Daily 5, Day 23, and 27 Children

                We have been in school for a month now -- and I'm finally starting to feel like we might be      able to make it.  There are signs today...

• No one crying -- not even ME when they brought me a new student- who can't write his name
• We actually got a compliment on our quiet line in the hall -- and it was a LONG line
• I reorganized the reading/intervention groups and we finally got through ALL 5 of them before lunch
• No one dropped their lunch tray
• We had 3  rotations with 3 groups "reading to self" or "working on writing" independently while "Mrs. Awesome" ( my assistant -- name given by a former student) and I worked with the other 2 small groups for about 20 minutes during each rotation. WOOHOO!!
• 2 girls chose copies of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear: and reread it together -- from memory, mostly -- hardly missed a word
• They worked mostly by themselves on the math Investigation today -- counting dots on the dice and writing the numbers
• Many wrote words that I could actually read in their journals -- one even wrote a complete sentence with a period at the end!
• My graph of "letter sounds recognition" showed huge gains for nearly everyone.
• I didn't have to take a nap after school
• We finally got our math workbooks and used them for the first time.
• Instead of saying "I'm done, now what?" -- they are asking, "Can I get a book to read?"  I love those words!   

                     I am so thankful for the Daily 5 book and the Whole Brain Teaching website and "Next Steps in Guided Reading" and the "ESGI" computerized assessment and Letterland and all the things I have found on the teaching blogs -- especially Heidisongs -- and Teachers Pay Teachers. Notice I didn't say "All the things I learned in college." That was too long ago -- and we didn't even have computers back then.  But I have learned a LOT since then!  Most of all, I am thankful for supportive co-workers, praying friends, and an understanding family.  They never complain when I work late and tie up the computer for hours -- or even when I don't cook supper or do their laundry. They pitch in and take care of themselves so I can spend as much time as I need to on school stuff.  I am blessed!
                  And I think we are going to make it after all --