Daily 5

I have started Daily 5 with my kinder kiddos this week. I can't wait to see the DVD produced by the sisters that highlights implementing Daily 5 in Kindergarten. Since we are waiting its arrival, I had to get started. We read "Dex The Heart of a Hero."
     Our class decided that we would like to be a class of "superhero" readers. They love to try each day to increase their stamina. On day 1 we read for one mi ute on our first try and a minute and a half in our second try.  On the second day I told the our goal was 2 or 3 minutes. Wow! Was I excited when we got to 5 minutes. Our thud day slipped a little on our first attempt, so we tried again. Five minutes again. Today was the fourth day. We read for 6 minutes! I was happy with that especially since we did our Daily 5 at the end of the day on a day that started out with 45 minutes of MAP testing.  I guess it's time to implement another daily. I'm thinking writing, since that's what the sisters now recommend as the second daily.
     I am working on what my Cafe board will look like. It is very important, but wall space and proximity are a bit of an issue.

Here is a view of our cubbies. The top section is much larger than necessary. My wonderful dad made me these dividers that allow our cubbies to serve two purposes. With the divider in place, the bottom half holds our book baskets. The top top half can then be used as a mailbox for take home folders and papers etc.

Here is a close-up of the top of the cubbies. I have used them for several years and the dividers are still going strong.

Our chart about three ways to read a book. They loved the first time we worked on retelling. We used Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes.  

Here are a pair of my students retelling the story with the book we made together.

I am excited to see what Daily 5 Brings for next week. My kiddos are earning extra recess when we get to stamina of 10 minutes. They are very excited!

5 Little Ducks retelling

This retelling for the finger play 5 Little Ducks Went Out to Play.

This is made for whole class use by the teacher.
The background is just drawn and colored on card stock.  The five little ducklings are taped with wide clear tape on the back of a clear transparency. Then a cover piece of card stock is put on top. The two pieces of card stock with the transparency sandwiched between them, then gets bound on the binding machine. The last step is to cut the transparency between each duckling.

The foam puppet is Mother Duck. When mother duck says, "QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!" The teacher flips over one of the duckies, until there are none left.

The puppet is very simple to make. After cutting out all three pieces and adding details, I stapled the small ponytail holders to the back of each. (This is where your fingers go to control the puppet.)
The bill can be sewn or stapled to the head piece.

Each child can make a retelling to use by coloring and cutting out 5 duckies. Each child can fold a 9x12 piece of blue construction paper the hotdog fold. Then line up the ducklings on the top flap and cut between one making 5 flaps.

Retelling

Here are the retelling pieces to Dr Jean Feldman's song "Today is Sunday" from her CD Sing, Dance and Learn .

Another fun retell for young kiddos goes with Jan Brett's story the mitten.  I use this set together with the friends in my class. We use this whole class or in groups with an

Adult help. Below is a retelling that each child can make and use.

I got these great  Iron on transfers from Jan Brett's website. You can print them from your computer printer onto transfer paper. They can be ironed onto fabric and stitched around to make small pillows for each animal. I made the mitten out of felt large enough to comfortably hold all of the animals. The 

Mitten from Jan Brett's site can be enlarged to create this mitten. I sewed the seam to separate the thumb but did not cut down next to the thumb. (I think it adds stability to the whole mitten that way.)

For the individual retelling pieces the kids use independently, I used mittens cut from the Ellison. Two of these mittens are glued together with a white lunch bag between them. 

The animals come from Jan Brett's site as well.