Scavenger Hunt

As a part of a lesson on how to follow multi-step directions, the students drew a map of familiar places in the school. After completing the maps, we went on a scavenger hunt throughout the school. The students were given directional words, as a review of Social Studies, to help them follow the map and find the hidden object. As we went on the scavenger hunt, the students identified various signs and symbols along with their meanings.

Camping: Living and Non-Living

In reading we have been learning to follow multi-step directions with picture cues. For these lessons, the students learned to draw tents and trees to go along with our camping theme. They had to read the written directions on the projector along with the step-by-step pictures. After each step, we discussed what we did and how following the steps in order helps drawing the pictures easier. After the students drew these two pictures, we transitioned into a science lesson. When possible, I try to connect the different subjects together. I believe it makes for stronger connections to the concepts. For science, we discussed the differences between living and non-living things. We then created a t-chart to list various living and non-living things. After brainstorming, the students went back to their pictures from the reading lesson and added at least three living things and three non-living things to their camping picture. They then labeled each thing and circled it in a certain color to indicate if it was living or non-living. They then shared their drawings with their neighbors.

How to Make S'Mores

A few weeks ago we learned about camping. As an introduction to the theme, we made S'mores. As we made the S'mores, we talked about the steps we had to take to make them. We recorded the steps on a Circle Map. We then wrote the steps in logical order on a Flow Map with transition words. This writing is apart of our Write From the Beginning program. After enjoying their snack, the students went back to class and wrote their own Circle Map, Flow Map, and sentences to write how to make the S'mores. They then created a paper S'more to display with their writing.

Student Created Books for Review

Several months back our first grade team brainstormed various ways we could help our students review concepts. One of the ways we came up with was to have the students create class books. The students create these books for all of the content areas.

For example, in science the students made books about force and motion, bodies of water, landforms, etc. My teammate typed up various phrases that included specific concepts and vocabulary in kid-friendly terms which the students glued in order and illustrated. In math, I laminated their pictures created from our shapes lesson (check them out here at The Shape of Things) and put them together as a book. I also laminated their Pumpkin Patch Place Value pictures and put them together as a book. They also made a place value book with specific vocabulary to show the different ways to build and model numbers as well as how to compare them from greatest to least and vice versa.

Also, I have taught the students how to export pictures in the computer lab from Pixie 2. We save these exported pictures and I print them front to back. They are then laminated and put together as books. Most of our computer lessons are based in math and rather than the work to just be stored in the computer, I like to print them.

For reading, we often make group Flow Maps to retell stories. During reading workshop, I divide the students into groups and each group takes a section of the Flow Map to retell that portion and illustrate it. This helps students remember what they have read and practice retelling stories.

We keep these books in a student-accessible bin and the students may choose to read them when they finish work early or during reading workshop. Because the students created them, they are very motivated to read them. Additionally, we read them as a whole group before district tests. Our district tests every three weeks or so, depending on the subject. This is good way to connect back to previously taught lessons and review specific vocabulary.

Mama Bear

For Valentine's Day, one of my students gave me a very funny gift... a teddy bear wearing a shirt saying "Mama Bear." So, you are probably wondering "why is that funny?"

Here is the story.... As a part of our classroom management, I tell the students that when they are misbehaving "Mama Bear" is going to come "growl" at them and that I would rather "Mama Bear" not have to come out. It is a light-hearted way (yet serious at the same time) to to remind the students to check their behavior when they start to make the wrong choices. As all parents and teachers know, there are times when we have to "growl" at the students. And when I say "growl" I mean giving them "the look" and "the speech" about how to behave and what I expect. I remind the students then when they misbehave and Mama Bear has to get onto them, they become grumpy like a bear who was woke up too soon from hibernation and so does Ms. Bishop. When the students see another student starting to misbehave, they quickly tell them "You don't want Mama Bear to come out!" This is just one of the many strategies I use as classroom management. The students really seem motivated to do what is right; they think the concept of Mama Bear is funny but at the same time they know they don't want Mama Bear to growl. Now we have a "real" Mama Bear to remind the students to behave!

Fellow teachers, what classroom management strategies do you use in your class?

Valentine's Day Party

We had our Valentine's Day Party on Tuesday. The students enjoyed tons of sweets and enjoyed reading the cards they brought for one another. Such a great time!

Homemade Valentine's

The students made homemade Valentine's for their families with ping pong balls and paint. The students first drew and cut out a large heart shape on white paper. They then placed their heart on a cookie sheet. They then dropped a ping pong ball that had been dipped in red or pink paint onto their heart. They then used the handle of the cookie sheets to roll the ball around leaving a design on their hearts. After the hearts dried, they wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" on them.

PTA Program

The first and third grade students performed a patriotic program at our PTA program Monday night. They did a fantastic job!

Place Value Hearts

This week in math we are extending our knowledge of place value to numbers up to 99. We are continuing to work on identifying the number of tens and ones as well as putting numbers in order from greatest to least and vice versa. We are also working on recognizing numbers in word form and expanded notation. For a fun Valentine's Day related activity, I gave each student a hundreds chart. I used the hundreds chart from Lil' Country Kindergarten. She has a large number of hundreds charts that can be colored to reveal pictures. We used the heart hundreds chart. Instead of having the students just read the numbers at the top and color them in, I called out various forms of the numbers for them to find. For example, I would say "Find the number that is 4 tens and 5 ones and color it pink." The students would verbally tell me that it was the number 45. I would then say "Find the number that would be 70 + 5 in expanded notation" and they would say "75." We continued until all of the numbers were colored in to reveal a picture. I have done similar activities to this in the past with Marilyn Burns' resources.

Valentine's Day Treats

Here is a picture of the Pinterest inspired Valentine's Day Treats I made for my students. The tag says "Thank you for making First Grade such a ball, Valentine!" I found the rubber high-bounce balls in the Valentine's section at Target (my favorite place) and put them in snack-size Ziploc bags. I then typed the tags in Microsoft Word. The ruler feature is very helpful in making sure the tags were the right size for the bags. I printed the tags at home and stapled them across the top. In total, the treats only took fifteen minutes to make! As a busy teacher, that was a plus! And, what first grader doesn't love high-bounce balls?!? In the version I saw on Pinterest, they filled the bag with gumballs, and although that does go along with our beginning of year bulletin board, I thought these were more fun. Parents, as a reminder, our Valentine's Party is this Tuesday, the 14th, at 2:45PM. You are more than welcome to come.

Space Research

As mentioned in previous posts, we have been learning about space over the last few weeks. The main purpose of our space unit was to provide the students an opportunity to conduct research. We began our research by asking questions. The students divided up in small groups to write down questions they have about space on post-it notes. We then added those post-it notes to a chart. We then created a class Circle Map to record information about space found from various sources. We wrote the information from each source in different colors to keep track of where our answers to questions came from. As a class, we read through various sources, including the online source Pebble Go. Fellow teachers, if your school does not subscribe to Pebble Go, I highly recommend it. After we read each source, we stopped to see if any answers from our chart had been answered. If they had, we added the answers to the chart and put a colored dot, corresponding to the souce it came from, on the question. This taught the students that we could look at the remaining unanswered questions and narrow down if they had a common theme. For example, once we answered a few questions, we realized most the remaining questions were about astronauts and space shutttles so we were able to use the Table of Contents and Index to narrow down specific sections of the sources to look at. This was a good way to hit home the importance of text features.

After researching as a class, the students divided into small groups to conduct their own research. They created their own Circle Map on large construction paper and chose their own sources. After a few days of research, they wrote their own sentences based on their research findings on topics such as astronauts, planets, stars, and space shuttles. They wrote their sentences on chart paper as groups as a way to get them used to taking information from the sources to the Circle Map to sentence form.

The following week, the students used Pebble Go again, but this time by themselves in the computer lab, to record information about space on an individual Circle Map. In class they added more information from various library books. The students even checked out their own space books from the library for their research - I didn't even have to tell them or ask them to! Once they had completed their Circle Maps, they wrote an introductory sentence for their first draft of their research paper. They wrote their first sentence as a "Did you know fact?" Once they had their first sentence, we talked about the need to stay on topic. For example, if their first sentence was about stars, the rest of their sentences needed to be about stars. If they did not have enough information on their Circle Maps, they were free to go back and look at more sources.

After writing their first draft, they met with me during Guided Writing (which we usually do on Thursdays instead of Guided Reading) to edit their work. The students then rewrote their research paper. They then glued their Circle Maps and final draft to a large piece of black construction paper. They added planets to the paper with dot paints and then added start stickers. We hung their final research projects in the hallway and they were so proud. I am so proud and amazed at how well they did on their first official research papers!

To Be or Not To Be An Astronaut

As a part of our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students wrote to explain why or why not they would want to be an astronaut. They used Thinking Maps to brainstorm an introductory sentence along with three logical reasons why or why not they would choose to be an astronaut. They were required to use adverbs with their reasons to create a more interesting piece of writing. After meeting with me in Guided Writing, the students wrote final drafts of their papers. While I met with students individually to edit their work and provide instant feedback, the rest of the class colored astronauts to display with their final drafts.

Space Word Problems

In math we have been working on solving addition and subtraction word problems using a variety of strategies. One of the strategies we use is using manipulatives. Another is to draw pictures. For Guided Math time, four or five students at a time would come to my table to write their own word problems with a space theme. The students came up with the word problem scenerarios as a group and I helped them with the spelling. They then supplied their own numbers for the problems. The students then had to solve their word problems by drawing a picture and identifying the related fact family number sentences. After all students had a chance to write and solve their word problems, the students then used beans and space problem solving mats to solve each other's problems. This also provided the students a chance to come up to the ELMO to be the "teacher." By the time we were done with this lesson, the students had the opportunity to solve eighteen different word problems. Because the problems were written by their friends and were related to our thematic unit, they were highly engaged.

How the Milky Way Came to Be

In reading, we read the Cherokee tale of "How the Milky Way Came to Be." In this tale, a family was collecting cornmeal to store for the winter when they noticed it was going missing. The mom and dad told the children that it had to be "Great Dog" who was from another world. Knowing that he would continue to steal, the parents and villagers knew they had to scare away "Great Dog" with drums. When they did, he retreated to the sky in fear leaving a trail of cornmeal behind which turned into stars. After reading, we made connections back to the constellations that the students had made and then the students retold the story on a foldable.