Since I teach first grade, I start my day out with teaching word work for 30 minutes. I pull from many different resources to help my students learn different skills each week. I of course, use the materials that come with Benchmark for word work. I also use Heidi Songs to compliment benchmark each week. If you haven't checked out her website yet, go now: http://www.heidisongs.com/index.php. I make a poster each week to create a visual for the song and the skill taught that week. Of course, I try to find a fun video from Electric Company on YouTube; my kids really get a kick out of these videos. The great thing is they are short, short, short!
The next part part of my day is a Reading intervention block. My school has three first grade classes and during this time we group students based on their reading levels. We have three teachers, teaching three intervention groups; an accuracy group, a fluency group and a comprehension group. I teach the fluency group; this is a group of about twenty students that need to practice, practice AND practice reading a lot! I use Harcourt Trophies textbooks for this group. The stories and activities are great and our team has seen great growth with this group of readers this year.
Later, my "homeroom" kiddos come back to class and we have an hour together for MORE Literacy!!!! I teach my 10-15 minute Benchmark mini-lesson then let the kids loose for Daily 5. During Daily 5 stations, I pull 2-3 guided reading groups per day. The last 5-10 minutes we reflect on our lesson objectives and share.
Links to some resources I use:
Daily 5 and Cafe: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department104.cfmBenchmark: http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/
Heidi's Songs: http://www.heidisongs.com/free-downloads/
YouTube Electric Company: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeq9a4dFIU
Hugs,
Tiff
