Special Visitor

We had a special visitor come and read to our class today!  Not only did she read to our class but she also brought the students a special treat!

Feathering Mrs. Lamb

Life on the Mayflower

We have been learning about life on the Mayflower and how difficult it was for the Pilgrims that first year.  To share their learning, each student wrote a book, designed a cover and downloaded each page to the app Doceri.  Then they recorded themselves as they read each page and uploaded the recorded book to their blog.  For one of our math activities students took a survey asking their peers if they would have wanted to travel on the Mayflower, recorded the responses using tallies, created a graph to match tally results and then wrote graphing questions for someone else in the class to answer.

Readers Theater

After reading and retelling the story, Turkey Trouble students were divided into groups and assigned character parts for the Readers Theater version of the story.  They were so excited and quickly got busy practicing their lines with their group.  After much practice each group performed for the class on Friday.  Everyone did a fantastic job working together. What a great way for each student to practice and perfect their fluency and speaking skills!  Can't wait until next month when we do another Readers Theater.  This time they will choose between The Gingerbread Man or
Polar Express.

What's My Number?

Reading Fluency

During D.E.A.R. time students picked one 'good fit' book from their book box to read into their iPad.  Afterwards they listened to their reading and completed a self-evaluation form.  On this form they rated their reading fluency and set one goal for themselves. Be sure to ask your child about their goal.

'How To' writing

In class we have been discussing 'How To' writing and the importance of specific word choice.  So to practice this skill students had opportunities to give step by step directions orally but now it was time to put in in writing!  For this activity I had available 3 sequential pictures showing how to draw a simple turkey.   As each student drew their turkey they wrote their directions.  Once completed students were partnered up to draw another turkey this time following ONLY their partners written directions. 

What does Thanksgiving mean to you?

Leaders in our Community

Whew!  We have been so busy learning about leaders in our community.  After reading a collection of books, we created a list of leaders in our school.  Each student decided who they would like to interview, formulated questions to ask and interviewed that leader using camera/record on the iPad.  Then each student took the information they learned and created a card using the app, 'Trading Card'.  Students also created a tree map reflecting leaders at home, school and in our community, wrote a thank you note to the leader they interviewed and also created a post on Kidblog about leaders! Oh, and the interviewee got a copy of their personal trading card!

Story Problems

Today Mrs. Walker's first grade class in Houston, Texas sent us story problems to answer.  The students read, solved and answered their problem using Kidblog.  In return we then sent Mrs. Walker's class problems to answer.  Working on story problems is extra fun when given the chance to create your own problem/questions for someone else to solve!

Veterans Day Celebration

Today we honored Veterans at our school wide assembly.  Thank you to all who served our country.

Math Slide

We are loving the app, Math Slide. Students are partnered up as they practice fact fluency as well as subitizing!  Let me tell you there is total engagement when Math Slide is being used!

Reading Response

Today I read, The Little Scarecrow Boy written by Margaret Wise Brown.  This story is about a little scarecrow boy who longs to accompany his father, old man scarecrow, to the cornfields to frighten the crows.  Instead he must remain home to grow and to practice the terrible facial expressions his father taught him. Students enjoyed this story because they easily made connections about times when they wanted to do something but because of their age and/or size, they just weren't ready.
For their reading response activity students recorded the problem and solution in the story.

Brace Map

A Brace Map is a Thinking Map that helps students understand the relationship between a whole and its parts.   This type of map can be challenging for the students to create independently,  so I decided their first attempt should be something they are familiar with...scarecrows.  I was so proud at how well they turned out. This activity helped them understand the concept of Brace Maps and how it can be used to better organize their thinking when writing.

What is a Community?

In Social Studies we began a new unit, 'Citizens Form a Community at School'.  To create an interest in this unit, I decided to have the students use Today's Meet to define as well as describe attributes of a community. While I was able to quickly assess their background knowledge about communities, students enjoyed reading each others posts as well as seeing their own post enlarged on the whiteboard!

Guided Math Rotations

 

During Guided Math rotations students practice a variety of math concepts.  This week they used the app 'Number Pieces' for Place Value, '10 Frame Fill' for Number Combinations to 10,  ABCYa for counting 0-50 and Xtra Math for fact fluency.

Double Bubble Map

After reading The Little Red Hen and The Little Green Witch students created a Double Bubble map.  Using this type of Thinking Map students were able to show their thinking as they compared and contrasted the 2 stories.

Skyping again!

This afternoon we had the opportunity to Skype with a first grade class in Oregon!  Before we made the  connection, we located Oregon on our map and quickly learned they were in a different time zone (2 hours later).  Once connected students from both classes shared  information about their state and then read character riddles they had written about the book, Marty McGuire. The students had a great time meeting and answering riddles.  Hopefully we will be able to Skype with this class again.