The Shape of Things

Last week we read The Shape of Things during our study of two-dimensional shapes. To help the students realize that shapes make up our world, they created pictures based off of either a circle or a square rectangle. They are amazing! Their pictures are currently on display in the hallway but will soon be put together as a class book for our class library.

Complete the Pattern

This week we have been working on identifying, creating, and extending repeating and additive patterns. To help them with this skill, you can have your child play this fun pattern game! The students identify what comes next in the color patterns. As your child plays, ask them what the pattern core is - the part that repeats. Also ask them to label the pattern verbally using letters.

Toothpick and Marshmallow Shapes

This post is an updated version of something I wrote earlier in the week. I must have been tired when I wrote it because I indicated that we used pretzels instead of toothpicks for our shape lesson - although that would have been a great idea as well! I'll have to remember it for next year. Although it was a minor detail, I thought I'd update:

To help the students recognize the number of vertices and sides each two-dimensional shape has, they created models of the shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows. The toothpicks help them visualize the sides and the marshmallows visualize the vertices. In case you wonder why the marshmallows look so strange, it is because the melted...but it was still fun!

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Shape Pets

Since we were studying about both pets and shapes last week, we decided to make shape pets. The students chose from a variety of shapes which they put together to make a shape pet. They then wrote about their pet using our writing program, Write From the Beginning. We are currently working on the Observational Comment Writing level so the students had a concrete object to write about. It was a fun way to combine art, math, and writing! Click below to see all of their shape pets.

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Pet Day - Short E

As we studied short /e/, the students were invited to bring in a picture of their pet. Each week we are trying to have a special phonics focus event on Friday to help the students have an engaging and personal connection the phonics sound. A few students did bring in their pictures but most of the class does not yet have a pet. So, we discussed what pets we would like to have. Below is a picture of one of the students sharing his pet picture.

Shapes All Around Us

As we studied 2D shapes, we created a class grid to compare and contrast the attributes of the shapes. The students are expected to know how many sides and vertices each shape has as well as identify how the shapes are the same and different. After comparing the shapes, the students worked in small groups to illustrate real-life objects that are the same shape as their assigned shape - either a triangle, circle, square, or square rectangle. Each group then presented their posters to the class and became the "experts" who reviewed the class on how many sides and vertices their specific shape had.

Shape Spotters

As a quick review of 2D shapes, we played a game of shape spotters. The students raced around the room finding various shapes to identify and point out. Click below to watch a short slideshow of some of their favorite shapes.

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Marley Goes to School

This year I have been blessed with an amazing student intern, Ms. Dix, from Dallas Baptist University. Ms. Dix visits and assists in our class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last week our thematic unit was over pets and we are working on retelling stories including the beginning, middle, and end. Ms. Dix taught a very engaging lesson over the book Marley Goes to School by John Grogan. After reading the story to the students, she had three volunteers hold up sentence strips with the beginning, middle, and end prewritten on them. The students then had to decide in what order to put the sentence strips. The students then verbally retold the story. After verbally retelling, they went back to their seats to make a foldable on which they wrote the beginning, middle, and end of the story in their own words. Ms. Dix provided the sentence strips as extra support for the students. I wish I had pictures of the students at work but I was happily videoing the lesson for Ms. Dix. Below are a few pictures of their finished products. Great job to both the students and Ms. Dix on an awesome lesson!

Shape Sorting

To help students recognize the unique attributes of 2D shapes, they worked in small groups to sort various shapes in examples and non-examples. Sorting this way helps students justify why they made their sorting choices and teaches them to use content specific vocabulary to defend their choices. For example, as I walked around monitoring the students' sorting, the students would tell me that they knew which were triangles because it had three sides and three vertices and the other shapes (such as diamonds, rectangles, etc.) did not. We continued this process through several shape sorts.

Physical Properties

In science we have been learning about how to sort objects according to their physical properties: size, shape, color, and texture. We visited the science lab to first discuss safety rules and then practiced sorting according to properties. We read the book Officer Buckle and Gloria to help us brainstorm ways to stay safe in the science lab. The students then rotated through stations to sort. Watch the quick slideshow below to see different ways the students sorted their objects. The students used their knowledge to create properties Bubble Maps about various objects.

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Hot Dog Day - Short O

When our phonics focus was "short o", we practiced this sound by reading the poem "Hot Dogs." The students also sorted words in various "short o" word families such as /op/, /og/, and /ot/. To help them remember the "short o" sound, we had a special "Hot Dog Day." The students dressed up in red for ketchup or yellow for mustard. We even had a few white and purple onions in the mix. Some classes had students dress in green like relish. The students created hot dog hats on which they wrote /ot/ and /og/ words. They were then treated to a special hot dog snack at the end of the day. Thank you to the parents who provided hotdogs for the special treat. Click below to enjoy a quick slideshow of our fun day!

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Family Day - Short A

As a part of our phonics study, we have special phonics days on most Fridays. As we studied 'short a' the students practiced reading and spelling word families such as /am/, /ad/, /at/, and /an/. To help them remember the sounds, we had a special "fam" day. The students brought in pictures or drew pictures of their family members to share with the class.

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Garden Graphs

As a review of graphing, the students created a table to record data about how many plants of certain colors we would like to plant in a garden. The students were given the information verbally in which they had to put into a table using tally marks. The students then transferred the data onto a bar graph.

Family Graphs

In math the students have been learning to create and read tables and graphs. We have been learning about three types of graphs: real-object graphs, picture graphs, and bar graphs. To assess their learning, the students created a table on a foldable about their families. They tallied how many boys, girls, and pets are in their families. They then transferred the information from the table to a bar graph.

Lisa's Daddy and Daughter Day

This week we read Lisa's Daddy and Daughter Day by Eloise Greenfield. Before reading, the students made predictions about what would happen in the story based on just the title and the cover picture. The students predicted that they would be going swimming based on the picture because it appears that she is in a swimsuit and by the water. As they continued to take a picture walk through the book, they changed their prediction because they saw she was not in a swimsuit but rather a tank top and by a park and river. They then predicted that she was looking at boats and airplanes because both were present in the pictures. They then changed their prediction again, as we looked at the pictures, because the last picture shows Lisa looking up. They decided that it meant she was watching the planes  because she was looking up. After making predictions and changing them as we looked at pictures, we talked about confirming and changing predictions based on the clues in pictures. We then read the book and created a class Flow Map of the events in the story. The students then created a three part foldable to write the beginning, middle, and end of the story in their own words.

A Visit From Aunt Rose

As a part of our weekly theme "family fun", we read A Visit From Aunt Rose by Patsy Becvar. On the first day that we read the story, the students made a prediction about what would happen using on the pictures. After reading, they practiced retelling the story in our own words to a partner. On the second day that we read the book, we created a Flow Map together to retell the events of the story. The students then were divided into small groups and assigned part of the story. Using the class Flow Map to help them, the students wrote and illustrated about their part of the story. They then shared their sentences and pictures with the class and we put them in order of the events in the story.

All I Am

A few weeks ago we read All I Am by Eileen Roe to learn about nouns and verbs. After reading the book we created a t-chart of the things that were nouns and the things that were verbs. The students then created a foldable to write and draw two things that they can be. We then practiced the verbs by acting out things they can do through the game "Monkey See, Monkey Do."

Classroom Helpers

To help the students learn responsibility, we have classroom jobs. The classroom jobs range from being the trash helper (taking out the recycling and checking the floor for scraps), door helper, light monitor, materials manager, teacher helper, computer helper, library helper, cd helper, calendar helper (lead and teach calendar during math with support of teacher), and substitute helper (helps with a job if the assigned student is absent). The helper jobs change each day so the students learn a variety of life skills as they help their classroom community.

Calendar Math

Each day a student is given the classroom job of being the calendar helper. The calendar helper is responsible for teaching their classmates, with the teacher's assistance as needed, calendar for the day. The first few weeks of school I modeled asking questions about the calendar such as "What is today's day of the week? What was yesterday? If today is Thursday, what will tomorrow be?", etc. The students now ask those questions of their classmates and then move the calendar pieces to reflect the answers. Before moving the calendar, the calendar asks the class "Is it correct?" and the rest of the class gives a thumbs up or thumbs down as feedback. We do this to practice constructive feedback. At the end of the calendar lesson, the calendar helper calls on one student to give a rating (a number from 1-5) to give feedback on how they did. If the rater gives less than a five, they have to provide constructive feedback on what can be improved. We do this to learn how to accept feedback without getting upset. The calendar helper then calls on at least three people to be affirmers. Affirmers give the calendar helper one specific compliment about something they did well during the lesson. Raters and Affirmers is a part of our school's discipline and guidance plan through Capturing Kids' Hearts.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

A few weeks ago we were reading various stories about school. One of the books we read was Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes - one of my favorites! As a part of the lessons, we talked about how Chrysanthemum was feeling and made connections to how we were feeling about starting school. We then extended the lesson by counting the letters in our names, just as Chrysanthemum's classmates do in the book, and compared how long our names are to hers. We then created a bar-type graph to record our findings. The students then created art with their names by coloring patterns on bubble letters. After they were completed, the students read the names as a group and clapped out the syllables. We then sorted the names according to the number of syllables in the names to create a real-object graph. Their artwork was then added to our classroom helper area as a name word wall.

Thank You!

Thank you to Lori at Bee the Change for passing on the Versatile Blogger Award to me. It is very nice to have fellow teachers share their ideas with me and I hope that my blog provides a variety of ideas for both my colleagues and parents of sweet little first graders! If you get a chance, check out Lori's blog!

Never Eat Sour Watermelons

This week in Social Studies we have been learning about map skills and directional words. To help the students remember the order of the directions, we learned the silly phrase "Never eat sour watermelons!" This helps the students remember north, south, east, and west. We discussed how north should be on the top of a map. We then played "Simon Says" in our classroom using directional words. The students then drew a map of our classroom showing where objects are located related to which wall they are closest to. To extend the learning, the students identified various rooms in our school on a blueprint of the school. They identified where the gym, the music room, the art room, the cafeteria, library, computer lab, the playground, the office, and our classroom are. They then color-coded them on their own copy of the school blueprint according to which part of the school they are in - the north, sount, east, or west. Tomorrow they will use their maps to go on a walk to find rooms around the school.

Comparing Fairy Tales

Today we compared Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella to discuss how fairy tales typically begin with the phrase "once upon a time" or "long, long ago." We used the online media stories for both which the students found very engaging. After hearing both of the stories, the students identified the characters - including the heros and the villains. They discussed that fairy tales usually have heros and villains and have to overcome a problem. To help them visualize their comparisons, we created a Double Bubble Map.