The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Pets

We recently read The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Pets to practice retelling stories including the beginning, middle, and end. The students retold the story on a three-flap foldable and then illustrated each part.

The Love of Reading!

Each week our class visits the library. After the students check out their books, they sit down to read quietly while the other students finish up. I love how excited they are to read new books. This picture is too cute not to share.

Our Buckets Are Running Over!

As a part of Capturing Kids' Hearts, we have affirmation buckets in our class. When students finish work early or during our Guided Reading/Daily Five time, the students can write one another positive notes. Right now we are working on using the phrase "I like the way you..." to start the affirmations which leads them to be specific in their compliments. As you can see, writing affirmations has really caught on. These are just from one day!

Skip Counting Puzzles

The students worked in small groups to put number cards in order following the skip counting rules of 2s, 5, and 10s. After putting them in order, they wrote the patterns down on sentence strips. They then took the sentence strips back to their tables and covered three of the numbers up with Post-It notes to create skip counting puzzles. The students then took turns solving one anothers' puzzles to find the missing numbers in the patterns.

Comparing Numbers to 50

In math we have been learning to compare and order numbers to 50. One way that we have been practicing is to use our Promethean Board to build numbers with Base Ten Blocks. The students take turns building the numbers and counting them. They then use text boxes to put the numbers in order from greatest to least and least to greatest.

Ch-Ch-Chocolate Chip Cookies!

To help the students learn about the purpose of informational versus entertainment texts and to make a real world connection to the digraph /ch/, all of the first grade teachers and classes joined together to make chocolate chip cookies. We read the recipe, in both English and Spanish to the students. As we read, the students took turns following the steps. As we made the cookies we discussed that recipes are meant to inform or teach you something. Then while the cookies baked, we read The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins and Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar by Viviana Garofoli. As we read these books we discussed their purpose: entertainment. And, of course, the students then enjoyed eating the cookies.

 

 

Red Ribbon Week: Drugs Won't Drive Us Batty

Below is our class poster for Red Ribbon Week. The bat with their names was created using Tagxedo and our poster maker. Using our Promethean Board, I taught the students how to draw a bat one step at a time. The students added their bats to the poster. As they worked on their bats we talked about the word "batty" and how it can mean "crazy." We discussed, in basic first grade terms, that it is important to stay away from drugs because they can drive you "batty."

Apple Writing

Using our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote to describe apples. They brainstormed descriptive words on a Circle Map, transferred them to a Tree Map, and then used the Tree Map to write sentences.

Bat Writing

Using our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote to describe a bat. They brainstormed their ideas on a Circle Map and then transferred those ideas to a Tree Map in logical order. The Tree Map was then used to write sentences. After editing and writing a final draft, we had a lesson on how to draw a bat. The students had to listen and follow multi-step directions in order to complete the drawing and I think they did a fantastic job.

Additive Patterns

The students practiced creating additive patterns with pattern blocks. After creating several, they chose their favorite to recreate on a sentence strip with paper pattern blocks. I am so thankful to have parent volunteers who cut out all of the paper pattern blocks we needed for our pattern lessons.

M&M Patterns

To reinforce repeating patterns and additive patterns, the students worked in cooperative groups to create patterns with paper M&M manipulatives. They used popsicle sticks to divide the repeating parts. After creating their patterns the students went on a gallery walk to practice labeling the patterns with letters. Next I gave the students only one color of M&M manipulatives. I asked them again to create a pattern. Previous students have been stumped by this challenge but not this group. They immediatley knew that they had to make positional patterns. I attribute this to the amazing quality of teaching we have in our Kindergarten. And, the kids are smart! Some of the groups chose to keep the patterns in a row but turning the M to various positions while other groups chose to move the M&Ms up and down to create a pattern. And of course, hard work deserves a reward. So, the students had the opportunity to build a variety of patterns with real M&Ms and then eat them.

 

 

Pumpkin Writing

Using our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote to describe pumpkins. They first created a Circle Map followed by a Tree Map to describe what a pumpkin has, looks like, and what it can do. Each Thursday we have Guided Writing instead of Guided Reading. The students work on their writing Monday through Wednesday and on Thursday they bring it to me for editing. I work with the students to edit their work by asking them questions such as "What goes at the beginning of a sentence?" or "What goes at the end of a complete sentence?" We also discuss strategies of sounding out words to spell unknown words. After we edit together, the students rewrite their sentences for a final draft. The students wrote their final draft this time on pumpkin paper and colored it.

Repeating Pattern Posters

The students used paper pattern blocks to create repeating patterns using pattern cards written in letter form. They glued the pattern blocks and letter cards on construction paper. The pattern posters are currently on display in our hallway but will soon be bound into a book. The students will be able to use the book to recreate patterns and practice identifying the pattern core. It is amazing to see how many different patterns they were able to create using the same basic letter cards.

The Shape of Things

We recently read The Shape of Things to review shapes. After reading, the students were given a 2D shape and asked to turn that shape into a picture, like the examples in the book. The students then wrote sentences (with my help on the typing) about their pictures following the format of the book. Their work will be bound together as a classroom book. The students love reading what their friends write.