Beach Sand: CAFE

Showing posts with label CAFE. Show all posts

Happy Summer Everyone!
It has been FOREVER since I have blogged...I'm not even sure I remember how! 😆 I was just sitting here on this summer morning and decided to refresh my memory on blogging and share what is on my mind.

I'm still teaching 3rd grade. I think I'm going into year 30...WHAT??😮 I'm not even believing that. No, I'm not retiring any time soon. Like most teachers I just can't afford to stay home. My husband is a teacher, too. We have two kids in high school...one will be in college next year. I'm not able to live a life of leisure just yet. Honestly, I think I would be bored especially when my kids are off to college. If I sit home I'll be crying all day missing them. I really do love the job of teaching...I'm not loving all the BS that goes along with it recently. It seems to get harder and harder each year. We get so much dumped on us and are expected to do more and more each year within the same amount of hours. I try to sift out what I think is unnecessary. I've seen a lot of this over the past 30 years. Same cycles. The district comes up with some great plan we are all required to follow. No real directions given. Everyone panics. By mid year it's all but forgotten and by the end of the year it's like it never existed. Better yet the district decides to change the plan that was so frantically rolled out. 😕 It just keeps happening over and over. I am trying hard not to get wrapped up in this "nonsense". I try to just use my common sense and do what I know is right by my students.

Some of the teaching practices I feel are best for students include a strong readers' workshop and a good guided math system. Giving students meaningful practice with time to practice new skills is key. I am a strong believer in the CAFE and DAILY 5 routine for reading and math...it works! Check it out if you are not familiar. I love it!

Here are a few of my favorite TpT products that I have made my main curriculum in reading and math:
Rooted in Reading by Amy Lemons
Math Curriculum by Amy Lemons
Guide Math by Simply Skilled in Second

These products are high quality, meet the standards, and give my a guide to teaching reading and math. They also fit in perfectly with Daily 5/CAFE. Check them out.

So that's it in a nutshell. I just wanted to give blogging a try again! Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Beach Sand and Lesson Plans

I have a confession to make...I am addicted to Linky Parties!! ("Hi my name is Gina and I'm hooked on Linkys!") I think they are so much fun! I get to meet new bloggers and read what everyone is up to.

Today, Stacy at Simpson's Superstars, is hosting a 12-12-12 party.

I had to take 12 random photos throughout the day on Dec. 12.

Here they are:

I knew it was going to be a great day when my bestie, Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade, sent me an early Christmas present through the pony. The little ornament says "Happiness is sand between your toes!" Perfect for me and my blog. The monkey thing goes way back...I mentioned I liked sock monkeys once...I think that is how it started! LOL! Anyway, she made my day!

I use CAFE and Daily 5 in my class. The students spend a great deal of time reading in their just right books. I thought it would be fun to pull out books with a winter/holiday theme and let the kids read, review, and rate the books during Read to Self. I came up with this anchor chart for their post its. The students helped me come up with the "snowflake ratings". I'll keep this up this month and perhaps into January.

Here is a student working on words. We have been studying adjectives and the students are illustrating and writing sentences with adjectives that we have studied.

A couple girls are involved in a reading partnership. These smarties are reading The Lemonade War. They are discussing the pages they read and asking each other "thick" questions that they wrote.

PTO set up a Holiday gift shop as a fundraiser. We had about 30 minutes to shop. It was fun helping the kids pick a gift for moms, dads, siblings, and relatives.

We will be making starfish ornaments for a winter project exchange. We will make 20 ornaments and write about winter in South Florida. I send them off to a teacher in Pennsylvania. In exchange, we will get 20 projects back and information about winter in other areas of the country from the other classes participating. I was working on making the patterns. The kids will paint these brown and add glitter. These look neat after you fold them on the lines....a little 3D. To get this pattern, click {here} to go to my pinterest board.

Later in the day, our read aloud was Snowflake Bentley. If you haven't read this please do! It is the true story of Willie Bentley. He loved snow. He found a way to photograph snowflakes and discovered their beautiful, unique designs. Snowflakes in Photographs is a book with his snowflake pictures. The kids are amazed at the designs. The book of photographs is a little hard to find, but check out Better World Books. They sell used books that are usually inexpensive and they offer free shipping. They also donate books for every book purchased. Everyone wins!

We cut out snowflakes after we read about them!

Now I cheated a little (might be part of my addiction LOL!)...this photo was not from the 12th, but from the day before. The kids made these adorable polar bear masks during art. I just loved them. They used paper plates, white tissue paper, a white plastic cup for the nose, and a black pom pom. CUTE!!

For our writing time, the kids wrote lists of "12". Twelve math problems that equal 12. Twelve favorite foods. Top 12 of 2012. Twelve book characters. They collaborated and shared during this fun thinking activity.

So that is my December 12, 2012.

Don't forget to link up!!

Beach Sand and Lesson Plans

Teaching reading is, by far, my favorite part of the day! I am currently implementing the Daily 5 (I use Daily 4 in my room) and CAFE into my literacy block and I LOVE it! This is my 3rd year using it and I finally feel like it is all coming together. Change always takes time! This is my CAFE board. I use a section of my white board. I needed a place the kids could reach to post their goals (see the different shaped post-its?) and I wanted it to be a focal point in the room.

My students have book boxes for their "just right" books and a binder for all their record keeping and assignments. This box stays with them all during the literacy time. The kids love "shopping" for books and filling those boxes!

It took several days for me to organize my classroom library into genres. I bought most of the baskets from Target, but some I already had. Some are hand-me-downs (love those). I labeled the baskets, too. I had to round up some extra book shelves to house them all! I think my book collection is pretty extensive and I'm always adding to it. The public library sells used books, my students donate their gently read books. I'm lucky enough to get books from my wish list at the book fair, free books from Scholastic Book orders, etc. Of course, I can't resist a good book if I see one at Barnes & Noble! My room is not that big, but I make it work. I have bean bags (don't tell the fire marshall!), a rocking chair, cushions, a couple of folding camp chairs, and a tall bar chair. I want the kids to have some fun, comfy places to sit while they read and write.

This is one of my MOST prized possessions! My Author's Chair! My media specialist shared this idea with me a few years back. I take the canvas sections with me to reading and writing conferences, local book signings, etc. The kids LOVE this chair. I tell them they are sitting with the best when they use it. Whenever I share a read aloud, I point out the author's signature. I have Jeff Kinney, Henry Cole, Walter Dean Myers, Patricia Polacco, Ralph Fletcher, Lois Lowry, and tons more. I have actually started a second chair because this one is quite full.

The following four books are my "bibles" for my reading program: CAFE, The Daily Five, The Book Whisperer, and Guiding Readers and Writers in Grades 3-6. The last book is more of a resource, but it is the basis of my reader's workshop.

One of the goals for my 3rd graders is to read 40 books (got this challenge idea from the Book Whisperer). One simple way to keep track of that is a checklist. This is one of the record keeping sheets I use. Even if students don't get to 40 I feel like if they read more then the year before then they have made progress!