Adding M.A.G.I.C. to Daily 3

This year my superintendent asked teachers to share what they are doing in the classroom during a teacher workday. My principal asked for volunteers. I wasn't sure at first. Speaking in front of adults is out of my comfort zone. I finally agreed and partnered up with a fellow kidergarten teacher. We decided to talk about Daily 5 Math. I have been using Daily 5 Math since the beginning of the year in addition to the Everyday Math curriculum, which is required by my district. My colleague began looking at some kindergarten websites and found Deanna Jump's kindergarten website http://mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/. One of her posts discusses using M.A.G.I.C. with Daily 5, and integrating Common Core into the Daily 5. The M stands for the Measurement domain. The A stands for the Algebraic Thinking domain. The G stands for the Geometry domain. The I stands for Numbers in Base Ten domain. The C stands for Counting and Cardinality. Well, the C does not work for first grade. So, with the help of my numeracy coach, we came up with Communication since this is a vital component within Common Core. My colleague and I worked on revamping our Daily 5 over the winter break and we were ready to launch M.A.G.I.C. with Daily 5 in January. I went through all my activities and sorted them based upon the domains. Then I created labels to let the students know what Daily 5 activity this activity fell in. I created M.A.G.I.C. labels for my baskets in my classroom. Mrs. Jump has her M.A.G.I.C. labels for kindergarten available for free on her Facebook page. I could not use them since I do not teach kindergarten :(

Here are some of my pics from the classroom:

 

These are the baskets that the students pull activities from.

 

These are the I-charts that the students and I created at the beginning of the year.

 

 

My colleague and I had been working hard on this new endeavor for a few short weeks and then --- we encountered a minor bump in the road. The "Sisters," who are the creators of Daily 5, came out with a new book. In their new book, they discuss a chapter on math. Only now, they have changed it from Daily 5 to Daily 3. I went straight to my literacy coach because I knew she would have the new book! And she did :) I read the chapter on Daily 3 Math. Simply put the "Sisters" integrated Math Technology and Math Practice into Math by Myself, Math with Someone, and Math Writing. If you haven't read the book, you should check it out!

 



 

 

I had to spend one weekend revamping some things within my M.A.G.I.C. baskets. I also had to explain the new change to my little ones. At first, they were so distraught when I told them that Math Technology was changed! However, when I explained how things had changed, they felt so much better knowing that it was still there -- it is embedded into Math By Myself, Math with Someone, and Math Writing.

 

My colleague and I created a Prezi presentation on using M.A.G.I.C. with Daily 3. She and I vary slightly on how we use it in the classroom. We both took pictures showing how we use it in the classroom. Here is a pic of our Prezi:

 



 

 

Notice that our Prezi is Harry Potter :) We created activities for teachers to give away during our presentation. We embedded the theme song during the presentation. We even wore shirts with a different house from the Harry Potter series!

 

We presented three times during the teacher development day. Each session was packed! Teachers had lots of questions about how we were able to get this started and launched. They absolutely loved the free items! Since that day, we have had emails from other schools requesting to send teachers to watch Daily 3 in action! My class has had 14 vistitors and we are still receiving more requests! Oh my! My little ones have been good with the visitors coming to class. Every time they leave, my kids ask me if I thought the teachers understand now how to Daily 3 in the classroom. They are too cute!