Daily 5: Tried and True Resources for Grades 4-6

Have you read this book?  

I can promise that it will transform the way you teach in your ELA classroom. The premise of this must-read resource is "students select from five authentic reading and writing choices, working independently toward personalized goals, while the teacher meets individual needs through whole-group and small-group instruction, as well as one-on-one conferring."
The Daily 5 choices include:

Read to Self is a time where my students focus on their own independent reading of a text and incorporates novel units, close reading passages and poetry.  While we utilize novel units, close reads, and poetry for whole group instruction as well, students need to be able to read independently and engage with text that is at their reading level for age-appropriate periods of time. I have created as many novel units as I can create in order to engage my students in their Read to Self time.

Read to Someone is a favorite time of my students because they have the chance to interact with a text and a peer.  They can share ideas, insights, and discuss the text they are working to navigate through.  I LOVE walking around the classroom during Read to Someone and listening to the thoughtful commentary taking place between my kiddos.  I will have students partner read novels and other close reads. 

Listen to Reading is essential for my 6th graders.  I utilize reader's theater scripts, picture books that I share, and novel read alouds for Listen to Reading.  While many of my students are on-grade level readers, hearing fluent reading and listening to text being read aloud enhances their listening comprehension and imagery skills.  I LOVE when we are getting ready to switch classes and my students are bummed and wanting me to "just read one more page!"

Word Work incorporates both spelling and vocabulary in my classroom setting.  Word Work begins our class with morning or bell ringer work and is a focus in various texts we read.  Students need continued work with vocabulary-using context clues, identifying synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, and roots  in order to tackle more difficult texts and comprehend what they are reading.  For Word Work I target instruction with Word of the Day, Context Clue Task Cards, and BOGGLE.

Writing is always taking place within my 6th grade classroom.  There is always a piece in progress, a response getting evidence gathered, or a prompt being considered.  It is necessary for students to be able to respond to text, respond to prompts, and share their ideas and insights on paper.  I utilize end of book projects, writing units, and journaling in order to cover all of the elements of writing my students must grasp before moving on to the next grade. 

I am certain that you are incorporating each of these components into your daily ELA work with students...the tricky aspect is allowing students to have the opportunity to choose what they want to work on during a given amount of time, which is a Daily 5 concept to promote independence and choices. This aspect continues to be a work in progress for me, as well.  That is my work for this summer-strategizing the best way to help my students work to become more independent with their Daily 5 choices where I feel as though they are working and not wasting the time that is given...I, like my students, am a work in progress...

 

While I am still working to implement all of the components using the choice method with my students, what I have nailed down and want to share are the resources I have created to coincide with my work with the Daily 5 in my classroom.  I want to make sure students are getting all 5-components and are finding success through their growth as readers, writers, and listeners.  You can click on the cover image and grab the preview...

Within this 20-resource bundle, I have included each of the tools and how I utilize them with my 6th grade students to enhance their work with the Daily 5.  Take a peek at how I have organized this Daily 5 Bundle of Resources for Grades 4-6...

  

  

I would love to hear how you help your students make the best choices while working to instill choice and independence through your classroom Daily 5...Keep me posted and share any insights you have below!  I am all ears!

Christmas Sales Linky: Day 4! Writing and Word Work for Daily 5 in your Classroom

Sing it with me...

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me resources to help writing and vocabulary!

For only $4 each!

If you are looking for easy-to-implement tools for when you return from winter break, these are two must-haves.  Get right down to business with student writing with Writing Rules.  This resource incorporates ALL writing standards for grades 4-6.  Word of the Day is the perfect way to bring more vocabulary to your students in minutes a day.  Use as a morning starter or in a literacy center. 

For a bazillion other $4 resources, click the image to head to The Primary Gal's page for all links.

Christmas Sales Linky: Day 3! SUPER HOLIDAY FUN!

On the third day of Christmas, I don't want to get up because I know my students are going to be wild and crazy! 

It is going to be an exciting week, for sure!  Grab this Holiday Bundle for $3 and make the week engaging and fun for your students...my holiday season mantra is, "If you can't beat'em, join'em!"  With three reader's theater scripts and fun packs, plus word work, reader response questions, and journaling/writing, your students will be so engaged with learning they might even forget that Christmas is next week!

Here are some other $3 goodies to make your week fly by, sort of!

An InLinkz Link-up

Super Cyber Sitewide Sale

If you are looking for some AMAZING deals, check out these super discounted products..Here are a few of my best sellers that I would love for you to snag!

Happy Shopping!  Be sure to enter TPTCYBER so you save 28%!

Check out these other great resources from my Lesson Deli friends...

An InLinkz Link-up

Supermarket Saturday Task Cards: How are you using them in your upper elementary classroom?

As an upper elementary reading teacher always on the hunt for resources and tools to motivate my students, I have been busy creating.  I find that I am always in need of teaching tools that are engaging and motivating, capable of being used in a literacy center, incorporated into Daily 5 instruction, small group, or even whole class work, and can be utilized with minimal prep time on my end.  Does that sound familiar? Or like any type of resource you could use?

I have found task cards to be one of these sought after resources.  They are a perfect way to be able to reinforce a concept and meet ALL student instructional needs.  Here is a peek in to how I have found them to be most effective.

PREP...
First, print them and have students cut them out.  I know that there are always a few students that I can heavily rely on for secretarial work each school year.  Pass this job along to those students that like to come in early, stay in for recess, or spend a little extra time with you in your classroom.  While there is not a ton of prep in organizing these for classroom use, students love to be put to work and help out.  Have students cut out the task cards, you can laminate them so they can be re-used, then re-enlist students to cut out the laminated cards, and use as you see most suitable for your classroom.

Ready for student cutting!

IDEAS FOR USE...
Task cards are an easy tool to incorporate into your classroom any day.  I have three sets that you can grab for $1 today only and start using immediately to enforce reading literature skills and vocabulary.

These Character Analysis Task Cards are perfect for deepening student understanding of how characters are feeling based on information that is shared in the text.  These cards have a mini-lesson and allow for students to support their understanding of the different feelings of characters with evidence.  Understanding characters can be a bit complex and I need my students telling  me more than just that a character might be feeling "sad."  I need to know why they are feeling sad and what information from the text made them arrive at this conclusion.

Read more »

Reader's Theater in your Upper Elementary to Middle School Classroom For Any Day and All Seasons

Reader's Theater is an AMAZING tool to utilize with students at so many levels.  My daughter's teacher, Mrs. Bell from A Place Called Kindergarten seems to be a guru of primary reader's theater.  She does Theater Thursday with her kindergartners using resources that she has created based on various books, and my daughter couldn't love it more.  Would you believe that older kiddos LOVE it just as much?

A few years ago when we began utilizing Reading Street, I was lucky enough to land the Reader's Theater Anthology.  I don't know about the other grade levels, but 6th grade has some great scripts.  The idea is that each unit has it's own script, so they range from historical fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, poetry, etc.  At first, I had no idea how to implement it into my week with all of the other instructional components of my day, but I knew fluency was something that we needed to enhance. Our DIBELs scores were not where they needed to be, and in addition to more read to someone time, I needed to make fluency work fun, so on an inconsistent basis, we tackled some if the different scripts.

While it helps to have a group that is willing to perform, what I found was that the enthusiasm of the students when performing is contagious.  Students that might be more reserved as you tackle the first few scripts with your crew, will become more comfortable and engaged the more you incorporate them into your instruction.  While they may have been reluctant, it will soon pass and students will be crossing fingers for the characters with the most lines.

By having this additional fluency practice, I began to see that students were much more animated readers.  No longer were they just racing the clock and reading words as quickly as possible during 6-minute solutions or with weekly progress monitoring, instead they were much more expressive.  I have been truly impressed with how beneficial reader's theater has been for my BIG kiddos.

I soon realized that sharing the same scripts year after year was BORING for me, so I began turning some of the happenings at school into scripts of my own.  I also found that I could include other components that I knew my students needed additional work on...extended response questions, context clue word work, and prompt writing.  My students LOVE these even more, and anytime I have a sub, I leave a script and fun pack for my students to perform and the day is usually issue-free.

If you have an anthology you love, but are looking for some additional high-interest scripts and fun packs that go along with the different seasons, here are a few of my favorites:

For FALL and Halloween

For EVERYDAY fun!

To enhance a study on FABLES

More EVERYDAY fun!

To teach about our American History

I have included a FREEBIE!  With St. Nicholas Night arriving in a few days, this is the perfect reader's theater to share with your students.  It is only 6-characters, so you can have multiple groups working and performing.  Click here to snag it up, and be sure to let me know what you think with some feedback...

I would love to hear about some of the awesome reader's theater resources you have utilized!

Blasting Back to School: Giveaway and 5-Back to School Classroom Decorating Tips for a Time-Challenged Teacher

Are you ready for Back to School? I'm joining several other upper grade teachers to help you get ready for the next school year, and to give away some AWESOME prizes! You'll have the opportunity to win something different on each blog in our group, so make sure that you visit the next blog in the blog hop at the bottom of this page. To enter to win the HUGE gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers, visit our group blog, Lesson Delicatessen. Make sure you hop through all the blogs to read all the great back to school tips and be entered to win over 20 different prizes!

Everyone thinks teachers have it so easy...ten months of teaching and two months off!

Yeah, right!  Unless you have been an educator in a school building awaiting the arrival of a homeroom full of students, you truly have no idea what it is like to get a classroom ready for another school year!  Many of us are moved grade levels, classrooms, or to different buildings during the summer months, some right before the first day arrives, and the task of organizing an entire room is daunting.

On top of that add the fact that many of us have kiddos that we are juggling while we are tackling this endeavor.  Working for 10 months, and relaxing for 2 months is truly a legend.  I know my summer months are always filled with preparing for the next year, so here are a few tricks to help you get started and feel excited about the arrival of the new year...

#1:  FABRIC:  Use fabric on your bulletin boards.  I leave mine up for the year or longer and find that it doesn't show staple holes, or fade.  You can purchase inexpensive fabric at JoAnn Fabrics or Walmart.  Teacher discounts are available at Jo-Ann Fabrics, which is perfect for all of us who spend a fortune on supplies for our classrooms.

This is just a piece of red gingham fabric that cost a few dollars.  We have to post our CHAMPs procedures, so this is the perfect board to keep this classroom must-have in place.

#2: CLOTHESLINE:  Use a clotheline with clothespins for hanging student work, anchor charts, classroom posters, etc.  It is inexpensive and requires only hooks to hang. 

The clothesline serves a dual purpose...it holds all of our anchor charts for quick reference, as well as blocks some sunlight from our faces during the sunny morning hours.

#3:  ART WORK:  Use inexpensive IKEA frames to showcase thoughtful messages for your students around the classroom.  I downloaded these from:  http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com.  Click the image to find some of your favorites.   Here are a few of mine:

I place these on bookshelves and in windowsills as reminders for my students.  The frames were $2 a piece and I printed out the colored copies on my home printer.  I have heard of people finding frames at yard sales and spray painting them as well.  If you want to reuse and recycle, that is a great plan, but I found this to be easier.

#4:  BOGGLE BOARD:  Have a spot in your classroom from the very first day where students can find something to work on when they finish early.  I find that in those very first days, I am really getting to know each of my new learners and some work much more quickly than others.  While I have a library FILLED with books, reading isn't always a task that my upper elementary kiddos are seasoned to do.  I have this...a Boggle board which for the first few weeks I utilize as an early finisher word work tool!

I found the letters on http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com  Click the image to find letters for you!  I printed them, took them to Staples to be laminated, backed them with Velcro, change the letters weekly, and I have a permanent spot in my room for students to find an extra task.  It is a hit because my students are always on a quest to find the most words.

#5: "NO NAME" BOARD:  Back to IKEA for this necessity!  I used an IKEA 8X10 frame and attached clothespins with superglue.  I created a simple "No Name" design and drilled it into the front of my classroom.  Students that don't get an assignment back can check there to find it, write their name, and have it entered for credit.  I find that I only have a few each year that have a hard time writing their name...

While there are about a bazillion other things needing done at this time, room order is key!  I can't stand a disorganized or unwelcoming space.  After all it is where we spend a huge portion of our time.  I would love to hear about any perfect tips you have to organize your classroom for the upcoming school year!  

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