Traditions in France

Today we traveled to France.  We practiced saying, "JOYEUX NOEL!" which means "Merry Christmas!"

Students learned that children in France leave their shoes by the fireplace.  On Christmas morning, the shoes are filled with toys and treats.

We also learned about the Yule Log and even tried some Yule Log Cakes (really Swiss Cake Rolls).

We've had so much FUN traveling around the world.  If you haven't checked it out yet I found the cute scrapbook at First Graders...at Last.

Random Acts of Classroom Kindness

This week we made bird treats!!  We went on the bike path and found the perfect place to put our tasty treats.

The Classroom Gingerbread Man That Didn't Get Away

Today we conducted an experiment.  Our question was, "What will happen to our gingerbread man if we put him in water?"

The kids made predictions.  Some thought he'd float, while others said dissolve, and break apart.  We drew pictures, wrote what we would need, and observed throughout the day.  The first observation was the color change of the water.

This is how he looked before lunch.  Our poor little gingerbread man!  He didn't have a chance.

We also took time today to decorate gingerbread cookies. They worked so hard and this is how they came out.

Then the UNTHINKABLE happened.  Look away if you must!!

The cookies were DELICIOUS and I hope your child wasn't too sugared up after school...just full of sweetness!

What's Your Favorite Gingerbread Story?

We've finished reading different versions of The Gingerbread Man!

Today, kids turned and talked about their favorite book and then wrote an opinion piece.  We tallied up which book was the favorite (Gingerbread Pirates WON) and gave reasons why we might like each book.

ALL kids have an opinion, but I will say my class is getting better at giving LOTS of reasons why and writing a wrap up sentence.

Here are some samples of their work today.

Working in groups they had to write one reason why they liked the book and create a wrap up sentence.  It was quite cute when I began taking pictures.  Most wanted an ACTION shot of them running.

As I'm posting these pics I noticed that YMCA came up in a couple of their closing sentences.  Now how in the world did that get past me?  I can't wait to ask them about it tomorrow.

Run, Run As Fast as You Can

We've been reading SOOO many versions of the gingerbread man.  We've been keeping track of the setting, characters, and how each story ends.

Students will be writing an opinion piece tomorrow.  They'll be writing about their favorite version of the story.  I can't wait to read their reasons why.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The stockings have been hung, ornaments are up, and Christmas music is playing during work time...  My kids walked into the room and noticed ALL of the changes!!  I LOVE this time of year.

Have you been RACKED yet?  Our class is doing Random Acts of Classroom Kindness!!  I did this last year for the first time with my class and they LOVED it.  I might as well make this a tradition.  Each morning we open a bag and read the Random Act of Classroom Kindness.

On Monday, we picked up trash on our playground.  Today we gave a hug to someone who might have needed it.  I had a group of boys all hugging each other before lunch!

We've also begun learning about traditions.  I found this FANTASTIC resource at First Grader...at Last.  The kids will be creating a scrapbook as we fly around the world learning about traditions.  I'm quite excited about teaching these lessons! 

Today we learned about traditions in the good ol' USA!  

Did you know...

In Alaska, colonial doorways are decorated with pineapple.  This is a symbol of hospitality.

In Massachusetts, carol singing festivities are famous.

In Washington D.C., a HUGE tree is lit when the Presidents turns on the tree lights.

In Hawaii, Christmas starts with the arrival of the Christmas Tree Ship.  Santa Claus also arrives by boat.

In California, Santa surfs!

From First Grader...at Last

Good Writers Write Bold Leads

Our focus this week has been, "Good writers write bold leads."  We've looked at and read MANY examples.  The kids have been practicing them in their Writer's Notebooks.

Instead of starting a new piece, students are using Post-Its to practice different types of leads on stories they've already written.

They've done a great job and have enjoyed writing exciting openings.

After kiddos learn a lead, it's added to our writing board with the examples of books with that type of lead.

Here's what my writing board looks like!

Two Page Informational Spread

Now that's a post title!  We've been learning a lot about informational text and how these books are set up. Students have been learning about diagrams captions, maps, and other ways to display information.

We've been learning about turkeys this week.  GOBBLE, GOBBLE!  I thought this would be the perfect time to have kids display the information they learned in a two page spread.  Here's the book I use.

We talked about borders and how they could be effective in sharing information.  Working with a partner, they created a border.  They came up with great ideas.  Some drew turkey prints, while others drew eggs, or turkeys.  Once they created their borders we looked at the book again and how Jim Arnosky displayed the information in his book.

Let me just say having a color printer at school is A-MAZING!  I didn't want the kids stressed out over making the illustrations so I printed some of his illustrations in color and found some images online.

Students did have to include one diagram in their informational spread.  I had one student tell me turkeys were hard to draw.  Of course I agreed and he quickly came up with a solution.  The hand turkey...now who doesn't remember making those in school?

Each group picked four pictures and worked as a team on how they wanted to lay out the pictures.

The solution...the famous hand turkey!

I then met with each group to go over what information they planned on sharing.  Let me tell you, they learned A LOT about turkeys!!  I also helped them by making the lines on their spread to keep their writing organized and together.

I think for our first time doing this they came out really well!!

Harvest Arts Festival

Here a just a few pics from last Friday.  The kids celebrated Harvest Arts Festival.  They listened to music, created collages, and at the end of the day we had a performance by Planet Pan.

This is a steel drum band from George Stevens Academy and let me just say they had us ALL dancing!  Sorry no pictures because I was so busy moving with my class!!

Here are some of the collages kids created.

A Week In Review

For Halloween week, the kids have been so calm and settled.  Lucky me!!  Here's what we've been up to.

We wrote our opinions on if we liked Halloween or not.  We brainstormed a list of reasons why we liked the holiday and why we might not.  The kids then stated their opinion, supplied reasons, and wrote a wrap up sentence.

This week our focus in writing has been using describing words.  Students created a monster and filled in a character map.  They created a short writing piece describing what his/her monster looked liked.

Students have also been learning that good readers retell the beginning, middle, and ending of a story. After reading Where the Wild Things Are, students had to retell the story. They completed the art below to go along with the book.

The Lyons' Store also opened on Halloween.  Here's a picture of JoJo in disguise!