One month and counting

I have been working on curriculum in my district and it looks like we are heading in the directions of Daily 5/CAFE.  This excites me and a couple of my friends who are trying this too.  I don't think our district will really be ready for it until next fall. but I love knowing that I might be ahead of the game.

I have finally finished reading Daily 5 & CAFE.  I am meeting with teacher friends tomorrow to discuss how we want to start the school year and how we think it will look for us.  The friends are co-teachers and tried it this spring and we plan on helping each other out.  I am looking forward to sharing ideas with them all year, but meeting tomorrow will a great first step.  I think it will really make it real for me.

I think my first step will be to find books that I would like to use to introduce and review the various CAFE strategies.  I have a few books at home and I know most of the books that I have in my classroom.  If I can create a list for the first 2 weeks of school, that will be a great start.  I also need to create a "cheat sheet" for my co-teacher so that she will understand what I want to do.  (Btw, I teach in an inclusion classroom with a special education teacher). She is willing to change things up, but I just need to make it simple for her and lay things out so she can see the big picture.

Another thing that I will need to do is go to IKEA and buy my book boxes.  I have found them as a set of 5 for $2.00.  It is a great way to start and in the future I can decide to buy plastic ones.  There are always things that need to be bought for school but I am trying to limit myself this summer.

Anyway, I am super excited and I can't wait for school to start to see how this all works.  Don't get me wrong, I am not wishing away my summer, I am just looking forward to a change within my classroom.  Now I am off to read some more blogs about D5/CAFE.