Friendly Letters to Kindergarten

In writing the students have been learning to write friendly letters. Using the Letter Generator from ReadWriteThink, the students wrote a class letter to Kindergarten about all of the things they learned and enjoyed in first grade. After modeling how to write a friendly letter, the students wrote letters to Kindergarten on their own. After editing the letters in writing workshop, they wrote their final drafts. Last Thursday the students visited Mrs. Munoz's Kindergarten class to read their letters to her students.

Johnny Appleseed

In Social Studies we have been studying about various American legends, including Johnny Appleseed. After watching a quick video about him on Discovery Streaming and reading several trade books, we created a Circle Map together on the Promethean Board. After discussing his various contributions, the students created their own apple trees out of construction paper as a graphic organizer. Each student added five apples to the tree and wrote "Did you know?" facts on the apples.

Career Day

A few weeks ago we had several professional visit the school to explain their career to the students. We had a Dallas police officer, the Grand Prairie Fire Department, and a care flight paramedic speak to the students.

Making Connections: The Cow Who Clucked

We recently read The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming as a part of our lessons on making connections. After reading, the students wrote at least one connection they had to the story and supported it with text evidence. For example, the students would write "The Cow Who Clucked reminded me of (personal experience) like when (textual evidence) happened in the story." The students wrote their connections on the outline of a person and then colored it to look like themselves.

Place Value: Interactive Hundreds Board

To help the students prepare for their end of year exam and to review place value, we played a game on the Promethean Board using the interactive hundreds board on TeacherLed. I woud call out a clue to a mystery number that they students had to find on the board. For example, I would say "I'm thinking of a number that has seven tens and four ones." They students would highlight the number on the board. Other clues would be "I am thinking of a number that is the same as the expanded notation 40+5." I planned ahead what numbers to use so that the numbers would make a design once we were completed. This added to the students' level of engagement as they tried to figure out what the mystery picture would be. This mini-lesson is inspired by the work of Marcy Cook.

Comparing Weight

My teammate, Ms. Branch, came up with a great way to assess if the students understand how a balance scale works and if they have the ability to compare the weights of various objects. The students created a balance scale on construction paper out of a one inch strip of paper and a die-cut "v". They then chose two magazine pictures to glue on the scale to show which was the heaviest and which was the lightest. They then wrote comparative sentences to describe the weight of the objects.

Inventor Research Papers

Using PebbleGo, the students researched an inventor of their choice. They recorded information they found on a Circle Map and then used those Circle Maps to help them write a research paper. After editing their papers in writing workshop with me, the students typed their research papers in Microsoft Word. They printed their paper and glued to to construction paper along with a picture of their inventor, which they found in PebbleGo.

My Robot

In Social Studies we spent several weeks studying various inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, and Garrett Morgan. At the conclusion of our inventor unit, the students had the opportunity to become inventors themselves. With just two boxes covered in foil, a hot glue gun (used by the teacher, of course), and a bunch of junk, the students created their own robots. They turned out really great. The students created a plan, implemented that plan, and then wrote about what their robots could do.