Monday, March 19, 2012

Daily 5- Word Work Update!! (Freebie)

I am still loving the Daily 5 in my classroom and I am more and more impressed everyday with how well my students work during our Daily 5 time. I do, however, have lots of things I want to change next year in order to make it even better! One thing that I am constantly struggling with is Word Work. I find that my grade 4's are too old for a lot of the hands on type of activities...even though they may really enjoy them. They just don't focus the way younger students do with the tactile activities.

So we first tried a modification of some of the activities I had been seeing on other blogs and Pinterest. I created a bunch of activity cards and bought some plastic chick/eggs (Easter style) for the cards to go into. The students were able to choose a different chick each time that we did our Daily 5 and that's how we practiced our spelling words and worked on our grammar lessons. But.....the students were not very good at making sure the chicks were put away neatly, the cards were always falling out and no one could find the card they were working on from the time before.....le sigh!

What to do? What to do??

Here's my new plan....I created a BINGO board with a variety of spelling and grammar activities based on the language arts expectations for Grade 4 in Ontario. Then I set some point values for "playing" Word Work Bingo! The students are expected to completed at least a straight line, in any direction, for 5 points. After that if they want to complete an X, a box or the whole board they can earn points...plus practice more spelling, vocabulary and grammar.

The best part is...my kids were really into it when I introduced them to it today. They did, however, want to know what the points would be going towards. Mostly, it will be for me to track who is putting forth a great deal of effort to practice their skills but of course, I want to reward the students as well for all their work. I plan to start a classroom economy soon so that my students will be practicing their adding and subtracting decimals/money skills so this seemed like a good time to make a trip for prizes. I went to the dollar store and party packagers after school to stock up on small little trinkets for the prizes. I am also going to add in certificates like "sit in Mrs. Lyons's chair" and homework passes...but naturally that will be worth A LOT of points!!

If you are interested in using my bingo board in your own classroom just click on the image below to get a copy!


I'll be posting each new bingo board so be sure to check back often! I would also LOVE any and all suggestions for other activities to add to future bingo boards. 

Thanks for all the comments...in advance of course!!!

15 Brilliant Teaching Thoughts:

Cassie Sylar said...

I love the bingo board! I will def be able to use in my classroom! :)

Anonymous said...

I just picked up the Daily 5 and Cafe books TODAY. . . and here you are blogging about it! It seems to be JUST catching on, here in Canada. Looking forward to hearing more about your experience with the Daily 5.

Runde's Room said...

Beth - this looks FANTASTIC! Thanks for sharing!

Jen
Runde's Room

Miss Erickson said...

I love the BINGO board! I was wondering if you could give me more information on your convention connection worksheets? Thanks! Lindsay

Anonymous said...

This is just what I've been looking for!! We are heading into major test prep for the next 6 weeks and this will be what the ones who aren't meeting with me can be working on!! Awesome!!

Beth said...

Lindsay,
Are you asking about the three squares on the board that say "worksheet"? Or the middle square?
The middle "MUST DO" square is a worksheet with our spelling words for the week and a variety of activities that relate to the spelling rule will are studying. The three worksheet squares are worksheets I plan to pull from various resources based on the grammar expectations for my grade. I choose to have some worksheet options because some of my students really enjoy having a worksheet to do.
Beth

Beth said...

Monica,
I am glad to hear that a fellow Canadian is out here in blog land! The Daily 5 is being used by a few other teachers in my school and we are all enjoying it.

Beth said...

Thanks Jen!

Unknown said...

Love this idea! Perfect activity for centers :)

Lisa

Stories from Room 114

Alessia Albanese said...

Hi Beth,
Thanks for following my blog...in regards to your question...last spring my husband had a summer student at his office who was amazing at creating websites/blogs using HTML. I went there one day and he designed everything for me! The graphics come from Just So Scrappy Two. You can buy a kit for about $5 and then a graphic designer can use the pictures to create your blog (or if you know how to do this yourself - me, no way!). Hope that helps! You can e-mail me if you have any other questions...
kindergartenteacher@rogers.com

Thanks!
Alessia

Patti said...

Love, Love, Love...this is what I was looking for!! Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing.
Fredi

Matt Eichel said...

Wow, this is exactly something I was looking for! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

This is perfect! Thanks!

Unknown said...

AMAZING--thank you!!!

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Hello!!
Thank you taking the time to leave a comment.
I truly appreciate it.
Beth

 
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