Feeling the LOVE Today

So, I have a student who's grandmother just retired from teaching first grade.  She has been sending in items for me to weed through to see if I can use them for my classroom. What a dream come true!!

Today, she came to my class and dropped off a bag full of supplies.  Look below...can you believe it?  I felt SO LOVED and APPRECIATED today.

She wrote the nicest note telling me how much her granddaughter enjoyed coming to school and she was grateful for my commitment to teaching.  This definitely made my day and made me realize once again why I LOVE my job!!

Big Ol' Bones

We've been learning A LOT about paleontologist.  I read Big Old Bones.  This book has a surprise ending and the wife has helped to create quite a piece of art!

I traced and cut large dino puzzle pieces (a Triceratops and T-Rex) out.  The kids had to decorate a piece and then work as a team to put their dino together.

NEW, FREE Book

Today, I had a conference at the university on literacy and Gail Gibbons was there.  She shared with us how she got into writing and illustrating.  People were quickly buying up her books when I spotted a new book, Ladybugs (I like ladybugs and always sign my name with one).  All of them had been sold when I noticed one up front on the table.  The LAST one.  It was mean't to be, right?  When I asked if I could buy it she told me to just take it.  REally?!  She said not to worry about it and she had plenty more.

WOW!  Teachers love new books but to get one for free from Gail Gibbons and then to have it signed.  It made my day!!

Chris Van Dusen Arrives

Today, Chris Van Dusen came to our school to share his work.  He asked the kids if they'd like to sit home ALL day and JUST draw.  Of course, I wanted to raise my hand up and yell, "YES!!"  That would be a dream come true.

He showed the students paintings he has completed, read books, and even read us his BRAND NEW book.  He has illustrated the cover of LL Bean catalogs, packaging for toys, and our Maine lobster plate!

Pics to come soon.  It's saying I've reached my limit for pics.  YIKES!

An Illustration for the circus.

Sharing illustrations.

Reading to the kiddos.

The Circus Ship

Randy Riley's Really Big Hit

More Adventures with Mr. Magee

Mr. Magee and his dog Dee have quite a few adventures and we've LOVED reading about everyone of them!

Today we reviewed good readers make connections.  We connected with Mr. Magee.  Poor ol' Magee wasn't a great skier and he seemed to need some lessons.

The students brainstormed a list of things they had to practice to become better at.  Here's their writing!

I love he ended with a question!

Compsognathus

Check out our work on Compsognathus!

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee

We've been reading MANY of Chris Van Dusen's books.  He'll be here on Friday and the kids are quite excited!!  Today we read A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee.

The kids did a quick survey and decided if they'd want to go camping or not.  Only one said no and it was because he was afraid of BEARS (so am I).  After reading, we brainstormed a list of things they'd want if they did go camping and they created small pictures.  Here's their work!!

The Chick Eggs are Here

OH the excitement in the room today!!  The chick eggs arrived.  The kids saw the incubator and watched as the eggs were put in.  I can't wait to see how many hatch!  Last year (my first year doing this), they ALL hatched.

More DINO Maps

Here are a few more of the Dino Maps we've done together.

April Vacation in Review

It's hard to believe I've gone a week without blogging or being on the internet.  Or...doing school work.  Gasp, I know!!

This is the first vacation where I actually didn't complete school work and now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Tomorrow is Sunday!

This isn't school related but I thought I'd share.  My husband and I took a trip to Arizona this vacation.  Let me just say it was A-mazing.  I did cringe though as I shut the door and left behind the mound of school work that still has to be completed.

We have both wanted to visit Arizona, especially to see the Grand Canyon.  Now, with my fear of heights and flying it seemed like a perfect fit (sarcasm inserted here)!  No better way to get over your fears.

This honestly seemed like one of the looooongest vacations I've ever had and I mean this in a good way.  We had a BLAST!  We went to the Petrified National Forest, hiked trails in the Grand Canyon.  I hiked right around 16 miles from the rim to the canyon floor and dipped my toes in the Colorado River.  We hiked and shopped in Sedona and went to the Saguaro National Park.

The weather was perfect at the beginning of the week but by the end it got HOT!  It reached 100 degrees on Friday.

Here are some pics I wanted to share!  I hope everyone had a restful and fun April vacation.

If I Built a Car

Chris Van Dusen, a Maine author, is going to be visiting our school.  We're so LUCKY!

Today we read If I Built a Car.  We brainstormed a list of things kids would want if they could build their VERY own car.  They filled in the worksheet, listing what they'd want and then they wrote about it.

This is the worksheet I created.

If I Built a Car

National Poetry Month

I hope your class has been enjoying some poetry!  We have a poem each week but since this month is National Poetry Month we've been spending more time looking at poetry.

The kids REALLY enjoyed these books below.

Today, the kids each picked a poem to write down.  They could look in their poetry notebooks or books within the room.  At our assembly on Friday, each student will have a poem in his/her pocket!

More Dino Work!

The kids have LOVED learning about dinos and I can admit when I was little I did too.  I had posters on my wall and could name them all.  My dream was even to be a paleontologist.

We've learned about Stegosaurus and Allosaurus this week.  Here's their work!

Reading Strategy Posters

I was looking for a way to display ALL the reading strategies the kids have been learning this year.  I created these posters and review them on a weekly basis.  As we learn a new strategy, the poster is added to the board.

I also have one on summarizing.  I must have forgotten to hang it up!

Good Readers Infer

We've been focusing on making inferences.  This weeks mini lesson has been, "Good readers infer.  They look for clues and make conclusions on what they know.

I introduced this work with "What's Inside the Egg?"

Today, I read Bark George by Jules Feiffer.  I told the kids this dog made funny sounds and by looking for clues while reading they should be able to make a prediction of what type of noise George would make next.  The kids LOVED this book!!

While I read, I wrote down what they thought would happen.

At the end of the story, George says "Hello."  The kids had to infer who he had eaten.

I had them complete a worksheet inferring who George might eat next.

Oviparous Animals

We started our unit on oviparous animals.  I began with the read aloud below.

Then, the kids picked an animal to add to the egg to show they knew an example of an oviparous animal.

Next up...DINOS!!