Work on Words

We have had a focus on Work on Words this week, to tighten up what each cohort group are working on. We talk about 'best fit' and being challenged. The main idea behind this aspect of Daily 5 is to expand vocabulary (see Cafe Literacy) and increase the accuracy of words used in daily writing tasks and reading work.

We want our students to use words from their daily writing as LSCWC. They look at the word, say it, cover the word, write the word and then check the word. This process consolidates words they use every day. Students who are in our top 5 cohorts work on this first before choosing from a list of best fit tasks.

Our students follow an editing process in Work on Writing and part of that is identifying words to work on. When conferring with the teacher - which is the last step, we place words in the LSCWC book with the student.

After checking their LSCWC book for words to practise and completing them, they then choose from best fit tasks. These include looking at dictionaries and thesaurus' - our Preps know the difference! They share these in our reading tent. We have letters they can use to form words from their M100W's  (Most 100 used words). Each child has their own list and knows which word list they are learning to spell as well as read. We have containers that have salt or playdough in the bottom to enable them to write their words in them - great for kinaesthetic learners. We also use commercial games like Silly Sentences and Scrabble. A big hit this week has been Rainbow Words and the Alphabet Keys.

Rainbow Words - children write the words in grey lead and then go over them in different colours. An Alphabet Key is a grid that has all 26 letters on it and the children choose the topic - ie Lollies, so each entry for each letter must start with that letter. a - allsorts, b - bananas, c- chocolate

We have noticed an increase in stamina - time on task and increased accountability. Our students ae not letting us forget to put words in their LSCWC books. Our ultimate goal is independent readers and writers.

A week of visitors

This week we have had a group of  6 teachers from a Ballarat school visit to check us out and what we are doing in Daily 5. We have had 2 teachers visit from another primary school and some per-service teachers as well. This has given us an opportunity to show off what we do. Our students rose to the occasion and did Read to Self, Read to Someone and then Work on Writing, Word Word and Listen to Reading. A big week but a successful week for all of us and some great feedback.

Werribee Zoo - At last!


After having had to postpone our first visit to Werribee Zoo last term due to bad weather we finally got to go last week minus me! I had torn a few ligaments in my foot and couldn't get around. But Claire, who I team teach with, and Olivia who replaced me took some great photos. The kids got to check out what they had learnt about animals and habitats. Thanks to the lovely mums that went as well. From the great writing the safari bus was the favourite of the day.

Work on Writing
We did a whole class focus on recounts and wrote a piece for our portfolios. In Daily 5 "Work on Writing" children decide what they wish to write about and many have written about the excursion. 


When walking around the zoo the children saw gorillas, lions, hippopotamus', meerkats and on the Safari Bus they saw giraffes, zebras and camels.
















Digital Pensieve

Just subscribed to the new Digital Pensieve that is based on Daily 5 and Cafe Literacy and already love it. Possibilities for sharing students and cohorts amazing!
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