Grade Level Fingerprint Trees

At the beginning of the year, the students added their fingerprints to a large tree to create a grade level piece of artwork. We did this in connection to building our social contract of class expectations. We talked about how we are going to often work as a team to create artwork.

Social Contract

Our district uses the Capturing Kids' Hearts process to promote positive behavior. One aspect of this process is building a Social Contract. The students brainstorm in small groups how they want to be treated by their peers, how they want to treat their peers, how they want to treat the teacher, and how they want the teacher to treat them. The groups then share those ideas and we add them to the contract. The ones with check marks were said by more than one group. This shows that those words are most important to our class. Each student then signed the contract to show that they agree to follow it. In our class the students also make happy faces of themselves to show that positive behavior is happier behavior.

David Goes to School

We read Dvid Goes to School by David Shannon to practice following directions and to identify finding the parts of a book. After reading, the students created their own book with a title and author on the cover. On the inside, they wrote at least one rule they could follow from our class Social Contract.

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!

If I Were President...

In honor of Presidents' Day, the students wrote why they would be a good president. I was proud that they used our Capturing Kids' Social Contract as a frame of reference for what good character should look like. I was also proud that they understood that a president should have good character. After writing, the students created a picture of themselves to go along with the writing on a campaign poster.

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.

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.

David Goes to School

To help elaborate on our Social Contract  and to learn the parts of a book, we read No, David! and David Goes to School by David Shannon. Before reading, we talked about the parts of a book. We discussed the purpose of the title and the need to stay on topic. We also discussed the role of the author and the illustrator. To help us remember their roles, we sing these songs to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell":

The author writes the words,

The author writes the words,

Hi-ho, the derry-o,

The author writes the words.

The illustrator draws the pictures,

The illustrator draws the pictures,

Hi-ho, the derry-o,

The illustrator draws the pictures.

After reading, we discussed the things that David did in the book as non-examples of how to behave at school. We discussed how David would have been different if he had a Social Contract to follow. The students then created their own book cover about them going to school. On the inside of their book, they wrote at least two things they can do at school to follow the Social Contract.

Capturing Kids' Hearts Social Contract

Each year the students at Moseley create a Social Contract in each of their classes. The students discuss in small groups how they want to treat their friends and teacher and how they want to be treated by their friends and teacher. They then write the words on our class Social Contract. If several groups list the same word, we put a check mark by it. This shows us which things we find the most important. The students then create a happy face of themselves to place with the Social Contract to remind them of how it feels when we all treat each other well.

Affirmation Station

At our campus, we use Capturing Kids' Hearts as a part of our discipline and guidance plan. As a part of that process, students are taught how to receive and give affirmations - both verbally and in writing. In the past, my students wrote the affirmations and would place them on the corner of the receipients' desk. Other people in my school have used bags to place the affirmations in but I have found that I do not have enough room for this in my class. So, this year, I am trying something new. In our class we will have an "Affirmation Station." In the station, each student will have a pocket (a library checkout pocket that can be found at most educational supply stores) with their name on it. At the station, there will be various colored pencils and index cards for them to write their affirmations on. The students can write affirmations as morning work, when they finish work early, or at stations. The affirmations will then be put in the receipients' pocket which can be picked up during Reading Workshop and Literacy Stations or at the end of the day.

KidBlog

Our class recently started their own blog site through http://www.kidblog.org/. You can visit our class site here. Each student has a password to log in which has already been sent home. If you would like another copy, please let me know. The students have already written about 40 blog entries in one week. We are using the site as a place to journal personal narratives, to write critically about recently taught concepts, and to write affirmations to one another. Writing affirmations is a part of the Capruring Kids' Hearts program we use district wide. Parents, feel free to leave your child comments in their blog entries; please leave your name if you do. The comments are moderated before posting so you may not see it appear immediately. I encourage you to let your child blog at home through this site as it helps with their writing and spelling as well as giving them an opportunity to show what they know.

Affirmation Tree

As a part of our writing this morning, the students wrote affirmations to one another. Writing affirmations is a part of Capturing Kids Hearts. Capturing Kids Hearts is a relationship building program we use district wide. As Flip Flippen of Capturing Kids Hearts puts it, "If you have a child's heart, you have his head." The students wrote affirmations on ornaments that we then added to our tree in the hallway.

Capturing Kids' Hearts: Social Contract

In our class we follow a Social Contract to help the students and me work together to achieve positive behavior. A Social Contract is part of the guidance procedures we use at Moseley through the program Capturing Kids' Hearts. To create the Social Contract, the students divided into four groups and brainstormed on a Circle Map how they thought they should treat their friends, how they wanted to be treated by their friends, how they thought they should treat the teacher, and how they wanted to be treated by the teacher. After creating the Social Contract, the students each signed it. They also created faces of themselves to hang with the Social Contract. As a part of the program, the students are taught to "check" their classmates behavior in a positive, constructive manner. They are also taught how to affirm one another both verbally and in writing. Below is the Social Contract that our class created together.