted in the classroom after our discussion, I think it is important to provide the students with a time or coaching cheat sheet reminder. You can download a copy by clicking on either of the pictures below.

Listen-to-Reading Thoughts and Ideas:

• This section covers how to set up and clean up the listening devices. Students need to put everything neatly back where they found it. 
• Students are taught how to follow along with their eyes or finger as they listen.
• It's suggested to pair students up to share each device, since there are usually a limited amount of these devices. 

Word-Work Foundation Lessons Thoughts and Ideas:

• Students are taught how to set up and clean up the Word-Work materials. This takes modeling! 
• Be sure to teach students to choose the activities that will help them to learn their words. 
• Model how to find a place to work. Discuss and complete the Word-Work anchor chart.
• Some ideas for Word-Work activities are white boards, magnetic letters, chipboard letters, foam letters, stamps, and Boggle.
• I plan to house my Word-Work activities in the Big Lots cart shown below. I know Michael's has a similar cart. (You can click on the pictures if you would like a set of editable labels to make your own.)

I have a few freebies that you could use with Daily 5. I use the cart below to organize my spelling centers, and I plan to revamp it to include other Word Work activities, such as my FREEBIE Vocabulary 4-Square sheets above. 

Next week is Chapter 7. We are nearing the end of our Summer Book Study. Only two more weeks to go! I have learned so much from the ladies who have been implementing it! Be sure to check out their posts below, and leave a comment or link up your Daily 5 Chapter 6 post! 

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Inspired Owl's Corner