A Little Bit of Light Reading

So, I officially HATE strongly dislike my laptop. It is on the fritz and overheats since the fan is messed up. I need to get a new one, but I do not have the time nor money to invest into getting a new one. I am leaning towards getting a mini desktop since they are smaller and then hooking it up to a flat screen tv and using a wireless mouse and keyboard with it. I think it would be ideal since it would primarily be in my room. I use my iPad for the portability factor and since you can get much more computer out of a desktop that you can on a laptop for the money, I feel it is the smart move to go.

Anyhoo,

I have been frustrated about blogging since my iPad is driving me up a wall with trying to blog and my laptop being on the fritz. So sorry about the lapses in posts.

I have wanted to do this post for a while now but was battling it out with the technology. The first week of school I started Daily 5. If you do not know about Daily 5, I definitely recommend checking it out. IT IS PHENOMENAL!!!

We started building our stamina on Read to Self like the 2nd or 3rd day of school. After about 2 lame attempts, we got things going and was making it to 5 and 7 minutes. I pushed things a little more and after about 2 days we were making it to 10 minutes on a semi regular basis. After about a week, we were at 15 minutes on a regular basis and ready to start other things.

Next, we added Listening to Reading and Computers. Since I have 6 mp3 players with a bag of 4 books to accompany it, I let about 6-8 kids do that and 6 kids do computers. That left about 6-8 kids to do Read to Self. We did it as a rotation and they are little pros. They are independent (for the most part) and are silent. IT IS AMAZING!!

I loved Daily 5 last year, but this year is amazing. It's like this class was MADE for Daily 5. It helps that I was spoiled and only have 20 students, but still.

This week we are adding in Word Work. I introduced a couple of fun worksheets to the kids then I let them use the mainpulatives. I found last year that it cut down on the off-task behavior with the manipulatives since they had to turn in the worksheet and they were then focused on spelling their words. I usually have them practicing their spelling words, but since we have not started spelling yet, I am having them write words they find around the room. They seem to be enjoying it.

I am hoping to start Work on Writing next week and then start READING GROUPS!!!

I love working with my kiddos in small groups. It is amazing what they can do when they have a little more attention from me.

Overall, this year is shaping up to be a really awesome year. I needed this class this year. After 3 trying years, I needed a year to reestablish my love of teaching. Before school started, I was dreading having to go back to school. When people would ask if I was ready, it was a very firm NO! Now, I don't wake up in the morning wishing it was Saturday all the time like I was used to in the past. I am reenergized about teaching.

I KNOW it is going to be a great year!

OH!

And, stay tuned...I am going to post about my 1st ever TPT product! I haven't posted it yet, so don't try looking. I have to figure all that out and then I will post about it here!