Workshop Wednesday, May Goals, and Currently:)

Shouldn't it be at least Thursday?  This week is dragging!  However, it IS Wednesday and you know that means Workshop Wednesday with my BBB, Jivey, at Ideas by Jivey!  She has a new topic every week and this week's topic is your Favorite Reading Group Book.

Jivey's instructions were to choose just ONE favorite book that we use with our reading groups. I thought, "How can I choose just one?"  So, then I tried to think of one book that I really enjoy reading with my group because it has SO much to go along with it (which lends itself well to reading groups and many extension activities in the classroom), and Paddle to the Sea came to mind immediately.

Our 4th grade covers as much as we can in social studies about the Great Lakes since our school is less than 10 miles from the coast of Lake Erie.

It is such an important topic and the future of the Great Lakes lies in our future generations' hands.

Sometimes I am baffled that the Great Lakes are the largest surface fresh water system on Earth.  Only the polar ice caps hold more fresh water. 21% of Earth's fresh water comes from the Great Lakes.

There are so many teachable moments in this book and I love exploring the various topics in each small "chapter".   It is truly an amazing story with beautiful illustrations.

Unfortunately, I don't have a literature guide that I have made because there are so many resources available already.  I have a hard copy of a literature guide that I have added to over the years with Great Lakes information.  

Part of this guide includes pages from the AMAZING RESOURCE of 164 pages from the Ohio Sea Grant!

Youtube has the Paddle to the Sea movie that is fun to watch too!

The movie is in three parts and is about 30 minutes long combined.  This clip is part one of three.

I am also linking up with the fabulous Jess I Heart Recess for her May Goals Linky:)

What are your May goals?  I always feel better writing out goals:)

It is also the FIRST of May!  Time for the fabulous Farley's Currently at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!

Check out the sweet Sabra's 200 Follower giveaway at Teaching with a Touch of Twang!

Sorry for the post that is ALL over the place!! 

I am also working on my giveaway and hope to have it go live this weekend:)

Have a great rest of the week! 

What is this Daily 5?

Seriously??  Am I that out of touch with reality?  I started my summer vacation just a little over two weeks ago and in that small amount of time, I have become immersed in the blogging world and reading about Daily 5.  Needless to say, I have ordered the books Daily 5 and Cafe and am now eagerly awaiting their arrival.  I heard the Daily 5 mentioned once this past year in conversation with a teacher from another district, but I had never heard of it and then never researched it further.  So now, I feel like I am really behind the eight ball!!

I will begin teaching my 13th year this fall, but have only been teaching ELA for four years in a self-contained fourth grade classroom.  The other eight years I taught 6th grade math and social studies.  Preparing for four subjects everyday in fourth grade has been quite overwhelming but I love how exciting my job is!  I just wish I felt better at it because these past two weeks I have felt quite inadequate.

I know I haven't received the books yet, but my number one question from reading information about Daily 5 is why does everyone has book bins?  I have encouraged my students to choose one chapter book to read at a time.  Sometimes we are also reading a novel in class and this is plenty for a fourth grader to be reading at a time.  I know I don't like to start more than one chapter book at a time if I am truly enjoying what I am reading.  We spend time discussing how to choose a chapter book and I have a few hundred in my classroom library marked with AR levels.  They are to take home this chapter book each night and bring it to back to school each day as they would with their homework folder.  I can't keep the books in my room because we started grouping for reading this past year and I have the top readers from the grade come to my room for ELA only 80 minutes each day (which is another whole topic of discussion in itself!).  The students need their free reading material for their regular homerooms during DEAR (drop everything and read) time since my students do not have AIS (academic intervention services).

So, I guess to sum it up, I have the following questions if any of the fellow bloggers would be willing to provide guidance and suggestions for.  Please be patient with me as I am a brand new blogger:)

1.  Do students bring their books home to read for minutes at night? (My students must do this and record the # of pages read on their reading calendar).

2.  Do students have a recommended number of books they must read each month or other time period? (My students must read 4 chapter books a month and score 70% or higher on AR (accelerated reader) books over 250 pages count for two books but for the top readers, the AR level must be 4.0 or higher beginning in November).

3.  How do teachers check for comprehension of books read?  (I use AR to check for comprehension).

Any help would be appreciated and I am very anxious to get started!  I am also trying to follow along with this book study.  It is wonderful!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!