Bingo: The Fun Way to Learn Sight Words

On Fridays, we break from the routine of Skills Block (charts, morning message, word families, etc.) and play a few games of Sight Word Bingo. The ritual of giving out the cards and chips are second nature for the children. I write " B I N G O" on the board and we are off and running. A slight humming is going on in the room until I pull the first card: "N" "little" and they repeat "N" "little". Then I write the word "little" on the board under "N". This gives the students visual reinforcement of the word while they look for it on their card. This goes on until the first 20 or so cards are read and we get our first "BINGO." The child then has to reread the words back to me for him/her to have a "confirmed" BINGO. When the bell is rung - that means it is a "confirmed" win and then we play two more BINGOs on that card. After that, the cards are cleared off and we play another game. I find this to be a fun and entertaining way for the reinforcement of sight words on a weekly basis. We also play "Word Family" bingo and in First Grade we'll play advanced sight word Bingo. Friday's are a great day to break from the routine and have fun with the words we learned all week - "B" "bye" - "B" "bye"!!

Our Eric Carle Author Study - Revisit it in Pictures

Eric Carle -- Author Study - Celebration Day

Today all kindergarten classes celebrated the end of our author study of Eric Carle by having a big celebration this morning. Students visited stations which included: making ladybug hats (The Grouchy Ladybug), caterpillar necklaces (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), and eating pancakes (Pancakes, Pancakes). They played games such as Eric Carle Bingo; we had a book scavenger hunt (using copies of the front cover of the books); and E.C. jeopardy (with questions about characters, etc. from his books). In the afternoon, the children were delighted when I read two books that they haven't heard yet from the author study: "Papa Please Get Me the Moon" and "The Honeybee and the Robber." The level at which we now discuss books is at a new height from a few weeks ago when we just started our author study. Now text-to-self connections and text-to-text connections abound!! The children were relating how some characters were the same, how pictures were similar, and how the patterns in some books imitated other books. Students discussed the author and what he must have experienced in order for him to write these books. For instance, they wondered if he had a cat because cats are in so many of his books and if he lived near a zoo because of all the animals in his books. They also asked if he was coming to our celebration! One child answered, "He's too busy writing - don't you know?" This author study was the springboard for many author studies to come in the next five years. In First Grade, there will be a Kevin Henkes and Mem Fox author study. However, students always remember this first one, Eric Carle, with great fondness and affection. Eric Carle will be their favorite author for a very long time!

The Grouchy Ladybug Helps Us With Time

One of my favorite Eric Carle books is The Grouchy Ladybug. The students have heard this story several times in the last few weeks and now can retell it with confidence and intonation. This story is classic Eric Carle in that he not only teaches life skills such as manners and sharing but also teaches children about the passage of time. As each hour of the ladybug's journey from insect to animal passes, a clock is in the upper right hand corner of the page shows the time. This gives children a visual image of what the time looks like on an analog clock. This is something that we don't think a lot about, but many clocks in children's homes are digital. Cell phones have digital time and so do computers (at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.) Telling time is fun for a child and once they have mastered the "o'clock", it's off to "__:30" and so on. During this retelling, children had the chance to move the hands of their own Grouchy Ladybug clock that they made earlier: http://www.vickiblackwell.com/lit/ladybug.html This added an interactive element to the story and made it a lot of fun to hear again. Now, when they take their clocks home, they can discuss the story and tell time too!!

Spring Celebration Activities

Spring has Sprung in Room 104

This was a very busy week in Room 104. On Monday, the leprechaun visited us (even though we never did trap him) and today we celebrated the coming of Spring. In preparation for today's activities we read books including "The Bunny Book," and "The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings." Our centers included making bunny hats, hand print rabbits, chicks in a nest, and water-coloring hard boiled eggs. Our morning was complete after our egg hunt on the playground. In the afternoon, students had fun counting and graphing a bag of jelly beans. It was a another great day of learning fun in Room 104!!

Leprachaun Traps - Will He Be Trapped?

Leprechaun Traps Abound In Our Classroom

For homework last week, children were tasked with a family project of building a leprechaun trap that would surely catch that rascal so that they would get that pot of gold. As you can see there were many clever traps made but much to our dismay, the little man was not fooled this time. I heard that he visited while the children were at lunch. The room was upside down with chairs, crayons, books, and papers tossed about. He left his green footprints on the tables and he escaped through the window - leaving it wide open. Undoubtedly, the children had a day to remember and will probably try next year to catch that little man in green!!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo - How about you, you, you? - You can come too, too, too! - We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo! Before we went to the zoo, our days were filled with singing that song!!
The children were so excited and today was our long-awaited trip to the zoo. We have been preparing for weeks. Students have been learning about giraffes, monkeys, elephants, snakes, etc.. They have been learning about their habitats, foods, and the names of the mothers, fathers and babies (with some help from Eric Carle - "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?") Did you know that a father kangaroo is a boomer, a mother is a flyer, and a joey is the baby? Well, our students do!! In preparing for the trip, an animal that is at the Jacksonville Zoo was our focus each day. A chart was created with lots of fun facts about each animal. As a culminating activity on each animal, the children were invited to make an animal (with construction paper and glue) and it was placed on our zoo mural outside the classroom. As a bonus, we adopted a baby giraffe (student's choice) with money children made on their own by doing chores around the house. After touring the zoo, we were invited to the Educational Center where we saw (up close) a bearded dragon, toad, snake, chinchilla, and baby alligator. Some children were even brave enough to pet these animals!! Our field trip to the zoo was perfect - the weather, the bus ride, the chaperones, the lunch, and of course, the animals!! And as we pulled away from the zoo, I heard some students singing the last lines from the zoo song... "We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo. - How about you, you, you? - You came too, too, too. - We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo!!!"

A Few Pictures From Our Zoo Trip

The Very Busy Spider Meets Kindergarteners

These "Very Busy Kindergarteners" were weaving an elaborate web as the story of "The Very Busy Spider" was read to them a second time. Students had the chance to partake in this very busy spider weaving his web to capture that pesky fly! This simple yarn activity was a wonderful way to bring the story to life as a retelling. By doing this, the children had the chance to hear the story again, work on the web, and most of all - have a lot of fun!
We are staying very busy learning about Eric Carle and his books. We are looking for writing patterns, text-to-self and text-to-text connections, and finding similarities with his other books. Today students noticed that Eric Carle paints the sun and moon in most of his books. They noticed certain animals repeated in some of his books. And they wondered why Eric Carle loves animals and insects so much. All of these wonderings and noticings lead to a deeper level of conversation and a deeper understanding of our author's works. We plan on staying busy for a few more weeks and find out a lot more about Eric Carle and his wonderful cast of characters!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Visits Us!!

After we read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" today, we had a surprise...out popped the Very Hungry Caterpillar! He entered the classroom moving his arms and growling with hunger. Several students were given food pieces (an apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, etc.) to feed our caterpillar. After he had eaten all of the food, he left (with a stomachache). However, he may return someday as a beautiful butterfly.
This turned out to be an enjoyable and effortless "retelling" of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The story came to life for the children with a costume and some paper food pieces. As the VHC was "eating" his food, the children would shout out, "Now the plums, now the strawberries..." The more the students hear a story, the better they can retell it (orally and in writing). It's always a good idea to retell a story in several different ways such as finger puppets, story boards, or reader's theater. Another benefit of retelling a story is that student's response to literature (in writing) will be clearer due to their understanding of it. We have done several activities with this story this week including having the children sequence the story on a sentence strip, drawing the middle of the story (items of food the VHC ate) and adding a great beginning and ending to the story in Writer's Workshop, and retelling with picture cards but nothing topped the surprise visit from the VHC himself.

Eric Carle Author Study: Making Story Maps

We have been using story maps in our Reader's and Writer's Workshops to help organize the children's thinking and understanding of the Eric Carle books in our author study. These story maps have proven to be a very important tool in the art of retelling. Moreover, these story maps have been a valuable aid in the student's "Response to Literature" during Writer's Workshop. After I read a new book a few times, children are invited to draw an animal from the book to place on the story board on the back of a large index card. As they hear the story again, the children come up to have their cards placed on the poster board in sequential order. The story can be retold the next day by just using this story map. During Writer's Workshop, students can write a response by using this tool as a guide. In Reader's Workshop, it is another choice during "Literacy Centers" as a "Read the Room" activity.
Because so many books are read during this Eric Carle author study, making story maps has proven to help the children organize their thoughts and retelling abilities. It is a simple way to make the story telling organized and understandable during both workshop periods. Today students worked on their own personnal story map for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Those I'll share with you later!!

Real Men Read - BUDs Morning Readers

We have a great program at our school that gets the male members of our school family more involved. It is called BUDs (Brothers, Uncles and Dads). They coordinate Pancake Breakfasts, Movie Nights, and our BUDding Readers Program. This week BUD members were invited to come to school and read to classes before the start of the school day to show students that real men read. Yesterday we had Mr. B. a parent of one of our students read "The Grouchy Ladybug." The students loved hearing the book read and Mr. B. did a marvelous job keeping the children's interest during his stay this morning. Today we had Mr. A. read two books including "The Mixed Up Chameleon." He did an equally great job and now the children are asking when their father can come in to read. The BUDs Club has increased male involvement and visibility at the school which is a very good thing!! Thank you BUD volunteers for caring and making a real difference in our children's lives.!

Shapes of Things - All Around Us

For the past few weeks, our class has been studying the form and function of 2-D and 3-D shapes. Mrs. Johnson has been teaching the children about the shapes that surround our every day life. The children have learned about cylinders, cubes, and spheres as well as hexagons, pentagons, and rhombus'. Much to their amazement, they are now noticing and commenting on all of the shapes that they now see. After reading the book "The Shape of Things" by Dayle Ann Dodds, Mrs. Johnson had the children draw an object that had a certain shape in it. A common refrain in the story was, "A rectangle is just a rectangle until you add wheels and a handle, then it becomes a wagon." For 3-D shapes, the children went on a "shape-hunt" this week and found a cylinder (a spray bottle), a sphere (cotton balls), a rectangular prism ( a box of stickers), and a cone (nose on a doll). Today, the students use Play-doh to make 3-D shapes. The students loved building 3-D pyramids, cones, and spheres with the clay. Another lesson this week was to locate the face of each 3-D shape and find it's congruent match. These words have been added to the math vocabulary word wall. It is amazing to hear the children utilize these terms and have "accountable talk" in math workshop. Mrs. Johnson makes the shape of things fun and exciting in math -- just the way it should be!

Eric Carle - Attribute Chart

Our first three Eric Carle books are completed on our attribute chart. These three books are the springboard into the other Eric Carle classics that we will be reading. An attribute chart is an ongoing classroom chart that helps students organize their thinking while we discuss the books. It charts noticings, wonderings, and questions we have about the books we are reading. The first book was "Do you want to be my friend?" about a lonely mouse looking for a friend. The second book we discussed was "Have you seen my cat?" about a little boy's adventure looking around the world for his cat. On his way, he meets other members of the cat family including lions, tigers and panthers. Our third book was "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?" This book asks the same question of many animals, for instance, "Does a penguin have a mother too?" "Yes, a penguin has mother, just like me and you." Now that we have talked about these three books, children get to see a similarity about these Eric Carle books. So far they noticed that he likes to write about animals; that the first three books asked questions; and that his books teach us something - valuing friendship, trips around the world, and names of animals and their babies. We can't wait to read the next book in our author study and learn and grow with Eric Carle.

Reader's Workshop - Author Study - Eric Carle

This week started our very first author study-- Eric Carle. After surveying the children to see if they were familiar with Eric Carle, many of them chanted, "He is my favorite author!" At first I was slightly disappointed when so many children knew of his books, but then I thought, what a great opportunity to take this author study deeper. The books that most children have at home are "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "The Very Busy Spider," and "The Grouchy Ladybug." The book that we started with this week, however, was not one that they heard before. The first book was "Do You Want To Be My Friend?" It is about a mouse who is looking for a friend. He visits a horse, alligator, seal, lion, hippo, monkey, and giraffe until he finally meets another mouse who says, "Yes" to being his friend. An attribute chart was started listing the title, connections, questions, and what we discovered/learned about this book. After having a book talk about the mouse's adventures, we discussed how it would be hard for those animals to be his friend. For instance, the seal lives in the water and the hippo might step on him. The students noticed how a green snake was drawn throughout the book until the last page where we found it's head. That was very dangerous for the mouse. The children made text-to-self connections. Emir said, "It reminded me of PreK when I was looking for a friend." They had questions about how Eric Carle thought of this book - maybe he was lonely and looked for a friend when he was in school. The next day, children were given large index cards and they drew their favorite animal from the book and we put together a story board. This visual has not only helped in the student's retelling of the story, but it is being utilized in Writer's Workshop for their Response to Literature writing.
For the next five weeks, we will be working on our author study of Eric Carle. Our activities will include making class books, using dramatic play to enhance understanding, and drawing/writing in a Reader's Notebook each day to log thoughts/questions/wonderings about the author's work.
This will allow students the opportunity to look deeply into the wonderful world of Eric Carle.

Valentine's Day Memories

Do you remember getting Valentine's Day cards in your classroom "mailbox"? I sure do. I remember decorating a big brown manila envelope with hearts and flowers and having it taped to my desk. The teacher would call on several students at a time to deliver their mail and I would get so excited when another card, pencil, or conversation heart candy packet would go in my envelope. Well the tradition continues in our classroom. For homework last week, children were given the assignment of addressing their Valentine cards with classmate's first and last names using a class list to complete the activity. Within few short days, cards were coming in with pencils, candy, and tattoos, and boxes of conversation hearts taped to them. "When am I going to give my cards out?" was a daily refrain throughout the week. However, the cards needed a mailbox to place them in. Parents sent in empty cereal boxes and when we had enough, Mrs. Ellis cut them in half and painted them. The children decorated bear faces with hearts and these were then attached to the box with their names on them. Throughout the afternoon, children delivered their cards to the designated mail boxes. Now the boxes are bursting with goodies and the children can't wait until Thursday to read their cards, check out their little gifts, and trade those ever famous conversation hearts!!

Around the World in One Week!!!

International Week - Day 5 - Mexico and Costa Rica

Today was the last stop on our tour around the world. We went to Costa Rica and Mexico. Ms. Ana shared artifacts from Costa Rica and showed the children where on the map it is located. Although Costa Rica is a small country, there are an endless number of places to see. You can bask in the sun because they have over 50 beaches, visit some of the more than 160 parks, reserves, and conservation areas, or visit one of the most active volcanoes in the world. There are butterfly gardens and frog museums. The brilliantly colored red-eyed tree frog is a very popular sighting. The children made tree frog puppets, butterflies, and finished their pinatas. The enjoyed guava juice, tortillas, and desserts native to Costa Rica.

Ms. Karen from Mexico shared pictures of their lovely beaches. Mexico is part of Latin America. It is the southern neighbor of the United States. It is four times larger than Texas. Mexico is home to two differerent types of land. Two mountain ranges cut through Mexico. Some parts are covered by deserts. Tropical jungles cover the other areas. People around the world enjoy Mexican food. Mexico introduced corn, chocolate, and chilies to the world. The children made their own tortillas by balling up the flour mixure and pressing down on the tortilla press. Cheese was added and a quesadilla was made for them (while they waited).

As the week ends and we remember the countries that we visited: Turkey, Venezuala, Vietnam, China, Costa Rica, and Mexico, we can celebrate a social studies journey that the children will always remember. Mrs. Johnson and I would like to thank the parents of our class that made this week possible and for all of the hard work you put into it to make it such a success. I can't wait to experience "International Week" part 2 next year...I can only imagine!!! Adiós!