It’s never an easy feat when starting out Daily 5 training in a kindergarten classroom. This year we were able to accomplish 15 minutes of ‘read to self’ and it only took us until the 5th week of school to get it done. Whew!
If you’re a Daily 5-er, you know that once you make that ‘read to self’ goal, it means that your kiddos are ready to do it for real during D5 rotations. They know the expectations, they understand the urgency . . . they just ‘get it.’ And so what do you do when you reach your goal? You celebrate, of course.
And how do you celebrate? Why with a Stamina Party, of course. If you read my blog, you know I love to have celebrations for all kinds of accomplishments in my class. But a stamina party is one of my favorites to throw.
It’s the one day of the year when I break out my boys’ fort kits
and turn my classroom in to one gigantic fort.
I only had 15 minutes this year to make the transformation. So I whipped out my sheets and equipment and went to work clamping and tying until there was more than enough space for everyone to grab their book boxes and relax in the dark with some flashlights, glo sticks and a bunch of good books.
(Of course we had some refreshments too, but the main fun was the fort.
I can’t tell you how many of my little ones had never made a fort out of blankets before. What?!! Seriously?!? My whole house has been turned into one enormous fort on more than one or two occasions.
It got so bad with all my sheets and blankets disappearing that a couple of years ago I went ahead and made each of the boys a fort kit. (This was TOTALLY NOT MY brain child.) I saw the idea on Pinterest and knew I had to do it.
So I headed out to Walmart and purchased a bunch of flat sheets, ropes, clamps, clothes pins, suction cups (you really do need them for windows where there isn’t anything to latch onto), flashlights and glow-sticks. I sewed ties onto the sheets and made each of them a bag to store it all in and . . . viola…a fort kit.
By the way, BEST gift ever for a kid. I get to keep my blankets and they get to make forts anytime they want. WIN-WIN!!!
And now, I get to borrow the kits anytime I need a Stamina Celebration.
If you want to make your own fort kits, this is the site that I referred to when I made mine a couple of years ago. Just click on the picture below to check it out. They have a great little tutorial.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear how your Daily 5 is going. Drop me a line and tell me about your stamina.
Christina C. says
We are at about 10 minutes.. week 8 of school… I have just 2-3 kids that really have no interest in even after the modeling and having them model.. practicing..
I just got a class of 23 K’ers…we’re starting D5 tomorrow…cross your fingers!?!
Love the fort idea! I have 19 K’s (17 in my room during Reader’s Workshop/Guided Reading times), and we are at 19 minutes right now–the expectation is that we reach 20 minutes independently and 10 with partner reading. My K’s are super excited to try 20 minutes for the first time tomorrow–I have various things for them to sit on; everything from foam placemats from the Dollar Tree to pillows and cushions and the highly coveted trio of neon lawn chairs from Walmart. I let them use the foam placemats from day 1, but they had to wait until we hit 15 minutes to earn the next “level” of placemats, and once we hit 20 I told them they’ll start getting to use all the other stuff, plus we’ll start practicing partner reading. I also gave them little duckies I got from Oriental Trading–they have stovepipe hats on their heads and books in their hands–they got those when they hit 10 minutes, and the ducks are friends for them to read to. If they’re not reading the whole time, their ducks choose to come hang out on my desk until their K friends show that they can read the whole time–because ducks like being with kids who read! 🙂
Oh, and we are in our 10th week of school–so we have been working on this for awhile. 🙂
How fun!! I have never done Daily 5, but if I did, I would definitely have a Stamina Party! I used to build tents in our living room when I was little (my mom always had a fit) and my girls did the same thing. They loved it! My 20 year old would still do it if she didn’t have college work to keep her busy.