Cyber Sale Monday and Tuesday

Everything in my store will be on sale Monday and Tuesday!!  If you have time, take a peek.

Colonial Times

We have spent A LOT of time learning about the Colonial Period.

We began by learning more about the Mayflower.

Ms. Lolar, a kindergarten teacher, talked to the first grade classes about her Native American culture.  She brought in some baskets and moccasins to share with the kids.

We then learned what life was like back and how it wasn't easy. Students made diagrams of Colonial boys and girls.

And yes, I did have a boy color in his face green.  I think their colonial boy was a little sea sick!

For writing, students have to write their opinion on if they'd want to be a child during the Colonial Period.

Here are some writing samples (click to enlarge)!

We also completed a venn diagram comparing Colonial kids to kids now.

Phew, what a long post.  As you can see we've been quite busy.

Wishing you ALL a restful break spent with your family and friends. Here are 3 of us out of 5 first grade teachers wearing colonial hats.  I told them we looked REALLY tired and we needed tans.  It's been a loooong fall for us!!

Run Turkeys as Fast as YOU Can

Are you ready for our next class narrative!!  After reading stories about runaway turkeys we planned, created our own, and I some how became the owner of a Lyons' Turkey Farm.  Possibly a second career?

Students will share it at lunch tomorrow!!  Sit back and enjoy.

Have You Ever Had a 30 Second Dance Party?

That's the question and YES we have!  We had one last week and I had to capture a picture.  Here they are dancing away...just for 30 seconds and then it was back to business.  Pure bliss here and I must admit they have quite the dance moves!!

OTES Weekly Update

Click the link below to check out the OTES Weekly Update!!

Weekly Update

I Tried to Look Away But Couldn't

Oh, first graders and those wiggly teeth!!  Students constantly putting their hands in their mouth, telling me their tooth is about to come out (when it's really not even close), and the tongues pushing the tooth out to show me how loose it REALLY is.

Well today was a first for me in ALL my years of teaching!!  Kavi came up to me today to tell me she had a loose tooth.  And...she was right. It was just hanging there by a thread.

Of course I cringed and tried to look away but I told her to grab a tissue and pull it out.  I thought she'd decide not to try but she pulled that tooth right out as the entire class looked on!

She was quite proud of herself and gave this toothless grin!!

Hopefully, the Tooth Fairy treats her right tonight knowing what a production it was today with the entire class watching.

A Week in Review

We did take time to read about Veterans and talked about why we had Tuesday off.  Students drew and described a veteran.  A HUGE thank you for all you do!!

We spent the week looking at and reading legends.  We discussed how they are stories passed on from person to person.  Each legend we read had an important lesson.

Here are some of the legends we read.

After listening to Raven, students created their very own.

For writing, students wrote their opinion on which legend was their favorite.  On Friday, working in teams (based on which legend they picked), they created a mural showing their favorite illustration.  The murals look amazing hanging up in our community!!

Coyote Steals the Blanket

Monkey

Raven

Thanks to the Animals

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes

Turkeys...turkeys...turkeys!!  That has been our focus in Science. Students brainstormed and wrote, "How to Cook a Turkey."  This is ALWAYS a fun activity but I'm not sure if I would eat any of their turkeys!!  I had one student feel 25 seconds was long enough.  YIKES.  

After their writing, they colored in a coffee filter and dipped it in water to create a turkey.

I also introduced Investigations.  These are 2 page spreads that share information on a topic.  I like to show students a variety of ways to share information and this is a GREAT way to introduce nonfiction text features.  We focused on creating a border, a diagram, a caption, a brace map, and a bulleted list.  

Here are a few examples!!

For Daily 5 next week students will be able to write turkey facts on feathers.  I'm hoping this little guy fills up soon!!

A Look at Next Week

It's Never too Late for a Scary Halloween Story

So I've been meaning to share our class book about Halloween...and now it's November!  It's never too late right?

I introduce narrative writing by starting with a class book.  Our mini-lesson was a narrative has a beginning, middle, and end.  We brainstormed the "Who," "What," "When," 'Where," and "Why" together.  Working on wipe off boards we voted on the direction we wanted our story to go.

I quickly, and yes it looked quite messy, wrote it on large chart paper so we could remember from day to day where we left off.  Once our story was completed I wrote it on large drawing paper and they illustrated.

I had two students read it at our first grade lunch.  They were quite excited to share.  I mean our assistant principal turned into a zombie and our principal was a witch.  YIKES!!  That might not have been the scariest part though.  I think the kids and I agreed the scariest part was Mr. Cyr and Ms. Tuell eating ALL of the candy without us!

Sit back and enjoy...oh and I hope you don't get too scared.