Dory Story: An Ocean Food Chain

As an integrated language arts and science lesson, we read Dory Story by Jerry Pallota. Dory Story is about the adventure of a little boy who gets lost at sea in his dory. On his adventure, he learns all about the ocean's food chain. After reading, the students retold the adventures of the little boy by writing the food chain from the story on a Flow Map. They then illustrated their favorite part of the story. If you get a chance, ask your students how the story ended....they were quite surprised!

Math About Me!

My teammate, Mrs. Linnabary, created a great lesson to get the students thinking about how they use numbers, both big and small, in their everyday lives. They created a poster all about themselves using only numbers. They wrote their house number, their birthday in number form, their age and ways to add it, their favorite number, and how many people are in their family.

You're Invited: Open House

Open House will be tomorrow night from 6:30PM to 8:00PM. It will be a great opportunity for you to see what your child has been learning throughout the year and get a personalized tour from your child of their classroom environment. The students have been working especially hard over the last several weeks on ocean research and would love to share with you what they have learned and created. We hope to see you there! If you are not able to come, don't worry - I will be posting several blog posts in the next day or so with the student work.

Macaroni Graphing

After practicing our three types of graphs (real object, picture, and bar graphs) with apples, the students created their own graphs using macaroni. They then answered questions about their graphs.

Make a photo album

Apple Graphing

Last week we were learning about three types of graphs: real object graphs, picture graphs, and bar graphs. The students worked together to create the three types of graphs about their favorite type of apples. They then answered questions based on the graphs.

Lucky Lily

We read a short story "Lucky Lily" this week about a rat who was lucky to escape a cat, find cheese in a window sill, and then be able to watch the moon and stars. After reading, the students made connections by writing about a time that they felt lucky.

One Giant Leap: A Story of Neil Armstrong

As a part of our study of day and night and space, we read "One Giant Leap: A Story of Neil Armstrong." After reading the biography, we watched the video of his actual landing on the moon through TeacherTube. The students were amazed to see this part of our country's history. The students then made connections to what they read and watched by writing if they would or would not want to go to the moon.

Constellations

As a part of our study of night and day, the students studied stars and the moon. After learning and brainstorming about stars, the students viewed real life examples of constellations via the internet and then created their own with star stickers.

How Much Is It Worth?

Stylish Blogger Award

Thank you to Mrs. Johnson at Wild About Kindergarten, Mrs. Adcock at The Joy of First Grade, and Miss Griffin at Fantastic First for awarding my site the Stylish Blogger Award!

Here are the rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

7 things about yours truly:

1. I grew up in a very small North Texas town, Nocona. I am a proud product of their public education system.
2. I moved to Arlington, Texas to attend The University of Texas in Arlington where I earned a degree in English and Sociology. Go Mavericks!

3. This is my third year teaching first grade. I was honored this year to be chosen to represent my school as Teacher of the Year!

4. Prior to teaching first grade I worked in a faith-based early childhood center and then as an administrator in Montessori education.

5. I am an organizational crazy woman when it comes to work and my classroom but could care less about organizing at home.

6. In my free time (what little there is, ha!) I enjoy reading James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks books. I also enjoy watching all of the Real Housewives t.v. shows...gives me brainless relaxation time!

7. I'm addicted to blogging!

5 Stylish Bloggers

1. Not Just Child's Play: Teaching Gifted First Graders

2. The Inspired Apple

3. The First Grade Sweet Life

4. Mrs. Patton's Patch

5. First Grade Best

Math in Review

To prepare for our end of six weeks math exam which is this week, the students have been working in rotating math stations. They have been practing ordering larger numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least, creating and extending patterns with a variety of materials, and identifying and solving addition and subtraction problems through the use of Doubles and Doubles Plus One.

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Doubles and Doubles+1 Sort

Last week in computer lab the students created a t-chart using Pixie 2 as a way to sort Doubles and their related Doubles+1 addition facts. They modeled the addition facts using dominoes which they then labeled. We first did the lesson as a group using the school's new Promethean Board. The students then completed the work independently at their student stations.

Making Words

We use a word activity in class called Making Words by Patricia Cunningham. In this activity the students use a set group of letters to brainstorm and build various words. The set of letters when put all together make a mystery word. Usually the students cut out letters to manipulate but occassionally we do a quick version on the board if we only have a few minutes of time. I write a set of letters on the board and have the students brainstorm as many words as they can. Parents, this would be a great activity for your child to do on a piece of paper in the car for those long road trips or when you are waiting at the doctor, etc.

Doubles' Neighbor: Doubles Plus One

Last week we reviewed Doubles Plus One by creating Double and Doubles Plus One neighborhood houses. We talked about how if you learn a Double, you can learn a Double Plus One because one addend goes up by one therefore the sum goes up by one. The students were able to see that the two addends were numbers that are next to one another on a numberline - they were neighbors. The students then worked in groups to complete fact families for Doubles and their Doubles Plus One neighbor. As we discussed their fact families they noticed that Doubles Plus One have more number sentences than Doubles, that Doubles are always even because since the numbers are equal they each have a partner, and that Doubles Plus One are always odd because there is always one too many. You can read their reflections on Doubles and Doubles Plus One at their student blog.

Measuring Up!

The students experimented with measurement last week. First they made predictions about who had the longest or shortest ribbon just by viewing them with their eyes. We talked about comparing length and decided the best way to be sure which was the longest or shortest would be to measure them. I asked the students if it would be fair to measure the winner of a race if one person got to start in the middle and the rest had to start in the back. Of course they said it would be unfair. I then explained that it was the same with measurement - you have to start at the end. You also have to start with the same units of measurement. The students then measure craft sticks using Lima beans and pop cubes. We discussed that if you measure with a smaller unit of measurement it will take more units than if you measured with a larger unit of measurement. The students then chose three items from around the room that they measured independently with pop cubes.

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Gardening Lesson

The students had an exciting, hands-on science lesson last week from our Literacy Strategist, Mrs. Reed. They got to plant potatoes and onions! Mrs. Reed read the students a story about potatoes and then they created charts about the parts of potatoes, how to plant and take care of them, and ways they like to eat them. They then went outside to one of the plant beds and took turns planting rows of onions and potatoes. Mrs. Reed also included a great mini-lesson on measurement and skip counting as she taught the students how to space the vegetables properly. We can't wait for our big garden to be completed!

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KidBlog

Our class recently started their own blog site through http://www.kidblog.org/. You can visit our class site here. Each student has a password to log in which has already been sent home. If you would like another copy, please let me know. The students have already written about 40 blog entries in one week. We are using the site as a place to journal personal narratives, to write critically about recently taught concepts, and to write affirmations to one another. Writing affirmations is a part of the Capruring Kids' Hearts program we use district wide. Parents, feel free to leave your child comments in their blog entries; please leave your name if you do. The comments are moderated before posting so you may not see it appear immediately. I encourage you to let your child blog at home through this site as it helps with their writing and spelling as well as giving them an opportunity to show what they know.