An Early "Happy Thanksgiving!"

With just two days left in the school week before our amazing holiday break, we want to wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving! The artwork that they are holding is the traditional handprint turkey with the poem "Handy Turkey."

Free slideshow customized with Smilebox

Pilgrims and Native Americans

To help the students learn about Thanksgiving and the relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we visited the Scholastic website. The website is filled with various articles and interactives for the students to explore and learn from. We then used Deanna Jump's Thanksgiving Unit to compare and contrast Pilgrims and Native Americans. The students placed sentences on a hula hoop Venn Diagram with whoever it identified. They then used the Venn Diagram to help them create a t-chart and write comparative sentences.

Thanksgiving Alliterations

This week we are learning about the different elements of poetry. To help them, we read a Thanksgiving alliteration and then they created their own. They first created three Circle Maps - one for the letter P (Pilgrims), one for the letter N (Native Americans), and one for the letter T (Thanksgiving). They then brainstormed words that they thought related to Thanksgiving and started with one of those letters. They then brainstormed alliteration sentences for each letter. Although the activity was pretty challenging for the students, I think they did a great job!

Humpty Dumpty Podcast

This is from about a month back but it is too cute not to share. When we were studying Nursery Rhymes, the students recorded themselves reading "Humpty Dumpty". We use Audacity recording software to record the readings and then I upload the to our podcasting site hosted by PodBean. You can visit the PodBean site to download the files to your computer, smart phones, or MP3 players.

Miss Mary Mack Podcast

This week we are learning about the different elements of poetry. Yesterday we read "Miss Mary Mack" to identify examples of alliterations and rhymes in a poem. You can listen to a recording of their reading visiting our podcasting site. The students recorded their reading using Audacity software which can be downloaded for FREE.

Phonics Focus: Sports Pennants

Last week we were studying various sounds including /sl/, /sp/, and /st/. We also were having "college week" in our district. So, the students created sports pennants to help them remember the sound for /sp/.

Comparing and Contrasting Stories

Last week our weekly theme was sports. As a part of our lessons, we read Maria Joins the Team and Carlos Joins the Team from Reading A-Z. The main purpose of the lesson was to have the students retell the story and answer multiple choice questions about the text in order to teach them the strategy of "looking back" and to assess their comprehension. The reason I chose these books is because they are the same story but with slight changes. After reading the first story, the students retold the story to friends and then answered questions about the text. Then we read the second story. As we read, the students began to have that "light bulb" moment when they make connections or notice something unique. They quickly realized the stories were the same. To help them express their thoughts, we created a class Double Bubble Map to compare and contrast the stories. Fellow teachers, Reading A-Z has many different leveled readers that can be used for this purpose.

Tasty Soil

To help the students remember the different types of soil - topsoil, sand, and clay - the students created a snack of dirt! They started by crushing graham crackers in baggies followed by Oreos. Of course they had to lick out the filling of the Oreos before crushing them. The graham crackers represented sand, the Oreos represented topsoil, and then they used chocolate pudding to represent clay. They layered all of the ingredients in a clear cup and added sour worms to the top. Yum! Thank you to all of the parents who supplied the ingredients for this tasty lesson!

Soil Demonstration

My teammate, Mrs. Timms, did a demonstration for all of first grade last week over the attributes of soil. She started with an empty container and asked the students what was in it. At first they said "nothing" but then some said "air." She then added large balls and then marbles to demonstrate that there are large and small particles in soil. She then asked what was between the particles and the students said "space" and "gaps." She explained that was still air in the gaps. She explained that this could also be called "pores" in soil. She then had the students make predictions about what it would look like if she added water to the container. After the predictions, she added the water and discussed how the water fills the gaps where the air had been.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

A few weeks ago, as a part of our study of fables, we read The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The students then created foldables to retell the beginning, middle, and end. They wrote their sentences underneath the flaps and then illustrated that part of the story on top of the flap. The students now independently create foldables like this during Reading Workshop over their guided reading books.

Dice Domes: Fact Families Practice

While shopping at Mardel the other day (seems to be an almost weekly stop), I found a great addition and subtraction resource - Dice Domes. The domes have two soft number dice along with another dice filled with plus and minus signs. The students shake the domes and then practice adding or subtracting the numbers. Because the dice are soft, they are great for math stations, which I call math tubbing. To help the students add and subtract the numbers, I gave each student a part-part-whole mat. But, not just any part-part-whole mat! We used Hefty's Zoo Pal plates which can be found at most grocery stores such as Wal-Mart. The students worked in small groups to shake the Dice Domes and model the addition or subtraction problem on their part-part-whole mat with beans. As they played, I walked around and asked them what other number sentences they could come up with based off their dice. We reviewed that in addition you have to start with the two smallest numbers, the parts, and in subtraction you start with the largest number, the whole. The students seemed to love it! On a side note, although the Dice Domes were not too expensive, my teammates and I brainstormed that we could easily make more with plastic baby food containers and dice. To make the dice with the plus and minus signs, we thought using corrective tape on regular dice to write the symbols on.

Fact Family Practice Online

EZSchool has a free fact family game online that students use to build four related addition and subtraction problems. The game gives the players three numbers and the students click on them to put them in the correct order in a number sentence. Parents, you can help your children while they play by remind them that in addition you start with the two smallest numbers and in subtraction you start with the largest number. Then remind the students that in fact families, the two smallest numbers switch places. Or, as we call it in our class, the two smallest numbers "flip flop."

College Week

In our district, this week has been designated as "College Week." Our counselor has set up many great activities for the students this week including the staff dressing up in caps and gowns, teachers sharing diplomas, and the students dressing in their favorite college shirts and colors. We also discussed the importance of college in each our classes. To help the students set a goal, we created a grade-level banner to show what year the students would graduate from high school and be able to go to college. The students each put their handprints on the banner. We hung the banner in our hallway as a reminder of the importance of staying in school, graduating, and going to college. Additionally, after discussing all of the careers and jobs that require a college degree, the students wrote about why they wanted to go to college and what they want to be when they grow up. We hung these up on our classroom door along with a pennant from my favorite college, The University of Texas at Arlington. Go Mavericks!

Soil Observations

In science this week we are learning about the different types of soils, their properties, and how they are used. To compare and contrast the different types of soils, the students examined samples with three of their senses: by looking, touching, and smelling. They then recorded their observations on a grid that included what color the soil is, what it smells like, how if feels, what can be found in it, and what you could use it for.

Number of Days in School

Each day during calendar we count the number of days we have been in school. We first count them using straws in a place value pocket chart like this one. We then turn the number over on the Hundreds Chart. Prior to turning over the number, the calendar helper asks their classmates to identify what number will come next and to make a prediction about its color pattern. Our numbers alternate in an AB color pattern. The students also identify if the number is even or odd. Following this, the students add a dot sticker to our Today's Number chart. The number chart is made of ten frames. The students add the dots one day at a time in a color pattern. This not only helps with patterns, but allows the ten frames to be skip counted by fives in addition to being counted by tens. After adding the dot sticker, the students count the number first by tens and ones. They then count the number again but this time they count by fives and ones. To help the students recognize when to break the counting pattern, they clap each time there is an incomplete row on a ten frame. This signals to them they need to start counting by ones. After counting the number several ways, they identify how many tens and ones are in the day's number and then write down the information along with its expanded notation.

Dominoes Doubles Snack Style Recording Sheet

Thank you to Carrie at A First Grade Teachers Passions and Obsessions for creating a recording sheet to go along with our Dominoes Doubles Snack lesson. If you haven't had a chance to check out her blog, go do so! It is great! You can view a slideshow of my students creating their Dominoes Doubles here.

Doubles Dominoes - Snack Style

My teammate, Mrs. Timms, had an excellent idea of how to get the students to visualize addition doubles. We use dominoes as manipulatives to teach doubles so she extended this by suggesting we create edible dominoes with graham crackers, white icing, and chocolate chips. We started by adding one chocolate chip on each side to model 1+1= 2. We then added another chocolate chip to each side to model 2+2=4. We continued until we had modeled 9+9=18. Of course, after modeling the doubles, the students ate them! Below are two close-ups of the edible dominoes along with a slideshow of the students making them.

This photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

The Nature Center

Yesterday our class visited our district's Nature Center. The students rotated through various learning areas including the pond, the vegetable gardens, the walking trails, and the picnic area. At the pond, the students identified living and non-living objects. The pond has been recently updated to include two ponds that feed into one another thanks to a grant. In the garden, we read Eating the Alphabet and then the students wrote down as many vegetables and plants they could find for each letter of the alphabet. Following the gardens, we went on a listening walk down by the creek. The students identified different objects in nature using four of their five senses - sight, sound, touch, and smell. Last, the students explored nature through the lens of a magnifying glass. They compared how objects look with normal vision and then under the magnifying glass.

Free picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Conceptual Sorting

Last week we worked on sorting words into conceptual groups. One of the sorts we did was to identify living and non-living things. This was an extension of a lesson we did at the Nature Center pond. We made a t-chart with two smaller t-charts on it. The students first read the card, decided if it was living or non-living, and then decided if it was singular or plural. After sorting all of the cards, the students identified how to make the word singular or plural, whatever was needed, and we added it to the chart. We then discussed how to make a word a plural.

PTA Pumpkin Decorating Contest Winner

Look who won first place for first grade in PTA's pumpkin decorating contest! We are so proud of you!