Tuning in to Interesting Words...what a big hit!

So we are doing Daily Five in my classroom for the first time and the kids and I are loving it! It is going so well. I don’t know what I was doing before! I just can’t imagine going back to my old ways. Along with Daily Five, I’m implementing CAFÉ strategies. My kids’ favorite, by far, has been Tune in to Interesting Words. They can’t get enough of this strategy! (Although I’m sure it will wear off eventually.) So this is what I’ve figured out works, through lots of trial and error:

1)      Each of my students keeps a pad of small sticky notes in their book boxes so they don’t have to get up and search for paper when they find an interesting word they want to share.

2)      Each student has a “special” pencil in his or her book box. These pencils are not allowed to be used for anything other than Daily Five and must be stored in their book boxes! It drove me crazy the first day we did Tune in to Interesting Words and kids were getting up every 3 seconds to find a pencil.

3)      As the student read, they jot down any interesting words they come across then when Daily Five is OVER, they can bring me their sticky notes. We sit down as a class later and discuss each word. The student who found it writes their name on the sticky note, they tell us what book they found it in, and we talk about the meaning of the word. This is such a great way to expand their vocabulary!

4)      My original plan was to write each interesting word on our word wall, but the kids have been so enthusiastic that there’s no way all the words would fit on the word wall! So I made a “Tune in to Interesting Words” word wall. After the students give me their sticky notes I type up the words and tape them to the “Tune in to Interesting Words” word wall, which is actually my door. (I’m running out of wall space!) We still discuss the words later, as a group.

Even if you are not doing Daily Five or CAFÉ, you can use this in your classroom! The kids can look for interesting words in the books and stories they’re reading, no matter what curriculum you’re using.

This is only one of the many CAFÉ strategies we’ve learned, but since it’s working out so well for me, I wanted to share. If you haven’t jumped on the Daily Five bandwagon yet, you really must give it a try! It will make your life so much easier and your students will thrive off of it! If you are already doing Daily Five and CAFÉ, what have you discovered works for you? Share your ideas!

(PS- I just have to brag...I managed to get my class to talk in whispers the entire last 30 minutes of school! We were practicing appropriate voices for Read to Someone in Daily Five. Now they KNOW they can do it,

and so do I! --Plus, it was kinda fun.)

Happy Tuesday!