Writer's Getting Busy Writing

The first two weeks of school was used as a time to get students in the habit of writing again. We gave them time to "free-write". They wrote about their great summer vacations, visits to the beach, and movies they have seen. We were "getting their feet wet" and excited about writing again. This week was the start of a formal four week unit modeled after the book, "First Grade Writers" by Stephanie Parsons.

Specifically, we are working on a chapter called "Pattern Books". A pattern book has a predictable structure and format. It can have a repeated phrase or format that continues throughout the book. They are just like the books that most children are reading at this time so student's can draw a parallel between Reader's and Writer's Workshops. The books that the students write usually start out quite simple, but as lessons are taught and new ideas are presented, the books that the students' write grow in sophistication and are quite impressive. We can not wait to compare the first week's samples to the fourth weeks' and see the learning that has occurred.
Below is a sample of a pattern book that was written today titled "Glasses".

"Glasses" by Grace

"One day I got glasses. We got one pair. It was black and red."

"The next day I got another pair of glasses. They were pinkish purplish."

"The next day I got another pair of glasses. They were blue wire glasses."

"The next day I got another pair. It was turned into sunglasses. It was red with hearts on the side."

"Then I had all my pairs of glasses."

Rituals and Routines: Settling in - in First Grade

Oh, how we love to loop! Having our kindergarten students come back as first graders is wonderful. After a short refresher course on the rituals and routines of the classroom, they are back, ready for the learning and challenges of first grade. They know that they start each morning reading books out in the hall. They unload their folders while they are out there. When the bell rings, the children come in and go right to their cubbies to deposit their belongings. Their morning work is waiting for them at their tables. This quarter the morning work is handwriting practice. Letter formation is modeled for them and they practice in their handwriting journals. After the pledge and morning announcements, the students are brought to the floor with a song. Our class promise (which we will share next time) is said and then we promptly start Skills Block. This is where they learn about capitals, punctuation, word families, sight words, vowels, and practice with skill games. It was a great first week in Hog Heaven and can not wait to make more memories!

First Day of First Grade

The first day of school is a very special and memorable one at Chets Creek. It is the day we love to "WOW" the kids and make the first day exciting and fun. With our new theme, "Cultivating a Community of Excellence", the principal Mrs. Phillips, and her team WOWed all of us with a day at the farm. But instead of us going to the farm, she brought the farm to us. There was a watermelon patch where the children learned some fun facts about watermelons. Did you know the average watermelon has 750 seeds? There were ducks, goats, mules, tractors, bee keepers, planters, and singers. The day had its own special magic that only the first day of school bring. Mall-ard's Hog Heaven is looking forward to cultivating the best crop yet of first graders yet. We will do it by planting the seeds of knowledge, watering them each day with new discoveries, and nurturing each one until they are ready to take on new challenges.

Welcome to First Grade!

We have been busy the last few weeks preparing the classroom for our new first graders. The school theme this year is "Cultivating a Community of Excellence". A lot of ideas popped into our heads about where we could go with this theme, however, the one that sounded "just right" was "Mall-ard's Hog Heaven". In the dictionary "Hog Heaven" is termed as a noun/slang and the meaning is: "A state of utter bliss or contentment." That is exactly what we want a child's first grade year to be! Learning, growing, making new friends, and having the time of their lives in first grade! We can not wait to get started on Monday. Hog Heaven will be open for business and we will be cultivating our community of excellence!

Summer Postcards Arriving

Because we loop our kindergarten class to first grade, we always ask that the children send us postcards during the summer. We love to hear about their adventures and vacations. We save the cards and use them for our first "Welcome Back to School" bulletin board. Above is a sampling of the postcards we have been receiving this summer. They love to see the board and find their pictures or cards that they sent to us. These postcards also are a great tool to use in Writer's Workshop if they choose to write about what they did during their summer vacation. So far we have received cards from Washington, DC, Mississippi, Georgia, Chicago, and of course, Florida. There have been lots of visits to family members, ocean resorts and theme parks. Our summer time window is going to be closing real soon. Teachers go back on August 16th and the students will be starting on August 23rd. Our bulletin board will be loaded with fun memories and we are sure, lots of stories to tell. P.S. Yes, that is a flip flop postcard :)

Postcard from Italy - Summer Vacation

As a way to keep in touch during the summer, we always send our looping class our addresses so that they can write to us. This also serves as a great "Back to School" bulletin board which welcomes the students back to school with their fun summer time adventures to share. We have received several postcards so far and everyone is having a great time in Chicago, in Orlando, or just at grandma's house. We received this e-mail postcard from our student "C" who has traveled to Italy and France for a few weeks. Wow-what a wonderful experience and we can't wait to hear more about it in August!!

Holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa is hard work! We had a great time in Italy and Paris. I didn't want to come home. Some of the highlights were seeing the Catacombs, Colosseum and Vatican in Rome; climbing to the top of the Duomo in Florence; taking a gondola ride in Venice; and in Paris the Eiffel Tower. Did I mention the food - especially the gelato? I can't wait to go back some day!

Summer Time for The Mall-ards

It is hard to believe that our Kindergarten journey has come to an end. The class of 2009-2010 is heading off to summer vacation. When we see them in August, they will begin their first grade year with us. It is wonderful to be with this great group of kids and their parents for another year...that is why we love to loop! The postings will be fewer but they will continue during the summer. Have a great summer...the Mall-ards are signing off or should we say flying off for summer vacation!! :)

Star Spangled Kindergarten Student

We wanted to share this rendition of the Star Spangled Banner from the talent show yesterday. Thanks W for the great job!

Star Spangled Kindergarten Singer from Maria Mallon on Vimeo.

Loads of Talent in Room 104

The Mall-ard Talent Show 2009-2010 was in full swing this morning. We had more talent than you could imagine! Ballet dancers, singers, poetry readers, interpretive dance, karate, guitars, piano playing, and even a singing of "The Spangled Banner" - we had it all. It was a great way to spend the morning and a chance for everyone to share their special talent. Note: The boys were over the ballerinas -- "Please no more ballerina dancing," said Michael. :)

Kindergarten Field Day: June, 2010

What a wonderful field day we enjoyed yesterday. There were nine stations which included tug-of-war, relays, high jump, racing and dancing. The centers were manned by Mayport Naval Station sailors who, with Chief Dillard, kept the action moving and fun. We had a BBQ hot dog lunch with chips, cookies and fruit. It was delicious after all of the exercise!!
In the afternoon, parents returned for our fourth quarter awards ceremony. The school year has only 2 1/2 days left...it was a fantastic year!!

Helicopter Visit - HSL-60 Mayport Naval Station

We started today with a special surprise. We had the opportunity to watch a helicopter land at our baseball field at our school. But it wasn't any old helicopter. It was Helicopter Squadron HSL-60 from Mayport Naval Station with Chief Dillard aboard (Mrs. Dillard's husband) which made the visit even more special for our Kindergarten class. The squadron came for fifth grade's career day. Air crewman on HSL-60 included Lt. Commander J. Cross, Lt. Commander D. Kapo, and of course Chief Dillard. It was a wonderful experience for the children to see the helicopter up close and have the air crewman explain the different features of the helicopter to the students. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your time with our students.

Bulletin Boards: A Snapshot of our Classroom 2009-2010

Looking over the past year's bulletin boards, we can take pride in the learning that our students have achieved. In Kindergarten, we celebrated their first drawings in "Ropin' in Kindergarten Writers", as part of the writing process, telling stories through pictures, stapling their first booklets, and just maybe find a few beginning sounds on the pages. As if dusted with magic glitter, stories began to unfold with great beginnings, lots of details, and wonderful closings. Students learned to create and follow their writing rubrics and explain why or why not their piece met or did not meet the standard. Students complimented each other saying what they liked about their peer's work. This practice was also carried over into Reader's and Math workshops and has become part of our learning day. As we look over the process of creating a bulletin board: planning, designing, selecting pieces, and writing up comments, we are reminded that the boards are a representative snapshot into our classroom. The last bulletin board for this year is a "Work Over Time" and one of our favorite boards of the year. In "A Noteworthy Kindergarten Finale'", two students' work is the focus: a beginning piece of writing from August, a middle piece from January, and a final piece from April. It is amazing to see the growth that has taken place. Looking at the accomplishments of all of our students' in writing, reading and math and what they have achieved this year has made both their teachers and parents very proud...and we look forward to looping this class to first grade next year. Can't wait to see how far they will go!

Poetry with Voice - Fotobabble

We have been working on our poetry unit in Reader's and Writer's Workshop for the past two weeks. The children have enjoyed throwing all the traditional writing rules out the window and experimenting with the free-thinking, free-feeling of poetry. Today our Technology Coach Melanie Holtsman had a few children read their poetry using a new program called Fotobabble. Fotobabble is a program that adds voice to a picture. Grace's poem is called "The Night" and Andrew's poem is called "Snakes". Enjoy listening to their poetic creations. We can't wait to use Fotobabble again!!

Mother's Day Celebration - Mall-ard Style

One of our favorite holidays to celebrate with the students is Mother's Day. There are many reasons why this is special. Of course, we want to invite the moms in to see their children perform but we also want to thank them for being such wonderful parents. It is our way of thanking them for the great year and the great kids that they have entrusted to our care. It is our hope that by making Mother's Day a big deal in the class, that this will be a special time for them, for years to come. We had the table covered with white tablecloths and flowers. Each child went into the hall and escorted his/her mom to her seat. After all the mom's were in place, the festivities commenced. We started off with "Slippery Fish" (a class favorite), then, "Here Comes the Sun" done in sign language; and finally "Alphabet Soup" the video can be seen after the slide show. A poem called, "Before I Was Your Mom" was read by a few students and then a slide show was shown with the child's baby picture and what he/she looks like now, together with our year in pictures. There were very few dry eyes in the house. Then it was time for the breakfast. The parents ate first, and then their child joined them. It was a magical morning full of laughs and tears...but one that will be remembered. Happy Mother's Day!!

Jazz - ABZ at the Cummer Museum

This week the Mall-ards enjoyed a field trip to the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville. The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, built on the site of the home of Arthur and Ninah Cummer, opened on November 10, 1961. From Ninah Cummer's relatively small collection of sixty pieces that launched the museum, The Cummer's permanent collection has grown to over six thousand works of art encompassing eight thousand years of art history. The students listened to and tapped out different jazz beats and saw original works of art designed to pay tribute to jazz artists. They toured the beautiful gardens and then enjoyed an interactive part of the museum where they could draw, paint, and build things. A trip to the park for lunch was also included and that is where we got to see some real live Mallards!!Thanks to our wonderful parent chaperones and to Melanie H. for the great pictures.

Writing with a Purpose - Persuasive Writing

Researchers who study "real" writing affirm that students given "real" purposes for reading and writing beyond classroom assignments, and for "real" audiences beyond a teacher, made significant progress in both reading and writing.(Meier,2010). We have had many experiences writing real letters during this Persuasive Writing Unit. Students wrote letters to their parents requesting a movie, toy, or sleepover. (Some wrote to their grandparents if they thought the request wouldn't be granted by their parents.) They wrote to their friends in the classroom and the principal. After reading the true story of, "The Librarian of Basra" by Jeanette Winter, students saw how sometimes even with good persuasive reasons, requests are not granted. The librarian asked the mayor of Basra, Iraq, if the books in the library could be stored in a safe place. She feared they would be burned in the war. But he said no, so the librarian hid the books herself. The children enjoyed that read aloud.
As chance might have it, this week we received a letter from a teacher in Ohio on behalf of one of her kindergarten students. Emma, the student, has been tasked with writing a report about Florida. She asked if our class could help them out. So, we did. Each child wrote a letter to Emma telling her what fun things there are to do in Florida and everything they know about our state. When students were given this real world request of writing a letter to a new friend, they could not wait to answer her letter. The letters were mailed to Ohio and we can't wait to hear back from our new friend.

Dear Emma,
How are you doing? My name is Dominic. It never snows. It is really hot in the summer. Sometimes it rains. It is warm a lot. The bees are huge, the wasps are huge. Sometimes it is cold. I am six years old. I go to Chets Creek Elementary. The Jacksonville Zoo has lots of animals and Florida has lots of animals.
Sincerely
Your friend
Dominic

Reference:
Joanne Meier, Ph.D. provides research guidance for Reading Rockets. Dr. Meier has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of early childhood and reading education.

Persuasive Writing: Which Would You Rather Be?

Our persuasive writing unit is well underway. Students are learning the mechanics of letter writing, why it is important to write a letter, and the joy in receiving one. The genre of persuasive writing has been the topic for the last few weeks and children have been learning what it means to give their opinion. While reading the book, "Which Would You Rather Be?" by William Steig, students had the opportunity to discuss what they would rather be and the reasons they would want to be it. For instance, in this question/answer style book, questions such as, "Which would you rather be...a stick or a stone?; a mouse or an elephant?; or thunder or lightning?" were asked. These writers discussed the reasons why they would like to be one thing over another. Some would rather be lightning because of the bright light and others would like to be thunder because of the loud BOOM. Students were tasked to write a letter trying to persuade Miss Karen (our para) of what they would like to be and the reasons why. The below pieces reference if they would rather be an elephant or mouse, an apple or banana, or the sun or the moon. See if you are persuaded...

Dear Miss Karen,
I want to be a elephant and what do you want to be? I want to be a elephant because their trunks can lift up heavy things and they can crush tiny little things with their big feet and they make a cool noise with their trunks and they have big ears that help them cool off.
Your friend,
Kyle

Dear Miss Karen,
Would you want to be a apple or a banana? I would be a banana because they are so yummy. I forgot to ask you are you doing good? I am. And they are easy to peel. And they are healthy for you and they are a good snack.
Your student,
Grace E.

Dear Miss Karen,
I'm going to be the moon. (It) is so bright and shiny and beautiful. An the moon is my favorite color silver and because the moon is bright its not so hot at night and not very much bugs at night and with stars too and on the moon there's astronauts.
Your friend,
Jack

Cultural Arts Week

This week our school celebrated the cultural arts. Everyday there was an assembly featuring an artist of some kind. We had a drum ensemble, African story tellers, a poet, puppets, and a banjo player. Two days this week, we had a special visit by a dad of one of our students. Mr. Matt came to play the piano for the children in the front lobby. They enjoyed this close up view of a musician playing the instrument he loves. The Charlie Brown theme song was a favorite along with a jazzy version of Jingle Bells. The kids got up and danced to the music. We want to thank Mr. Matt for the great performance and to let you know that your son was beaming with pride. Come back and play for us again, Piano Man!!

Nothing Like a Good Book!

Pictures do say 1000 words. Snuggling up to a good book is a wonderful thing to do in Kindergarten. A parent sent this picture in and labeled it "My Little Reader". What a great feeling to see your child getting comfortable and excited in preparing to read a favorite book. After a few pages, the lure of sleep was too much temptation for even the most interesting read! That's OK - she can pick it up tomorrow!

Egg Hunt Fun for the Mall-ard Ducklings!!

Our ducklings were lined up in a row while traveling to Ryan's house. Our "walking field trip" to the bunny patch was one of the best ever and we didn't have to pay for a bus!! Mrs. Wilkening made sure the path was clearly marked with welcoming bunnies and hanging egg decorations. They were greeted by the Easter Bunny, too, who helped hide the hundreds of plastic eggs. The students were assigned numbers one through thirty-five and their quest was to find and collect only the eggs with their specific number. It was the calmest most relaxeing egg hunt we've ever been too. After the eggs were collected, activities were planned by Coach Hall with numerous variations of relay races. Before we knew it, the pizzas and side dishes which were provided by parents, were ready. Thanks to all our volunteers who made this a great kick-off to Spring Break. And thanks to Romy, Ryan, Nikki, Melanie, and all the parents for your help during this festive morning of fun and memories for the children! Afterward, the ducklings waddled back to the classroom for some "down" time, of course!