All About Daily Five

Dear Parents and Guardians,

            Welcome to a new school year!  I hope you had a wonderful summer and enjoyed spending quality time with your children.  I know I did!  It won’t be long until you hear your child talking about “The Daily Five.”  The purpose of this letter is to fill you in on what The Daily Five is all about, so you don’t have to nod your head while wondering what in the world your child is referring to. 

            The Daily Five is a way of structuring the reading block so every student is independently engaged in meaningful literacy tasks. These research based tasks are ones that will have the biggest impact on student reading and writing achievement, as well as help foster children who love to read and write. Students receive explicit whole group instruction and then are given independent practice time to read and write independently while I provide focused, intense instruction to individuals and small groups of students.

            When it is up and running smoothly, students will be engaged in the Daily Five, which are comprised of:

• Read to Self
• Work on Writing
• Read to Someone
• Listen to Reading
• Word Work

There are very specific behavior expectations that go with each Daily 5 component.  We will spend our first weeks working intensely on building our reading and writing stamina, learning the behaviors of the Daily 5 and fostering our classroom community.  I will also spend time learning about your child’s strengths and greatest needs as a reader in order to best plan for each student’s instruction.    One thing you’ll notice that may be a change for you is a direct decrease in the number of worksheets your child brings home.  While worksheets keep students busy, they don’t really result in the high level of learning I want for your child.  Instead, your child will be taught to select “Good Fit Books” or books they can read, understand and are interested in, which they will read during Daily 5.  They will be spending most of their time actually reading, which research supports as the number one way to improve reading.  I anticipate the motivation and enjoyment of reading will skyrocket when this gift of choosing their own books is accompanied by extended practice and specific reading instruction for each individual child. 

As you can see, I am excited about giving your child the opportunity to be involved in a structure that will have a positive effect on their education.

Please think of our classroom as you visit garage sales or clean your own child’s bookcase.  It is my goal to make our classroom library as appealing as your favorite bookstore for browsing.  

 

Sincerely,

Writing Examples from Mrs. Hodges Second Grade Classroom

Things to Know About Our Classroom

 Dear Parents,

Welcome to a very exciting year in your child’s school career!  Second grade is incredible as you watch your child’s skills grow and develop.  They will learn so many new and wonderful things.  I am looking forward to sharing a positive and rewarding year with them while instilling a love of reading and writing.

The following information will give you an idea of the basic structure of our classroom organization regarding class assignments and homework expectations.

MATH – We develop and learn many new concepts through constant spiraling during the year.  Our curriculum is filled with many hands-on learning experiences so that the students continue development in new vocabulary, or expand on concepts that were introduced in first grade.  We are teaching math very differently than how we learned as adults.  Please check-in daily to my webpage under the math tabs.  I will leave hints how I am teaching the concepts the students need to know.  Today math is more about the how and why, and less about memorizing.   

READING – Each child was given a reading log.  Please log the number of minutes that you spent reading with your child every day.  At the end of each column represents a 100 minutes, and the child will be rewarded with a frog by their alligator on the outside wall of my classroom.  Please find time to share a reading time with your child by reading aloud, reading the newspaper or sharing a magazine.  Treasure the opportunity to cuddle up with your child now because they will grow up in the blink of an eye!

SPELLING – Each week a unit will be taught and tested.  A test will be given on Friday.  A list of the unit words will be on the newsletter sent home on Monday to study.  Spending a few minutes daily studying the words is the most successful plan.  It is helpful to write the words as you study.

ATTENDANCE – Please call the office or email me if your child is going to be absent.

COMMUNICATION – The easiest way to contact me is through email.  Don’t hesitate to let me know anything that might affect your child’s learning (rough morning, parent out of town, feeling down, etc.).  Send an email with your child’s name in the subject line.

NEWSLETTER - On Monday’s a weekly express will be sent home with each child.  This has the spelling words, word wall words to know, and also objectives that will be the focus of that week.  Please read over this with your child.  Please talk about the vocabulary, and ask your child what they have learned in these subjects.  This is a great learning experience for your child!

CONDUCT – A positive attitude, willingness to learn and good behavior are keys to success in my classroom!!  Each student starts the new six weeks with a 100 in citizenship.  Each student starts the day on green.  No one is ever stuck on a color.  If they have to lower their color, they have every opportunity to be moved back up.  Students will be rewarded for good behavior with sticker charts.  In their folder they will keep a daily log of the color they end on for the day, so you may check it daily.  Please sign their color chart daily.

 

Homework – We will be starting homework this week.  Homework will consist of reading, spelling, and math.  Every night I ask that you read at least 20 minutes.  The students will have a reading log in their take-home folders for you to sign each day.  Monday thru Friday the students will be bringing home books from me in a book baggy.  These books are on their reading level.  Please make sure to read these books with your child.  Also, you will have a reader’s response log.  The students will choose one question each night and answer on the space provided.  Also, we will have a little reading passage that goes along with the skill that we are discussing for that current week.  This passage is the reading level that the kids should be on during that particular time of the year.  Math will be done a little bit differently.  We have a new math adoption this year.  It has built-in homework into some of the lessons.  From what I see, expect math homework once to twice a week.  Our spelling homework will be a lot like last year.  You will receive a circle map with the spelling pattern of the week in the middle.  Each night add one to two words inside the circle.  At the end of the week, we will look at the students’ homework and choose 10 words for their test.  It will not be a memorized list, but a specific pattern for their test.   During our phonics lesson we will practice the pattern of the week as well.  The students were very successful last year with spelling.    

Behavior – I am implementing a new behavior system this year.  Instead of doing colors, the class has enjoyed a new program called class dojo.  Each student has their own avatar.  They can earn points or get points taken away.  I have even taught the students to give/take away points to their own avatars on my computer.  They have really enjoyed it.  For every 10 points that the students earn they will be able to do something special.  For example, some students want to eat lunch with me in my room.  They have also mentioned things like taking off their shoes in class, or extra computer/ipad time.  I told the students they can choose their rewards as long as they are within reason.  I have invited every parent to “join” us on classdojo.  You can watch throughout the day the different behaviors of your child.  This way you can reward your child at home for good behaviors, or go over some needs improvement behaviors.  Please let me know if you need another invite.  I did have some parents that had some difficulty receiving my invite. 

Communication – This year I am using facebook so that you can feel like you are with your child during the day.  If we do neat things I will add photos and/or videos to my page.  I also like to put any reminders and/or things that we learned that day.   On Facebook look for Lesly Hodges Second Grade and “like” my page.  Please feel free to like or comment on posts that I share.  I love hearing from my parents.  Another form of communication that I like to use is called Remind 101.  Send a text to (817) 653-8797 with the message @9c929.  This is more for quick/short reminders.  Last but not least, I have a webpage that you can view from Austin’s website.  On my website I will include fun links to games that will help the students with skills that we are working on in class.

Thank you so much for entrusting me with your little one.  I am looking forward to many fun filled learning experiences.  Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Sincerely,

Lesley Hodges   

 

Please consider this information as an overview.  It may appear overwhelming, but together we will work to make your child’s year in first grade a positive educational experience.  If you ever have any questions or concerns, my conference period is from 12:00-12:45 pm.  You may also email me at lhodges@weatherfordisd.com

Sincerely,

Lesley Hodges