A Classroom Update and Some Freebies

So we have been working really hard on Daily 5 in our classroom. And it is up and running. Can I just say, that I. LOVE. DAILY. 5!!! To think that I suffered through the last 10 years doing busy centers (for me and the students), makes me cringe. I wish I would have found Daily 5 much sooner. Oh, well, that's the way the pencil writes, I guess! Daily 5 has been a true blessing. There is little to no management issues, the students love the different rotations and looking on the board each day, to see what they'll be doing. I've had to monitor and adjust D5 for it to work in my class, but nonetheless, it works. If you are thinking about doing it, DO IT!!  In our class, the students do 3 rotations every day. One of those rotations is "Read to Self." I've added Guided Reading onto my board as well. We do 3 twenty-minute sessions. We do our "Work on Writing" rotation as a class. This group of students absolutely LOVE to write! That makes me so excited and happy. Below are the pictures I use for our D5 board. You can click on the picture if you're interested in downloading.

Something else we've been working on in our classroom is Geometric Shapes. I created a little Shapes Concentration/Memory Game. My team member used it yesterday in her class and absolutely loved it because the students have to match the shape word with a real-life picture of the shape. If you'd like a copy, please click on the picture below.