Show and Tell (Daily 5) & 12 on the 12th

I am combining 2 of my favorite Linkys: Show and Tell Tuesday and 12 on the 12th. I know I'm a day late on both! It's been a busy week!

In my classroom, I have implemented Daily 5. (I use only 4 so we call it Daily 4) During our literacy block of 90-120 minutes, my kids make the rounds of Read to Self, Read with Someone, Work on Writing, or Word Work. I do not claim to have this perfected! I have read the books (several times), seen the Sisters present, and belong to the website. If you are starting out with CAFE and/or Daily 5 I HIGHLY recommend you join their site. It is FULL of videos and downloadable materials. Their weekly newsletters are also full of info. The website is where I learned most of what I know and I can refer to it if I need a refresher or encounter a problem.

The only round we do not do is Listen to Reading. Though listening to reading helps kids with fluency, I just don't find a need for it with my class. I began CAFE and Daily 5 by organizing my library by genre. It took about 3 or 4 days to do. This picture is only on section of my library. I have many more books on the other side of the room. I also purchased book bins and notebooks. The notebooks are not part of CAFE, but I incorporated the reader's workshop into my literacy block.

"I" charts that we created as a class hang in the back of the room. I can refer to them when necessary.

My CAFE board is in the front of the room  and takes up part of my white board. I don't have a lot of bulletin board space or white board space, so it's a little small. I like it because it's in the front and I can use it and refer to it. The students declare their goals on cute Post Its. I bought a bunch of differenct shapes. I have a gifted/high achiever class and most of their goals are in Expanding Vocabulary. I have seen the CAFE cards printed out "cute", but I think it's important to write them with the kids, then I have a student post it up on the board. I use Post It Word Strips for this. These were suggested by the Sisters and are the perfect size and super sticky!

Besides Read with Someone, they have a chance to do a book partnership. The pair picks a book together, but they don't read together. They plan how much they will read and when they meet they ask  each other "thick" questions they have written. They meet 3 times to discuss. When they are finished they present the book they have read. Check out Beth Newingham's site and click Teacher Resources to see all the forms and procedures for this. Her site and resources rock!! I learned a lot from her.

For the Daily 4, I keep my Work Work and Work on Writing materials here:

I use the Power Vocabulary workbook. I LOVE it. The words are higher level and the activities are meaningful. The kids use the words we are working on for the activities. Here are a few activities they can choose from:

 They LOVE the magnetic words and letters for word work and writing. They can create poems or stories and then write them in their writer's notebooks.

 For writing, they use their writer's notebooks to practice what we are working on in writer's workshop or they can start a new story or poem. They love the colored pens and story starters. They also love just writing what they want! I think choice is very important during writing. They write best when they write about what they know.

 I had never really used centers in 3rd or  4th when I taught it. I just didn't see the need or purpose. Daily 5, to me, is the best use of time. The activities are meaningful, they practice independence and responsibility, and they have choice. There is VERY little perp time, too.

Now on with the rest of my 12 from the 12th. This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year. The kids have enjoyed learning about this festive celebration. I have a student who is part Chinese and he's been sharing his experiences with us, too. The activities are from my product  here on TpT. You can check out my post for books I read, too. 

We discussed the symbol of the dragon and how the Chinese dragon is made up of parts from different animals. My kids created their own dragons and wrote stories.

We discussed the Red Envelopes and they made their own. The activity instructs them to write a note to someone wishing them good fortune or good luck and then they create the envelope. I had them color them red and draw their own designs. I put up Chinese symbols for them to copy.
Check out the one on the left...pretty good!

Today we made our Valentine card holders. Go to my last post for the directions.

It's been a busy week, but we've been having a lot of fun! Hope I covered the topics for the Linkys!