Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Students who finished work early worked at the collaborative table to create large snowman collages using construction paper and sheet music to songs such as "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", "Winter Wonderland", and more.

Koo Koo Kangaroo

As brain breaks and to get the wiggles out, we have been dancing to online videos by Koo Koo Kangaroo. I learned about these videos in a Gifted and Talented training this summer. Fellow teachers, if you have not seen this or done these with your class, you should. They have a YouTube channel and their own website. Our class favorite so far is "Dinosaur Stomp." The picture is a little dark because we turn off the lights so we can see the Promethean a little better.

PTA Program

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

Holiday Sing-Along

All the students joined together last Friday in the cafeteria for a holiday sing-along. They students were so happy and singing so loudly!

Rhymes and Alliterations

Last week we worked extensively on rhyming words and alliterations. The students practiced finding rhyming words with the song "A Hunting We Will Go." They brainstormed rhyming words to insert in the song and sorted pictures that rhymed. For alliterations, the students brainstormed words that begin with the first letter of their name on a Circle Map. They then shared their words with the class. We wrote the words on a class anchor chart. We then brainstormed additional words for each letter of the alphabet. The students then used those Cirlce Maps and the anchor chart to write drafts of their own alliteration sentences in their journals. The students then met we me in small groups to edit and revise their sentences. They wrote their final drafts and illustrated it for publishing in the hallway. Their alliterations are very creative!

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.

Frog Facts

As a part of our study on frogs, we visited Kidzone to learn interesting facts about frogs. After reading, the students created a diagram of the life cycle of the frogs. After creating their diagram, the students shared the life cycle process with a friend. The following day, the students created a frog out of construction paper. In groups, the students brainstormed facts that they learned from the website and we added them to our class Circle Map. The students then chose one fact per group to write on the back of their frog in the form of a "Did you know?" question. The students shared these facts at our weekly Pride Rally along with Ms. Goolsbay's class. At the end of the fact sharing time, the students all sang "Five Green and Speckled Frogs."