My Elf Self

The students created an elf on Monday using the pattern from Deanna Jump's Polar Express unit. Fellow teachers, if you have not seen it, you should check it out! I then took a black and white photo of the students and cut out their face. The students then wrote about what their elf looks like, what he or she is wearing, and what he or she can do using our Write From the Beginning strategies. They turned out really adorable!

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Holidays Around the World: Germany

As a part of our unit on holidays around the world, we read and then sang "O Christmas Tree" with the book version by Debbie Trafton O'Neal and read The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Pat Matuszak. We discussed the how the tradition of the Christmas tree began and how the tradition of using candles at Christmas time began. The students then created their own tree out of hearts (we reviewed number patterns as we created them - the numbers decreased by one with each layer). The students then added a heart and yellow hole punches to decorate their tree. They then drew lines under the yellow hole punches to turn them into candles to symbolizes that candles were once placed on Christmas trees in Germany.

Holidays Around The World: Mexico

As a part of our Social Studies unit on holidays around the world, we read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola. We talked about how poinsettias are thought to have first appeared when a child, having nothing else to offer, left green weeds at the nativity which then turned red. The students then created poinsettias of their own. (Fellow teachers, I did not take a picture of these but we just layered the a five-pointed flower shape three times - twice in red and once in green. We then added yellow hole punches to the center.)

To Make the Grinch Smile...

This is an idea that I got from Deanna Jump. In her Grinch Unit, she has several activities based off of the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This book goes perfectly with our character trait lessons. As we read, we stopped to talk about how the Grinch was acting and why he was acting that way. We also discussed how his character changed over time. Following our character trait lesson, the students created their own Grinch and then wrote about how they would make the Grinch smile.

It's Christmas, David!

Today we read It's Christmas, David! by David Shannon to discuss character traits. After reading and discussing David's behavior in the story, we created a class Story Elements Map to define the characters, setting, problem, and solution. The students then answered questions about David's character on a graphic organizer of a boy. The students wrote about what David looks like, how he acts, and what they would do if they were him. They then colored the template to look like David. (Fellow teachers, I do not have an electronic copy of this template because I received it from a former student intern. I love when the interns bring new and exciting things into the classroom!)

Fact Family Wreaths

To help the students understand related addition and subtraction problems, or fact families, they created Fact Family Wreaths with paper pattern blocks. The students chose between two different wreath patterns. These wreath patterns can be downloaded here from PreKinder and the pattern block templates can be downloaded here. After creating their wreath, they cut them out and glued them on the recording sheet. Teachers, you can download the recording sheet here for FREE. The students had to count how many green and red pattern blocks were needed to make their wreaths and then write the related math facts. We discussed how the wreaths with mostly green had to use more pattern blocks because they cover less area. Teachers, this is a great way to frontload the concept of measuring area. We also discussed that it takes three of the pattern blocks to make one red pattern block. Again, this is a good way to frontload a math concept - this time fractions.

Reindeer Application Placemats

The students filled out reindeer applications today in writing. I got the application from The First Grade Teaching blog. As the students filled out their job applications we talked about appropriate behavior and what makes a good employee. I connected this characteristics back to our class Social Contract. After completing the application, the students glued them on half of a large piece of construction paper. On the other side of the mat, they glued down a picture of themselves that I had taken and printed the day before. They then traced their hands on brown paper for the antlers. With paint, they added a red thumprint nose. We will be using these as our placemats at our festive holiday party on Friday.

Holly Wreath Puzzle Ornaments

Each year the first grade students make these adorable Holly Wreath ornaments out of puzzle pieces. This idea came from a former teammate and one of my mentor teachers, Mrs. Randall. Thankfully I had a wonderful parent (who also happens to be a co-worker) who volunteered to spray paint thousands of puzzle pieces. The students glue them down on a posterboard circle in two layers. We then add a school picture and Holly Berries with puff paint. I hot glue a ribbon on after they dry so that they can be hung from a tree.

Holly Berry Number Lines and Number Patterns

As a review of number patterns, the students created their own number lines on sentence strips using Holly Berries and Holly Leaves. The berries represented the numbers and the leaves represented the space in between the numbers. After the students glued down the berries and leaves, I worked with the students in small groups to identify number pattern rules. Each group was given a different number pattern to complete. For example, one group was given the number pattern 9, 12, 15, 18. So, the students numbered the berries from 9 to 18 in order. They then drew "jumping hills" from 9 to 12 on the top of their number line. They then drew "jumping hills" from 12 to 15 but this time on the bottom of their number line. They then alternated back to the top for 15 to 18. The reason I had them alternate the "jumping hills" from top to bottom was so that they could visually see how many "jumping hills" were between each step in their number pattern. After identifying the pattern, the students wrote the rule, such as "Rule +3" for this example, on their number line. The "jumping hills" are a little hard to see in the pictures because they drew them with red colored pencils in case they needed to erase.

Coin Values

As a part of our study on money, we created two anchor charts as a class to help the students recognize the different values of coins and the various different ways to make those values. First the students examined various coins and discussed how they are alike and different. We then learned the following poem:

Penny, penny,
Easily spent.
Copper brown
and worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel,
Thick and fat.
You're worth five cents,
I know that.

Dime, dime,
Little and thin.
I remember,
you're worth ten.

Quarter, quarter,
big and bold.
You're worth twenty-five
I am told.

We then discussed who is on the front of each coin and what is on the back. We also discussed their color and size as compared to other coins. We charted all of the information on the following chart:

A few days later we  created a class Tree Map to show the different ways to make 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, and 50 cents. The students then created their own version of the Tree Map in the computer lab using the program Pixie 2.

Santa Study

Our multi-talented Instructional Media Specialist, Mrs. Thornton, taught all of the first graders a lesson on the role of Santa Claus around the world. This was a part of our Holidays Around the World unit. Mrs. Thornton used a variety of online and print media to help the students compare and contrast Santa's role in the following countries: The United States, Germany, Mexico, France, and Russia. They learned what he is called in each country (Father Christmas, Pere Noel, etc.), what he wears, how he travels, what he brings children, and where those gifts are left. She engaged the students with familiar songs, videos depicting customs and traditions around the world, and facts found through library research. We are lucky to have such a talented person at our school who is willing to share her expertise!

The Stockings Were Hung By the Chimney...

Last week the students had a fun homework assignment - decorate a holiday stocking. They could decorate the stockings however they wanted to with whatever they wanted to. Once returned to school, the students wrote about their stockings using our writing program, Write From the Beginning. The students wrote what the stocking looks like, what it has, and what it can do. We then attached their writing to their artwork and hung them outside on our fireplace. Our amazing Assistant Principal painted the fireplace for me a few years ago.

Merry Christmas, Strega Nona

On Wednesday and Thursday we read Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. As we read, the students identified and discussed how the various characters were feeling and how those feelings changed over time. They also discussed with their knee-neighbors about the characters, setting, problem, and solution in the story. After discussing, we created a class Story Map. The students then created their own Story Maps to identify the story elements.

Toy Shop and Prize Shop

This week we have been learning about the various coins, their identifying features, their values, and their equavalencies. To assess their ability to identify the coins and their values, the students created their own "toy shops." The students were given various coins and toy pictures which they had to sort on a toy shelf they made out of brown construction paper. Each toy had a price written on it. For example, they had to match a nickel to the toy that was labeled "5 cents." Fellow teachers, I forgot to take a picture today and have already sent them home but you can see an example from last year's class here. The students were also given a coin which they could use at our "prize store." I put out five prices on the table with various items on it from our class prize box. The students could come to the table in small groups to identify which coin they had, its value, and what items they could purchase. This was a low-stress way to assess the students - they didn't even know they were being assessed. They were very excited that they got to keep the prizes - you've got to love kids who get so excited over pencils, erasers, and bookmarks!

Too Many Tamales

On Tuesday we read Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto to discuss character traits and to identify the elements of a story. First we watched the video on Discovery Education and then we read the book. After reading, we discussed the different emotions that the main character had throughout the story. We then created a class Story Map to identify the characters, the setting, the problem, and the solution. The students then created their own Story Maps. Parents, as you are reading with your children, ask them questions such as these:

• Who are the characters in the story? (use specific names)
• What is the setting of the story? (use specific places and times)
• Is there a problem in the story? What is it?
• How do you think the problem will be solved?
• How was the problem solved in the story?
• How did the characters feel in this story?
• Why do the characters feel that way?
• What made the character's feelings change?

Auntie Claus: Character Traits of Sophie Kringle

One of my favorite Christmas books is Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera. The story is great to use for analyzing character traits. It is also a good reminder for the students to be on their best behavior to avoid being on the BB&G list (you know, the "Bad Boys and Girls" list...). After reading the story about Sophie and her adventure to the North Pole, we created a class Flow Map to retell the story with an emphasis on how Sophie felt and how those feelings changed over time. We also discussed why her feelings changed. As we created the Flow Map, I spiraled in some mini-lessons on new vocabulary words such as complaining, relieved, and selfless. After creating the Flow Map, we discussed the importance of being selfless and giving to others when possible. We talked about the lesson Auntie Claus was trying to teach Sophie: "It is better to give than to receive." The students then created gift boxes as graphic organizers to write four things that they could give to others without having to actually buy anything.

Jumping Hills - Number Patterns

While learning about number patterns, the students learned the strategy of using "jumping hills" on a number line to count the number of spaces between numbers. To help them practice, students used dry erase mats and number lines to draw their "jumping hills." For example, if the number pattern was 1, 5, 9 then the students would draw a hill from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and then 4 to 5. They would see that there were four "hills" or four spaces. They would then repeat this going from the number 5 to the number 9. They would then see that it was again, four spaces. From this they could conclude that the skip counting rule was +4. The "jumping hills" really give the students a good visual of skip counting number patterns.

Shake Those Beans

To help the students understand the concept of addition and subtraction, we have been playing a game called "Shake Those Beans." Each day we practice finding addition sentences for a set sum. The students get a cup of two-color beans that equal that set sum. They then shake the beans and count how many of each color and add them together. Fellow teachers, you could use two-color counters for this as well if you do not want to spray paint beans. They mark their answer on a graph. After each student has rolled their dice a total of ten times, we tally on the board which addition sentence they rolled the most. This is a great probability connection because most of the time, the addition sentences in the middle, such as the doubles, are rolled the most. The students find this fascinating! We follow up this lesson by building the various addition sentences with two different color sets of Unifix cubes. We then practice flipping over the stick to show how addends in a fact family just "flip flop" but the sum stays the same. We then find the related fact family subtraction sentences by taking away parts.