Standards Based Bulletin Boards 2008-2009

This was the first year that we took pictures of our Standards-based bulletin boards every month (well almost every month) and I'm so glad we did. As each month goes by, I see the thought, work, and imagination it took to create it. The student's work is highlighted and it shines brightly for all to see. August was our first board, "An Aussie Adventure Awaits You" which hints to our theme for the year. Because we are a looping class, students were invited to write to us during the summer via letter or postcard. Their letters/postcards/pictures were put around the map for all to see.
"Minilessons Can Make A World of Difference" was board number two. Writing minilessons such as editing, starting at the red line, using the word wall, etc. were the focus. Student's work was shown before and after a minilesson was taught. "Navigating Our Way Though Nonfiction" was a Reader's Workshop board which guided the viewer with a page by page look at the elements of nonfiction via a booklet that the students made. It included close ups, comparisons, table of contents, cut aways, and labeling. The next is a math board, "2D Or Not 2D - That is the Question". This board reflected learning about 2D and 3D shapes in Math. It included a booklet students made on 2D and 3D shapes, pattern block construction, using technology, and making 3D shapes such as cubes, triangular and rectangular prisms. "Great Beginnings - Precious, Priceless, and Winsome" was our homage to Kevin Henkes. This showed four different "great beginnings" for a response to literature. Starting with a question, a statement, a quote from the story, or a personal reflection were featured. And finally, our "Work over Time" - "Watch How Time Will Tell". This takes our student, Alexandra, from a Kindergarten month-by-month writing (2007-2008) sample booklet to First Grade (2008-2009). Showcased is a pattern book, personal narrative, report, response to literature, functional piece, and persuasive writing sample. These boards were a window into our classroom. They are now archived and will be looked on to build upon for the classes to come. We'll be taking pictures of our boards from now on -- it was a great idea!!

Men Do Read -- WOW -- What a Week!!

Within one week, we had three guest readers -- all dads -- come to model for our class that everyone loves to read -- even guys. Fireman Chris came back to visit. He read a book about fire safety. He explained the importance of wearing protective gear when on a motorcycle and he also talked about water safety at the beach and pool. Fireman Chris brought in a special visitor, his daughter "S", who will be kindergarten next year.

Next, we had a member of the BUDs club (Brothers, Uncles, and Dads), Jeff W. whose daughter "M" is in our class. Jeff read "Book Fair Day" and a nonfiction fiction book about animals that live in the dark. Ask him about "glow worms" -- he knows all about them!!

Finally, we had our Mystery Reader, Phil A. He surprised our class on Thursday and read a book about "Being Green" and also read some poems to the class. His son "B" is in our class. Then he shared some of his heavy-duty policeman gear with the kids. That was also a special treat!! Wow!! What great role models these men are to our students -- showing them that "Real Men Do Read" -- and love doing it!! Thanks dads!!!

"Magic" Meeting an Author

Luckily, while shopping in Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, we found out that Mary Pope Osborne was coming and let the students and parents know via our weekly newsletter. This afternoon, at Barnes and Noble/Town Center, "C" was able to meet and take a picture with one of our favorite authors Mary Pope Osborne. Her books are truly "magical". We read a chapter a day from "The Magic Tree House" series and the children are transported into history. From dinosaurs to pilgrims to the Civil War to the Titanic, children are traveling with eight year old Jack and his seven year old sister, Annie. It all started one summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, when a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. Jack and Annie climbed into the tree house and found it full of books! They soon discover that the tree house is magic and can take them to the places in the books. All they have to do is to point to a picture and wish to go there. Every day, when we read a chapter aloud, our class is transported with Jack and Annie to faraway places and long ago times!
We know more of our students went to meet her and can't wait to hear how wonderful their adventure was!!

Big Chickens -- Book of the Month

Our book of the month was "Big Chickens" by Leslie Helakoski. It gives a new twist to the old story about a hen house and a furry predator. Four fussy hens are chicken in more ways than one. "When they first spy a wolf, they run off to hide in the woods, but are soon frightened by a ditch, and then by a peaceful-looking group of cows, and on and on, until they end up in a cave, where an encounter with actual danger leaves them feeling brave for the first time." It was a wonderful book that the children loved hearing again and again. Students made paper bag puppets and put together the following play. We hope you enjoy it! Special thanks to Conor - who is reading the book.

Big Chickens Puppet Show

Persuasive Writing: Beach vs. Pool

As we are continuing the unit on "Persuasive Writing" today we read the book, "Should We Have Pets?" by Sylvia Lollis. This book is a collection of persuasive letters written by students persuading others about the pros and cons of having a pet. After each letter was read, students rated it a number 3, 2, or 1 to see if the letter gave enough information or persuaded them one way or another to have a pet or not. This book helped to make clear the idea behind writing persuasively, and the Writer's Workshop lesson unfolded from there. The class wanted to make our own book, as Ms. Lollis' class had done, and we decided to choose, "Is going to the beach better than going to the pool?" Below is a sampling of persuasive letters written that we will go into a class book. Are any of the letters persuading you one way or the other?

April 9, 2009
Have you ever been to a beach? I have. I like it better than a pool cause in the pool there is no sea animals and no big waves. And the beach has shark teeth. The pool, when you stand on a boogie board, you can fall off and crack your head open by the concrete. The beach you don't get hurt and you can surf. The pool has a rule called, "No Boogie Boards." I hope you like the beach better now.

by Chelsea B.
That's a good argument Chelsea. I think I like the beach better.


Another pro beach letter:

April 13, 2009
Dear Anna Grace,
Do you think the pool is better or the beach? Well, I think the beach. Why? Because you can swim farther out than the pool. You also can't ride the waves on you boogie board in the pool! You can also ride the waves and you can find sea shells. In the pool, you can hit your head on the ledge when you jump in. (That's what my dad did once.) You can do the same if you jump close to the steps. Love Julia
P.S. What does Austin like?

You have some good points, Julia. I think you persuaded me to go to the beach!

Spring Has Sprung in Room 104

Today we celebrated Spring with an egg hunt and center activities. After parent volunteers helped hide the eggs on the playground, students were given their curbside posts to wait until the, "Ready, Set, Go" directions were given. After students collected a set number of eggs each, they came back to the classroom to enjoy making some arts and crafts activities. Centers included crafting bunny wind socks, card making, tangram rabbits (the ancient Chinese moving piece puzzle, consisting of 7 geometric shapes), cookie decorating, hard boiled egg decorating, word searches, and Spring book bin reading. It was a festive day in Room 104!

Persuasive Writing Is Alive and Well

For the past two weeks, our class as been learning about and practicing "how to write persuasively." Books such as "Click, Clack, Moo - Cows That Type" was the one of the first books read on this topic. Other books, such as, "I Wanna Iguana" and "With Love, The Little Red Hen" are other books that help children understand this genre of writing. Parents have sent in stationary, stamps, notepads, and envelopes to help kick off this unit on writing letters. A sheet was sent home for parents to write names and addresses of family members or other people that the students would like to write to. Lessons on how to address and where to put the stamp on an envelope were taught. Moreover, lessons on how to write about something that students feel the need to change and persuade others with their reasons to change something is the bigger idea. One student wrote about changing the food in the cafeteria to more chicken. Another student wanted a dog and wrote to his parents about how he will take care of it. And another wrote to the President and asked that no more trees get cut down so the animals will have a place to live. When the children get the chance to write, it is amazing to see how much they really know and want to fix.

Today, each child was given a "Tiny Topics Notepad." During our Writer's Workshop lesson, we traveled the school, inside and out, and wrote notes to ourselves about things we noticed needed to be changed. The students noticed books on the hallway floor, the lost and found that was hidden, the litter on the back playground, and the primary playground didn't have enough grass. All these notes were taken while walking through the school. Tomorrow, students will have the chance to write about one or two of these topics and try to persuade our principal to fix some of these concerns remembering to give good reasons why she should do so. To find out more about this unit, visit, timmonstimes.blogspot.com and you will find some great resources to use at school and at home. Parents, look for your letter to be coming in the mail real soon...don't be surprised if you are persuaded to do something you weren't really planning on...WARNING...start saving for that new pool!!

Kevin Henkes Puppet Show -- Live

We hope you enjoy this Kevin Henkes' Puppet Show debut -- The students shared their retellings with the class and this is a sampling of them. We hope you enjoy it!

Mallard Puppet Theater from Cheryl Dillard on Vimeo.

Our Mystery Reader Reads Gruffalo!

The students were quite surprised today as we were celebrating our second "Mystery Reader." At the stroke of ten, an announcement came over the P.A. system that our "Mystery Reader" has arrived. While she was walking slowly toward the classroom, five clues were given to the class (which were written earlier) and the students made guesses as to who they thought it could be. Clues such as: "I walk my kids to school everyday" and "I enjoy working in the classroom" were given. Well, it wasn't two clues into it when "D" lit up and said that it's his mom! Well our Mystery Reader was his mom and Mrs. G. came in with a wonderful book called, "Gruffalo". Also with her was her daughter "A" who was a former student. "A" worked the puppets as her mom read the book. The book was about a mouse who is taking a stroll through the deep, dark woods when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake. The mouse is good enough to eat but smart enough to know this, he invents . . . the gruffalo! As Mouse explains, "The gruffalo is a creature with terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of its nose. But Mouse has no worry to show. After all, there’s no such thing as a gruffalo. . ." . The student's enjoyed our Mystery Reader's wonderful reading of this book and you know "D" was as happy as could be to have his mom and sister enjoy some time in his classroom. Thank you so much Mrs. G. - Mystery Reader extraordinaire!

Celebrating the Kevin Henkes Unit of Study

"Lilly loved school." Today was a very special day in First Grade. We celebrated Kevin Henkes and the wonderful books we read during our Author Study. Students came to school dressed as their favorite characters. We had Lilly's, Wendell's, Owen's, Wemberly, and a Sheila Rae. During the morning, children went to centers set up in first grade classrooms. They visited the "Light Bulb Lab" to make purple purses and neck ties. They played "Kevin Henkes Jeopardy," where students could answer questions about the books they read. There was a movie staring Owen, Chrysanthemum, and Lilly, and cheesy snacks were served. And they had outside time and played croquet, bubbles, jump ropes, and other fun games. In the afternoon, students made mouse cookies and wrote about their favorite character and book from the author study. In this unit of study, students made text-to-self and text-to-text connections and wrote about these in their Reader's Response Journals. They learned how to compare characters and books. They increased their knowledge in story structure elements practicing characters, setting, problem/solution and main idea. In Writer's Workshop, we created a rubric. Students learned "great beginnings" and how there are so many ways to grab a reader's attention. They practiced retelling the story with important details, and how to end a story telling the reader why they liked the story and if they would recommend it. And finally, for homework, students were invited to make their own puppets and present their interpretation of the book to the class. So much has been learned and so many wonderful memories were made during this author study that we think Lilly, Chrysanthemum, Wendell, Owen, Sheila Rae, and Wemberly will be with the children for a very long time! And how great that will be...

Kevin Henkes Parade of Puppets

One way we are celebrating our Author Study of Kevin Henkes is by retelling a favorite story with puppets. For homework this week, students were invited to make puppets of their favorite Kevin Henkes story. They used socks, sticks, felt, cardboard, computer generated pictures, and paper bags...creativity abounded. The children came in this morning all excited, showing friends their creations and practicing retellings. Some students had to recruit a friend to help in the retelling and the collaborative efforts will be posted in a future blog -- it was wonderful! For now, enjoy the pictures of "The Mall-ards Parade of Puppets" honoring the books of Kevin Henkes.

Response to Literature - Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Kevin Henkes has been our author study for the past few weeks. We have been reading, comparing, discussing, and retelling such works as "Chrysanthemum", "Julius, Baby of the World", and "Shiela Rae the Brave". However, there is one book that stands above the rest in our class, and that is "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse." In Writer's Workshop, students have been discovering great beginnings, retelling the main parts of the story, and finishing with an ending which may include a connection or comment on why they liked the book. This is PM's writing and retelling of Lilly...enjoy!

Vocabulary -- Use it or Lose it - BINGO

Another way that we keep the vocabulary words students learn through our Text Talk series fresh, useful, and exciting is by playing "Vocabulary Bingo." Usually saved for Friday review, and especially if a resource is canceled, it is a wonderful way for children to hear, see, and use the words they have learned over the past few months. The words in this series of cards are from the first half of the year. Through a free "make your own bingo cards" site on line, we added vocabulary words previously studied and made up the cards. The teacher will read the definition and/or use it in a sentence. A student will raise his/her hand with the answer and then the word will be shown on the Elmo (overhead). In this way, first grade students (no matter what reading level) will be able to see the word and mark it with a cube on his/her bingo card. Students love to play bingo, and using vocabulary words keeps the review and the learning ongoing...BINGO anyone?

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse Mystery Reader

To our future mystery readers, it will be hard to top this one. This is a sample of the read aloud done by Mrs.R. (our first mystery reader.) The students thoroughly enjoyed hearing this story done is such a creative way. It was wonderful!

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse - Mystery Reader

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We have been enjoying our second author study of this year -- the works of Kevin Henkes. One of our favorites books thus far is the story of Lilly and her purple, plastic purse. Today, we were visited by our very own Mrs. R. who not only teaches at our school, but her child is in our class. She came in with her "Lilly" cart full of ties (because Mr. Slinger always wore the neatest ties), movie star glasses, purses, and of course "cheesy snacks". Mrs. R. treated the children to a wonderful reading of this classroom favorite. This is the story of Lilly the mouse. She idolizes her teacher Mr. Slinger, but when she comes to school flaunting three jingly quarters, movie-star glasses and a purple plastic purse "that played a jaunty tune when it was opened," she interrupts Mr. Slinger's lessons. After one too many disruptions, he confiscates the purse until the day's end. I think your child could tell you the rest of the story.
We so enjoyed Mrs. R.'s storytelling and props today...oh, did we forget to mention the live mouse...?

Spicing Up Skills Block with R-Controlled Words

After brainstorming r-controlled words today in Skills Block, students were invited to play a game using the these types of words. A wooden block was used as a die. On the "die" was written "ar", "er", "ir", "or", and "ur". A sheet was given to each pair of students with various "r-controlled" words. After a child rolled the die, he/she had to find a word with those two letters, say the word, then cross it out on the sheet. When they had a straight line crossed out (just like Bingo), the game was over and they could play again. This proved to be a wonderful way to review r-controlled words and have great fun at the same time.

Valentine's Day and President's Rolled Into One

This week we decided to join Valentine's Day festivities with President's Day. Because of the huge celebrations around the country for Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday and because we love him so much, we thought to combine the two holidays into one!! Our centers included making "Love Bugs," "Valentine Cards," "Decorating Cupcakes," "Picture Frames," "Penny Necklaces," and "Tri-color Bead Hearts." A "President" book center was awaiting students after the crafts were completed. In Math, we studied the penny -- including the words "In God We Trust" and "One Cent", where to find the date it was minted, and the Lincoln Memorial on the back. Did you know that you can see Lincoln on the back of a penny -- inside the Lincoln Memorial? Well, when you get a brand new penny, find your magnifying glass and look for him!! Each child was given a large chocolate penny to enjoy!! Then during the last part of the day, we sang "Happy Birthday" to President Lincoln and we all shared a piece of his glorious birthday cake!

Abraham Lincoln - 200th Birthday Cards

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We are participating in an Online Project to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Our birthday cards to Mr. Lincoln were mailed today to Springfield, Illinois together with other school's cards across the nation. We thought you would like to see the birthday greetings and celebrate with us.Creative Projects for the PreK-6 Elementary Classroom is hosted by Jennifer Wagner who is the organizer of this event. We enjoyed doing this so much, we can't wait to try more on line projects with her. Our pictures are also at http://www.jenuinetech.com/Projects/lincoln2009/activityone.html at the participant's section. Do you want to know more about the presidents? Then visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/
On Friday, Feb. 13th, we will be celebrating two events: Valentine's Day and Lincoln's birthday. Wait until you see the cake!!

Abraham Lincoln - Happy 200th Birthday!

This year marks the 200th birthday of our 16th president - Abraham Lincoln. The children have been very interested in learning about him. We have been reading books about his youth (he had one year of schooling), he loved to read (he would read while plowing a field), and his hat had a purpose (he would keep his important papers in it.) All of these stories add to the children's new found interest in this great man. We have signed up for an online project, together with many other schools across our nation. Today, the children made birthday cards for Mr. Lincoln. The cards will be mailed to Springfield, Illinois on Friday, to be exhibited with other cards from students around the country. A slide show of the cards will soon be published. The book, "Abe Lincoln and the Muddy Pig" by Stephen Krensky is a true story about young Mr. Lincoln. He put on his first brand new suit and was on his way to give an important speech. Abe came across a pig stuck in the mud. He tried to keep walking but felt so bad for the pig, he turned back to help it. Of course, the pig didn't know he was trying to help and kicked up a fuss. Both the pig and Abe were covered in mud. He did save the pig and gave the speech. His words were so moving that the audience didn't notice the dirty suit...and the pig is said to have shown up too! These kinds of stories have endeared this man to our students and they are having a wonderful time learning about him. Tomorrow...who or what influenced Mr. Lincoln to grow a beard?

It's Sleepover Day -- Finally!!

On Friday, we celebrated the annual First Grade Sleepover. The excitement was almost too much to contain. Children were running around in their pajamas and carrying their homemade bears, flashlights, and in some cases, night shades. The day started with a parade around the inside of the school, with lights out and flashlights on. Everyone sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Students from other grades lined the halls to watch this tradition. (Earlier in the week, a former student, Kayla, came to our classroom with her bear from a few years ago and told of the great time she had at her sleepover. She answered student's questions and told them of all the fun they were going to have.)
After the parade, we went to the cafeteria to have a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Mrs. Phillips kicked off the fun with the "Hokie Pokie" and "The Chicken Dance." The day was filled with activities directed by our resource team. The P.E. coaches had outside games planned, the music teacher taught square dancing, and the art teachers showed the students how to make book covers to contain the story they are going to write about this day. In the afternoon, Miss KK presented a shadow play of "Ira Sleeps Over" and it was dancing and popcorn after that! When the children finally arrived back in our classroom at the end of the day, a sleepover cake made by one of our parents was cut and distributed. It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful day!