Language Arts teachers have
a lot in common. We love books, we love words, and we love to make
connections with all forms of our language. But I think another thing we
have in common is feeling overwhelmed at times with all of the different components
that make up our subject when it comes time to teach it! Grammar,
reading, research, handwriting, vocabulary, spelling, writing, fluency,
expression....the list just keeps going on and on. How can a teacher
possibly fit this all into a 6 hour school day when there's also math, science,
and social studies to teach? And lunch to eat? And recess to
attend? And music to be sung? You get my drift.....
This very issue used to be
a source of frustration for me every year. I would start to lay out my
yearly plan for language arts, and just not be able to physically make
everything fit in! Or, if I did manage to squeeze all of the different
above mentioned items into my day, it was a chaotic, choppy day of mini lessons
just skimming the surface. That's when I knew I had to come up with a
better way of covering what needed to be taught in a more connected, systematic
way. And that's when my "Daily Bites" were born!
I basically sat down and
brainstormed 5 main categories that I wanted my students to focus on independently
throughout the week; attacking 1 area each day. The five areas that I
decided my students needed the most intensive practice with were as
follows: WRITING (informative, persuasive, and narrative), KEYBOARDING
AND TECHNOLOGY, READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS, GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY, and
SPELLING. Once I had my categories, I began gathering materials that
would help my student reinforce and practice the skills associated with each
area. I kept in mind that I wanted this time to be an independent work
time.
I decided that the best
time to implement my Daily Bites would be at the very start of the day. I
found out early on that it is a life-saver to have something for the students
to work on right away upon arrival time in the morning. Between the morning
greetings, checking in, collecting notes and homework, sending attendance,
taking lunch count, listening to announcements, etc., this time can become very
hectic. However, by putting a consistent routine into place, both my
students and myself look forward to this time instead.
I developed a simple
rotation by placing a red, blue, yellow, orange, or green color sticker on
everyone's desk. Next, I placed 5 bins of the matching colors on my table
in a row at the front of the room. Above the bins on the chalkboard I
hung up 5 signs that label my categories. Next to each sign, I place an
apple cut-out in either red, blue, yellow, orange, or green. I put the
materials for each activity in the corresponding color tray. As soon as a
student arrives who has a yellow sticker on their desk, they know to go to the
yellow box and get the activity for the day. By glancing at the title
signs, they will know whether they are going to be focused on writing,
keyboarding, spelling, etc. for the day.
By dividing my class into 5
groups, I can easily check what needs to be accomplished for each task. Since about 4 or 5 of my students will be
writing in their journals, I know that I will need to set aside about 3-4
minutes to conference with them during my 45 minute work time. If a group is working on the spiral review
sheet for reading, I can easily check their work as their completion times will
be naturally staggered. Keyboarding and spelling activities are self
checking. I may collect a vocabulary or
grammar cut and paste for a formative grade.
But again, since only a handful of kids are completing each task each
day, it makes for simple, focused assessing!
The rotation is very easy to maintain.
I simply take each apple and move it down to the next sign at the
beginning of the next day. ( I attach
magnets to the back.) Then I just move
the activity papers to the appropriate new color bin and we are ready to roll!
In a nutshell, this simple
morning routine allows me to cover 5 key areas in an independent manner each
and every day. I can connect it to my
lessons and stories that we are doing throughout the week. So even if I don't have a main lesson that
contains something to type, by having a “daily bite” keyboarding activity in my
rotation each week I know my students will still be getting the opportunity to
practice this important skill.
I hope you will consider
trying this systematic, highly effective and time saving routine in your own
room. I think you will be happy with the
consistent results your students will produce.
And it will free up valuable class time to dive deeper into the heart of
your language arts program!
For a closer look at some of the many materials I have created to use in my Daily Bite stations, please check out the link below to a FREEBIE! 😄
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