Teaching with Mel D

Daily 5 Station/Literacy Station Organization Linky Party

So I have a student teacher that started several weeks ago…I know…BE JEALOUS! Since I have started Daily 5 on my own….yes no training just reading the book & excessive blog stalking…I thought I would share what I have come up with. If you have been following me for a while you know that I am O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D with my job & am very OCD about my job. My husband wishes I was so OCD about cleaning around the house but …..NOT…. GONNA…. HAPPEN! Anywho, I thought I would empty some of my closets at school to see what exactly has been lingering on my shelves for 8 years. I know that I have spent an obscene amount of hours cutting, writing, laminating, etc so I knew I had loads of goodies just awaiting me to dust them off & get it organized to use again. This is what I saw when I opened one of my closets….
 Oh how I remember drawing those footballs & baseballs by hand & writing each word on them…oh & then when we used to be able to laminate things…I had to cut it out after each word was laminated…O.H. J.O.Y!

 And here is ONE shelf of a very obnoxious closet FULL of Word Work stuff just crying to be used …oh & dusted off of course.
 I know these tubs look somewhat organized to some of you but TRUST ME…it’s a facade. This is organization in disguise I tell you….you should have seen what was under this stuff….YUCK!

HOLY GUACAMOLE…..SCORE! I faintly remember scoring these at a garage sale YEARS ago & they have been sitting in one of my closets COLLECTING DUST! There is a ton of folders already colored & laminated with words inside!!!! SERIOUSLY…..WHO DID THIS WORK & SOLD IT! PRICELESS! I probably paid no more than $1.00 for all 30 word folders since I am SUCH a cheap frugal ass when it comes to teacher sales. Did I ever tell you that I barter if a trade book is over a quarter…yeah…me no likie. 
Oh no…we are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo NOT done with dusting off stuff….now onto the top of the cubbies. 

I know…I know…something is seriously wrong with me. Ok maybe I just enjoy my job…let’s go with that. That is like my little Jacob asking me if I was “21” today…I said “let’s go with that”. Then he says a little while later….”Mrs. Dillard how can you be only 21? Don’t you have to be 18 when you graduate hs?”….Seriously….out of a 1st grader! They are ON TO ME! 
Anywho, these colorful magazine bins from IKEA store all sorts of Daily 5 goodies! As we come upon a skill I just take the bin over to the word work station & shift stuff around..model it for my little nuggets & they are good to go for the week! I used to use all of these JUST for tutoring…well that got CUT OFF  last year…that’s ok TONY BENNETT I don’t need extra $$$ or anything….ok I can go off on a rampage over these dimwit politicians who have NEVER been in a classroom….sorry my ADD is getting the best of me…back to Daily 5.  Oh but it’s ok for us to add on 45 minutes to our day & tutor 2.5 seconds after we walk in the door! ARGH………………………….!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have had a TON of questions on how my student’s choose for Daily 5…here is goes…..
Please don’t judge the hideous tile & oh so pretty 70’s orange pumpkin “chic” colored cabinets…BE JEALOUS! I do what I can to disguise the ugliness around my room! There is a referendum on Tuesday that will determine my future classroom…new school…new school….NeW sChOoL….I hOpE! 

This is what the rotation chart looks like when the kids picked their stations. AFTER they choose their stations & they are working independently I sneak back over & do this….
 I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING…I NEED A “FILL” …STOP LOOKING AT MY NAIL! I take their clips off “Read to Self” & “Read to Someone” & place them on the SAME side. This is who I call to choose FIRST for the next rotation. BTW….everyone that gets done with their morning work can take their book bins & go into “Read to Self” BUT I do have some that choose to go back into that station once Daily 5 starts. I take the clips off by section so I can keep track of “who” went “where”. I haven’t had any problems…YET…with anyone trying to double dip into a station more than once BUT I know it’s coming. I have a piece of duct tape (peace duct tape…of course) that the kids stand behind & I hand them their clip ONE AT A TIME….OTHERWISE THEY ARE SAVAGES! TRIAL & ERROR FRIENDS…TRIAL & ERROR. You can check out my Daily 5 rotation chart HERE.
Next is these cute little pretend iphones I found…IDK where I found them but if it’s your creation leave me a comment so I can give you credit!

They “TEXT” their spelling or HFW one at a time & then they write them with a dry erase marker. They about tackled each other to get in this station that day! 
NEXT, is my “game organization”. I make games & I have also purchased MANY from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte…her games are AWESOME! Anywho, I was going slightly INSANE with all the games I purchased & made so I needed some kind of organization because my bins from above were EXPLODING & I had no more room for anything! At our school we have started to tutor..ugh…& a half of my grade level coworkers tutor in my room so I needed to get all this stuff organized so that we could easily pull it out of a drawer, bin, shelf etc. with ease…..2.5 seconds after we walk in the door! So this is what I came up with…..
This is my Language Arts binder. I put all the game from Kathy or myself in sheet protectors. In the back of each game is where the cards & answer sheet or any accountability sheets are stored. We can easily pull out the sheet protector & leave the binder OPEN & simply put it back in it’s place when we are done. 
 This is my Math binder…yes that is a game I created :o) Much more to come BTW! 
This is a binder that I have divided by vowels, digraphs, blends, & sight words. I laminated each game that I bought from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte or that I made & hole punched it & placed it in this binder. The only thing these particular games need is a die or dice & game markers for each player. 
 Check out Kathy’s store here!
Here is a drawer full of game markers……….

And here are the dice…of course they have a choice :o)

If you follow my FB page….here is what I did with this $10 find….SCORE!

The top 2 drawers house the “build-it”, “stamp-it”, & “rainbow-write” work work sheets. Check out how I use these sheets here!
When they use the “stamp-it” sheets they just grab a stamp pad & stamps & do their thing. This can be used for weekly spelling words, vocab, amazing or sight words. 
 I found this container in the “tool” section of Walmart & just slapped alphabet stickers on it to keep my kiddos organized. I used to have the letters all in one tub…well guess what happened?!? Yes, they spent half the word work time trying to find the letters they needed..ugh! So this has solved that problem! 
The ever so popular “rainbow write” sheets have a drawer of their own. They are O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D with all the writing utensils they have available. I spoil them rotten! 

Drool…wipe drool…drool….wipe drool. I know….you are obsessed with school supplies like me…am I right? If you’re here, you love your job & everything that comes with it like this fun stuff!

More word work rotation sheets……………………

 This is where I store my wireless headphones & listening center sheets. The kids come up & grab their headphones & response sheet. I assign a very special person (usually a bucket filler) to hold the book. They know how to turn the headphones on & off & I just press play & they give me a “thumbs up” when they can hear the story start. The response sheets get harder after each month. 

 
 This is where their writing journals are stored by table. They know EXACTLY what is in each of these drawers. This is one of the BEST things about Daily 5 is their INDEPENDENCE…….it wouldn’t happen UNLESS I modeled EVERYTHING & built their stamina though.
A peek into one of the writing tubs. Depending on their task they might have this basket for “work on writing”. The colored cubes are for sentence building. The popsicle sticks with labels are journal prompts. The fall stickers are for their sticker story for the week. 

Since August I have put monthly word sheets in sheet protectors. For some reason, this has improved my writing station tremendously along with the stickers, stamps, & the endless supply of writing utensils. For the past 8 years my first graders dreaded writing & after all my blog stalking this summer I have filed all these great ideas in my head & implemented them & my KIDS LOVE WRITING & that makes my heart MELT :O)

I can’t remember where these words came from but wherever I got them there are a TON of them…I laminated them & put them on a ring. I believed I purchased this spelling dictionary from TPT. I place these in a thin binder for each student.

These sticks I put in the writing tub occasionally. They are response to reading labels & I stuck them popsicle sticks. I discovered it’s a bit too early in the year for these.
This is a $ store shower curtain..I have 8! I wrote all the kindergarten words by quarter on 4 & then did the same thing for the 1st grade words. Then I label a freezer size baggie & place each shower curtain in it. When they are “ready” for new words then I just place a new “curtain” in the tub for word work. The kids toss a bean bag on a word & read it. This can also be used for sight words or amazing words…the possibilities are endless! I have math fact “curtains” as well.
 The red tub on the left is where I store my Scott Foresman sight words sticks. Check those out here. I put all 80 spelling & HFW’s per unit. I used a different color for each story & printed then out on labels (Avery 8167) & just stuck them on popsicle sticks & placed them in a recycled Crystal Light container. Very easy for the kids to use & put back during word work. The green lily pads have sight words on them. They place these around the room & “hop” on them as they say the sight words. The popcorn container is something I got through Scholastic or Highlights…I think.  I also made a set of football & baseball sight words to use during word work. Finally, the yellow buses are from our die cut machine. I wrote sight words on each bus & created a “crash” game….they LOVE all these games!
I saved the BEST for last. Have you ever seen this game????? It’s called HEBANZ…CHECK IT OUT HERE! We had “game day” a few weeks ago for an AR celebration & I walked past this game & a light bulb went off…of course! I know…genius idea…ha ha! It’s actually a cute game but I just switched it to make it more educational. I use the sight word cards that you see in the background for this word work station. You can easily create your own flashcards using index cards. This can even be used for math facts! Check my kids out in action……..

I know…HOLY CUTENESS! Here is how it goes….the boy in the grey sweatshirt is “it”. The children starting with the cutie pie in the blue shirt spell the word on his headband & he has to guess his word. If he guesses he picks the next person to be “it” & then they spell their word. After everyone gets done then WITHOUT looking they flip their card over & start over until it’s time for a new card. Great way to review or learn new sight words on a weekly basis…don’t ya think?!!?

So tell me….how do you organize your Daily 5 or literacy stations??? Join this linky party so we can swap ideas! 

Don’t forget to grab my button & link back to me so your followers know where to go. 

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Comments

  5. I just discovered your blog & I LOVE it! I am a mom of two little ones (not yet in school) & I'm a complete Seuss fanatic 🙂 I'm from Chicago too! Can't wait to browse through all your past posts!

  6. I just found your blog and SPENT a long time checking out these Daily 5 organizational ideas! You have such great ideas & combined two of my favorite things: Daily 5 & Organization! 🙂 Thank you!

  8. I have a plastic bin that I have games organized by skill in abc order. I use a large piece of tag board with skill written on top as dividers

  9. Oh, my goodness gracious me! You have made me spill my morning cuppa two or three times this morning as I read your awesome post about organization! Love your style, and totally love that HEADBANZ game! What a great idea! I think it would be awesome for sound to letter connections at the beginning of the year too! Thank you for taking the time to write in such detail…and for posting photos of everything.

  10. HI. GREAT blog! You have given me so many great ideas. School just finished for me on Friday, but I am eager to get back into my classroom!!! Do you offer your monthly word sheets on your TpT store?

  11. You are amazing! A couple of ideas that you may have already thought of…with the sight word shower curtains, you could have a hard copy that the students could tally the number of times the read the word correctly. This could lead to graphing and self monitoring progress! For the Head Bandz game, you could make a knock off using elastic hair bands with a velcro dot. Then add a velcro dot to the back of the word cards and have at it! I have so many ideas from looking at your blog. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm!

  12. Mel:
    You crack me up with your funny comments "quit looking at the nail that needs a fill." LOL You made my night!! Thank you so much for posting all these D5 Organization pics. I'll be implementing it this fall for the first time, so I need all the help I can get.

    On another note, I'm so sorry about the passing of your Jordan.

    susieqsclass@gmail.com

  13. I am learning all about the D5. I bought the book and then walla you started a book study. Thank yo so much for doing it. Must be fate trying to help me out. I would love a copy of your monthly words you put in your writing center. Have you shared it or willing to?

  14. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how you used those different colored drawers for your literacy stations! I love how you found it so cheap! The only time I ever see it here is like $50, and that's a little much. I'm totally "stealing" that idea because using baskets is just not organized enough. Thanks so much for your ideas!

  16. Wow! after reading all of the things you posted, I feel like I've been on a roller coaster ride.

    I will be teaching for the first time this year, and would love to get some advice and ideas on center activities for my first graders.

    I am trying desperately to plan ahead, but I don't have a clue where to begin. If you could provide some direction and guidance it would be a tremendous blessing.

    Shadowlyn
    smusail@yahoo.com

  17. Wow is right! You have so many great ideas. As another first year teacher I am taking lots of notes! I love your binder for all your games! I have been trying to collect lots of games and was wondering how to store them!

    I also love your monthly words for the writing center. Would you be willing to share? I will definitely be trying to make some of those myself!

    a_green_84@hotmail.com
    Thanks!

  19. If you ever put your monthly word lists up on TPT, let us know. I can't find anything that is quite the same. Your graphics and simplicity are really nice for the organization of the lists!!

  21. OMG I want to be you when I grow up! (I'm 29, so, grown up already, but still) LOVE LOVE LOVE everything on your blog including the design of it. 🙂 I am new to Daily 5 but absolutely adore it. Slowly working my way through each of the "5" and was searching for Word Work materials/ideas that are cheap aka free! I teach 4th grade, so it's hard to find "fun", "interesting" word work activites. I can easily adapt many of yours. You are my new hero!! Thanks for posting all of this 🙂

  22. How do you find the time to do all this and to keep all your hard work in good reusable shape? Cute ideas,but I don't have the time or color ink to do it!!

  23. Where did you get the awesome organizer with the colorful drawers on one side and the five larger drawers on the other?
    thanks Denise

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