Here is a news flash we wrote together today:
WHAT AN EXCITING DAY IN RM. 202! THREE TEETH IN ONE DAY!!
Teeth #4, 5 and 6–all in one day!!
Cup Stacking Challenge
You may have seen a post floating around Facebook and Pinterest about a STEM Cup Stacking Challenge:
(photo courtesy of corkboardconnections.blogspot.com)
It’s similar to the Marshmallow Challenge that I’ve done several years with my 5th graders: build something really tall with your supplies and your team, using cooperation and problem-solving. Great idea for any group of kiddos, but I especially love it for littler ones who are just beginning to learn about what it takes to work together, try something and have it fail, then rework the plan to try again. This activity fits the focus we have on being gritty, as well as having a growth mindset and trying even when things are hard. And yes, the first time we did it, it was hard. 🙂
Cup Challenge Take 1:
The first time we did this challenge, kiddos had 30 cups, their small group and 12 minutes. Most thought they were done in about 2 minutes, and most used the same strategy. Do you see how all the towers look the same? One thing that also happened during this is talking. Loud talking. And much arguing about what to do next. So when we were finished with this first try, we sat together to talk about it. We talked about plusses (things that went well) and deltas (things we could change next time):
They noticed that our list of things to change was REALLY LONG and go busy thinking of ways to do things differently when we tried it again. (When I mentioned that we could do it again, by the way, there were many cheers from the rug!) Working on the floor instead of tables was suggested, as well as not being able to leave your own team’s spot. We also agreed that they would get one warning about their voices and then any teams that were still loud would have to work the rest of the time in silence. Oh, and one more change was more time–they got 18 minutes instead of 12 (which was really the original plan anyway, we just ran out of time).
Cup Challenge Take 2:
Check out our chart the second time around. They were SO EXCITED about how the columns had changed!
What a change that happened when kiddos reflected on what worked–and what didn’t–and then planned how to redo the challenge in a different way. I’m excited to see all of the many things they learned here, and how those lessons touched so many subjects at one time! Way to go, Rm. 202 kids! 🙂
Marshall the Miracle Dog
Wow–at Robinson we cram lots of fabulous things into short periods of time. I already told you about how our first 1/2 day was Read With Your Roadruner, and our Olweus Kick-Off Day. Well…it started with a great visit from Marshall the Miracle Dog!
Cindy, Marshall’s mom, came to read the book she wrote about his story:
We learned about how Marshall’s story included people (and dogs) who mistreated him–he even lost a leg because of how neglected he was–but he overcame and learned to love again because of special people like Cindy in his life who showed him love. We talked about how we can do the same thing! Cindy took questions from the audience, and then everybody got to give Marshall a quick pet on the way out. They were moving so fast, though, that it was hard to catch….
I think one of the best parts of Marshall’s story is how far it has spread. They even made a movie about his life! To learn more about Marshall, check out his website here.
What an inspiring story that none of us will soon forget!
It Just Takes One!
We have a very special community of learners in our school–both children and adults. 🙂 Last year I highlighted the fun and learning we experienced on our Olweus Bully Prevention Program Kick-Off Day (wow…that’s a mouthful for sure!). Olweus is the program that we use with grades 3-5 to help prevent kiddos from developing bully-like behavior. The focus is on turning bystanders into defenders.
In grades k-2, we start with a series of lessons from a program called Second Steps. It is teaching kiddos about learning behaviors, as well as how to be assertive, ask for help and also help others. That, in tandem with our work around our Robinson Road Rules, will set a strong foundation for the work that they will then do in 3rd grade and beyond (Olweus is also a priority in our middle schools!).
So, this year on our first half-day (when we also had our first Read with Your Roadrunner), we again had our Olweus Kick-Off Day. It was a little different doing this with first graders, but no less magical as we had great conversations and talked about what it mean to stand up for ourselves and help our friends, too.
We focused the morning around this great book by Kathryn Otoshi:
In the story, Blue is a great color, but he is pushed around by Red, and all of the others colors are too scared to stand up to Red and help Blue. And then 1 moves into town. 1 is different, and decides to stand up to Red, saying NO! when he is pushed around and then encouraging all the others to do the same. Eventually, 1 helps his friends become stronger, but also finds a way to be kind to Red and include him, too. And yes–there is a happy ending!
We read the story and had a super conversation about what it feels like to be Blue, as well as Red, and how one of the reasons Red probably acts that way is because he is lonely. We shared times when we’d felt like each of the characters and focused on the importance of being strong and standing up like 1 did in the story.
After that, we illustrated our own version of the story:
We also decorated 1’s that will become part of a poster to remind us how IT JUST TAKES ONE to make a difference! What’s been the most exciting about this day is listening to them use the language from the story in our everyday lives. I’m hearing them talk about being 1 and standing up when they hear their friends being treated in a way that isn’t ok. And when they don’t remember to be 1, we are having great conversations about what to do next time. This is the important work of first grade right here, as we mold friends, citizens and leaders for today and tomorrow!
Learning Buddies 2014
We do this fabulous thing at our school that we call Learning Buddies. The basic idea is that a primary class pairs up with an intermediate class, and plans activities together. It sounds basic and simple, but the power that comes from having a buddy–both for the 5th grader and the 1st grader. There will be more about that as things get cooking this year, but so far let me just show you how we were introduced to each other this week. 🙂
We are lucky to have Dr. Grayon’s class matched up with us, a connection I was excited to make last Spring. They came on Wednesday, with a plan to help us make an acrostic poem about friends. While they wrote, kiddos chatted and got to know each other a little bit. The smiles on their faces and the happy sounds in the room were glimpses of greater things to come as we learn and grow together. I’m so excited about this year!!
Buddies getting started on their poems.
Love the way it feels in the room with so many kids working together and loving it!
See the thinking face on that friend there? Priceless. 🙂
Conversations galore. 🙂
Sara and her buddy work to decorate their FRIEND poem once they are finished. Fun AND pretty!
We added our FRIENDS poems to our Learn. Create. Collaborate. bulletin board in the hall. Now we get to see them every day and they are inspiring! 🙂
Check out a slide show of our buddy pairs. We noticed how many partnerships look like twins! Funny how that happens. 🙂
Read Aloud Timeline: First Grade Version
If you’ve been here a while, then you know about how big of a deal read aloud is in my room, and you have probably read the rationale of the read aloud timeline, too.
Well…then you can understand how dismayed I was related to this topic when I first heard of my move back to primary. I had spent 10 years collecting some of my favorite upper-grade chapter books, reading some of them over and over, year after year because of their impact and enjoyment.
Don’t get me wrong, there are read alouds in first grade, too. TONS of them. I mean sometimes we read 4-5 picture books in one day. But I was sad that I’d be missing my chapter book time, kids all gathered around my feet hanging on every word, yelling “don’t stop” when I closed the book because the chapter was over and the story was just too good to not keep going. What I found out is that that scene can happen in first grade, too–it’s just with different books and different kids.
I have been a collector of books for a while, and spend much of my summer reading piles and piles of them. Now the piles I get when I come home from the library are just as tall, but there are more books in them. So actually all of the things I love about the read aloud timeline are still happening, just in a little bit of a different way.
I chose the first book we’d read this year, after recommendations from two fabulous first grade teachers I know, Leah and Christy. When I asked my colleagues to share favorite primary chapter books, they separately suggested the My Father’s Dragon series by Ruth Stiles Gannett. I was kind of shocked that in all the years I’ve been both reading and teaching, I’d never heard of them. I tried the first book out with my own kids at home this summer and it was a hit, so I figured I’d follow their advice and try it out.
When we got to the end of this book, and it was time to draw the images for our timeline, I was a little unsure if they could actually do it. I know, that’s probably not fair, but again–I had established the whole idea with older readers and was only partly sure that beginning readers (or listeners in this case) would be able to process the story in a way that would allow them to create a detailed visual.
But what I got instead was a great collection of detailed, colorful pictures of my students’ favorite images from the book. After two tries of voting for our favorite image (I did learn that it’s REALLY hard to vote on the best picture unless that picture is yours….), we were able to pic one that reminds us of the main idea of the story. Since then we’ve voted to read Clementine, the first in the Babymouse series and now The Lemonade War. I am SO excited with how this is going, and my kiddos love it, too! They love read aloud, and it’s helping them learn to love books–which I hope will stay with them for a long time to come!
Check out what this year’s portion of the timeline looks like:
Bummer…I just hung up the latest one today, but didn’t get a picture of it. See how great those look up there? The best part is that we’re already on book 4 and we’ve only been in school for 6 weeks! We’re on track to fill up the whole wall with timeline images!
Another view. Oh, and there’s the title I finally got up to go with our self-portraits. Things have been busy in Rm. 202!
Tooth #3!
The longer I am in first grade, the more I am learning the power (and the necessity) of slowing down and enjoying the moment. Like this moment from yesterday:
Yep, Ella Marie lost our 3rd at-school tooth! And while there are always a thousand things to do, and many, many things to learn (because there’s always a ton to do!), I am remembering every day that it is a BIG deal to lose a tooth, and especially to lose a tooth at school–I mean come on, you get the tooth necklace that way! I am reminded that living in the moment is really important, and is often when some of the most meaningful learning experiences happen. I have been with “big” kids for so long that I have forgotten some of the simple joys of life with 6 YOs, and am so glad to be reminded of them on a daily basis. Happy lost tooth, Ella Marie! I’m glad I got to experience one of these firsts with you, kiddo! 🙂
Read-to-Someone
We’ve been busy-bee readers in Rm. 202! Remember how I told you about Read-to-Self? Well, after we figured out how to do that pretty well, it was time to add something else to our Reader’s Workshop time and our good readers toolbox.
A few days ago we started talking about how good readers sometimes work at getting better by reading to someone else. Before we jumped in with both feet, we had a conversation about what it would look like/sound like to work well while reading to someone. We decided you should be sitting right next to your reading friend, that you should be using quiet voices, and that there are several ways to read with your friend: both of you in the same book, each reader with a copy of the same book, or one takes a turn and then the other. As we go through the year we’ll learn more about how to get better at helping our partner figure out words, as well as how to have deep conversations about the books we’re reading together. For now, though, we’re getting good at the routine of read-to-someone, and having fun working on reading with our friends!
Evan and Jacob read a Black Lagoon book together.
Landen and Nate get comfy on the rug with their book.
Amelia and Millie read a dinosaur book on the rug together, too!
Sara and Makayla read at the coffee table together. Don’t you just love how great that table works with little learners? Just the right height for kneeling. 🙂
Emily and Ava each have a copy of an old favorite–Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola.
Ella Marie and Briannia share another old favorite–Clifford!
Diego and Thomas found a cozy spot in the corner to have a conversation about their book.
For kiddos–What’s your favorite part about read-to-someone?
For parents–What are your kiddos saying about read-to-someone? What book would you choose to read if you were in Rm. 202?
For teachers–What tips do you have for using read-to-someone with first grade readers?
We want to hear from you! 🙂
Small Moments
We have been moving and grooving in first grade–in more ways than one. We’ve been moving our bodies, but also moving our minds as we are learning about what good writers do.
In our district, and at our school, we use a wealth of knowledge and resources to teach our content. Right now we are utilizing a FABULOUS unit of study from Lucy Calkins, all about personal narratives–which she calls Small Moments.
So far, we’ve set the stage for our Writer’s Workshop, by learning the procedures, as well as important things like where we keep the paper and other supplies in our writing center. We are just a few days in and have already talked about:
- how writers remember the story by telling it out loud first, thinking about the beginning, middle and end
- how writers remember the story by touching and telling the story across the pages of their booklet, sketching the pictures first, then writing the words
- how writers can go back and add in details they forgot the first time, using carats to add words, or just writing more to the end
- how writers can tell the difference between a WATERMELON story or the SEEDS inside it (which are the small moments we are focusing on)
- how writers stretch out words they don’t know how to spell, and use the words around the room and the word wall to help them
- how writers need each other–writers worked with a partner to add details by answering questions their partners were wondering about (like who, when, where, why, etc..)
It’s been really amazing to see the progress both in writers’ ability and their willingness to try new things in just the short days we’ve been working together.
Evan, Millie and Ava are hard at work on their writing. Don’t forget your name and number on the top! We’re working on learning the date, too. 🙂
Charlie’s getting started by sketching his picture first, then adding the words to the beginning of his story.
Check out how Landen’s being a super-smart first grade writer and using the alphabet chart to figure out the sounds in his words!
C.J. uses the alphabet chart, too, as he adds words to his pictures. Jacob is hard at work getting his ideas down, too!
See Thomas using his rubber band to stretch out a word? Peyton checks out the chart, and Lauren is busy working on a story about a princess. 🙂
During our Writer’s Workshop, writers can work wherever they think they can do their best work. Ella Marie found a studio spot all by herself at the kitchen table.
Makayla and Briannia are working on their Small Moments at Table 3.
Millie shows off her word wall skills as she writes Joshua’s name. There are rings with the word wall words that hang under the regular words that kiddos can take to their tables.
We have an anchor chart to help us remember the steps to writing a story. We have been adding steps to it along the way.
Our writing folders help keep us organized: the green means it’s a story that we’re still working on and the red is for stories we’re finished with for now. The file folder in there will come later, but will be for the project kiddos are working on right now.
Becoming a Writer: It Starts Here!
It’s no secret that I LOVE writing. Besides just doing it, I read about it, talk about it and LOVE teaching it. I am sure you’ve read those posts here, and if you haven’t, why you take a minute and do so? It’ll be worth your while, I promise! (In addition to the posts I linked, you could check out the writing tab or category for more about what writing looks like in my classroom).
So it’s also no secret that I was a little sad about leaving what “big kid” writers do. When I first learned about my move back to primary, I lamented the lessons I wouldn’t teach about using the Writer’s Notebook, conversations I wouldn’t have and craft lessons that I wouldn’t be able to include in my Writer’s Workshop; first grade writing is more about becoming a writer than being a writer. In short, I felt like I was leaving a little bit of myself in 5th grade–a part of me that I would really miss.
And yet, the more days I spend with my little writers the more I’m remembering the joy of teaching beginning writers. The wonder and amazement that they come to my lessons with is priceless. The smiles on their faces as they share stories of learning to ride a bike, tackle a scary roller coaster or ride to school and wave to someone out the window of the bus. As we are learning strategies that real writers use in their work, I can see them file those in their toolboxes to pull out later in their writing. I am already seeing progress in the way friends are adding details to their pictures, adding sounds to their words and ideas to their writing.
The most exciting part of being on this end of a student’s writing journey is the influence I have in helping them learn to see themselves as writers–and maybe even like it! There were times that 5th grade writing was frustrating because there was such a hurdle to cross in getting them to believe they could do it. Unfortunately, back then my friends had 5 years of believing the WEREN’T writers or that they HATED writing to try to overcome in the short amount of time of time we had together. Now, I get to help these little friends start to see the power in their words and encourage them to do great things with them–for today and for years to come!
And so yeah…I’m kinda pumped about it. 🙂
20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher 