Well, here we are already at Chapter 6! This book packs such a punch and is such an easy read all at the same time! Here are my thoughts on Chapter 6 Lesson Design. This is an important chapter. I love the gradual release model. I love the Lesson Design Tool (Figure 6.1). I love the plan on page 81: "Teacher Modeling Guided Practice Within the Lesson Guided Practice Beyond the Lesson Independent Practice Application" I love how she relates it to her lessons on page 83.  "She explains She shows kids how Give significant time to practice time for students to reflect, share and teach assess I reflect and consider next steps" I love Figure 6.2 also. I love the chart and the time breakdown. I agree with all she has to say. I know we need to do this! I beleive this is a great way to plan. I just don't know if there are enough hours in the day! I know I don't have to do this with every lesson - well, I couldn't do this with every lesson. I ...

Infographics! How cool is that? Carson Dellosa has a cool new tool for us to use! This book fits great into the new in-depth reading that Common Core is looking for. This covers many different content areas. I think I found one for almost all the content areas that I need to cover- including math! The pages are perforated of heavy card stock!  I’ll be taking the book apart and putting each card in with the materials for the units so I don’t forget to use one. The pictures are colorful but not over stimulating. Well labeled too! That is another bonus – use it as a modeling tool!  The topics range from insects to dinosaurs to video games – with tons in between! And the questions are on the back of the pictures! This will be a great resource to start a topic or to end a topic. It will be integrating reading and content knowledge. Did I mention hitting the standards? What about: ·          With prompting and support, retel...

Phonics- The simple definition from Merriam Webster is “ a method of teaching people to read and pronounce words by learning the sounds of letters, letter groups, and syllables ”. Kindergarten teachers do this all day long. We sing, we dance, we match, we play. Sometimes it feels like we stand on our heads to do this! Once students start making the connection – it is WONDERFUL! There are those students who just don’t seem to “get it”. They are the students who need the small group/one-on-one time. They are the students who we work it into EVERYTHING for. They are the ones who need some practice at home. We can help them get the practice they need at home by recommending Spectrum Phonics K from Carson Dellosa. You can go right now and see the page – but don’t forget to come back and finish reading! http://www.carsondellosa.com/brands/spectrum This is a well-organized workbook. It practices what we do in school. It has a few pages for tracing lines, left to right practi...