Teacher in Training

I am a third grade teacher who LOVES her job. I am constantly evolving as a teacher, and training along the way. I hope to offer teaching tidbits, and the occasional tangent of fun.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Trying Daily 5

I was urged by a coworker to come aboard on the Daily 5 train. I was reluctant at first, however I did purchase the book and read it during the summer two years ago. I wasn't sure how this was going to work. Not wanting to abandon my tried and ture way of centers management, another teacher and I combined our program with Daily 5. It worked pretty well. However, it was still a lot of work. So, this past summer I decided to reread the book and really focus on the 5 stations. I decided to switch completely to the Daily 5 and it is working very well. I would recommend this system to anyone.

Now, I am readying the Daily Cafe book for my actual guided reading. My coworker read it, joined a discussion circle online, and was very gungho about it. She showed me her pensieve and how it was supposed to work. It all sounded amazing. So, now I am reading the book, and am looking forward to having a better system in place for record keeping and conferencing with my students. I am looking forward to really concentrating on skill deficits and having the students more involved. I know it will be a lot of work. I LOVE how this system DOES NOT need to be in place in the beginning of the year. You can phase it in at any time of the year. It takes a lot of the pressure off of me. I can take my time, get comfortable with the system and do it right the first time; not just half-butt it to get it done. 

I will let you know more as the year goes on. I hope to have it up and running in January.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher conferences are upon us. I have decided this year that I will have parents come before school and after school the week before. This will alleviate some of the crunch and pressure on the actual parent-teacher conference days.  I have such a great class that I don't think I will have any bug problems. My student teacher is so good, I don't think she will have any problem discussing our students' progress.