Daily 5, Chapter 2

Happy 4th of July!!

I'm off to visit a friend for a few days...but I won't leave you behind! :) (She has to study for her Social Work Licensing Exam, so I told her I'd bring stuff to do...computer is coming with!) Hopefully I'll be spending some time on the beach with my Kindle! :)

Now onto the Daily 5!

Chapter 2 was about the management and the foundations of Daily 5.
One of the first thing the Sisters talked about was Trust. Trust is huge! The trust that a teacher builds with the class is one of the most important bonds that a teacher can have. Children need to trust that the teacher knows what she/he is doing, and the teacher needs to trust his/her students to do their best work and put an effort into their learning.

Sometimes, when my children came to me with something (minor), I would look at them and tell them "I trust you. I know that you'll do the right thing/your best work". They would just look at me, nod their heads and walk away. They usually walked away with their heads held higher, since they then had the confidence knowing that their teacher had trust in them.

Choice is also mentioned in this chapter. I am a big believer in having choice for the kids. I don't bug them about what books they are reading, as long as they are reading. I think that when I implement workshops/centers in my classrooms this year, I'll let the students choose what order they want to work on things. I'll still have the must-dos that will need to be completed by the end of the day, but they can decided what they are working on and when.

My students really liked it when I gave them an open-ended project (see here for an example), but let them choose who they did, or what book it was on. We did Literature Circles for the last two months of school, and they got really excited when  I told them that they were going to have a choice on what books they read (they put down 3, so some of them did not get their first choice).

Stamina is one of the most important things that we can help our students with. I had one child, when I taught Kindergarten, who could not sit still for 5 minutes. By the end of the year, he was able to sit still for almost 15 minutes. We did it by gradually increasing the time I expected him to sit still, and any time I notice any squirming, I had him stand up and move a little.

We shouldn't expect children to be able to pay attention or attended to a task on the first day. We have to gradually increase the time that we expect them to work. I love to read, and can literally read all day without any breaks...but then, I've had almost 30 years of building my stamina in that area! :)

Building independence and routines is also talked about in this chapter. I'm a firm believer that the first 6 weeks of school are the most important, because that is when you build the routines and expectations for the class. You can introduce routines and expectations later on in the year...but I feel that it runs more smoothly if you start it off that way.

Have a wonderful 4th!
Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn