Becoming Authors

Today was such a special day because we launched writing workshop! To introduce the students to writing, we talked about what it means to be an author and illustrator. I explained to students how this year, we will all become authors and illustrators. In fact, for many writers it was around this first-grade-age that they discovered their love for books, writing, and story-telling.

Because I am a very "learn-by-doing" kind of learner (and I think most little ones are as well) I believe in giving students many many opportunities to go through the creative process of constructing their very own stories in books - from beginning to end. I explained to students how every author is still learning and growing and one person who helps them to do that is their editor. We decided that as long as they are in first grade, I am happy to be each student's personal book "editor." To make this happen I structure our writing time into the following:
- A mini-lesson (to get students motivated and point out a particular strength/skill of great authors)
- A time for authors to work on their books while I hold "meetings" with students one-on-one to make notes about their progress and for us to edit their book together before publishing (more on that later).

To launch our very first writing workshop, I could think of no better way than to introduce my class to one of the most beloved authors of all time - a man behind some of the most recognizable books in our classroom library: Eric Carl. Here is a peak into his story... the children enjoyed it so much and I hope you do too. =)

First Days in First Grade

It's been such a joy getting to know this group of first graders and their families! 

I'm always amazed by how quickly these young minds work and how well they remember. In just two days we've learned over a dozen procedures (and had a bit of fun too). This first photo is from yesterday when we were learning our bathroom procedures. We learned that germs spread easily and it takes more that just water to get them off!

To demonstrate this, I sprinkled a little glitter and olive oil into one student's hand and had him shake hands with a friend. Then that friend shook hands with another friend... before you knew it we were all COVERED in "glitter germs." Students then went into the restroom and did their own experimenting with hand washing to see what it took to get their hands clean again. We learned that only hot water and soap could get it all off!

. . . . . 

Today we began learning our procedures for reading workshop. More and more research has emerged about reading and literacy and all of it says that there is a direct correlation between the time a child spends engaged in reading each day and their proficiency in the subject. Because of this, my class uses very few work pages. Instead, our entire reading time is structured into the following:

FIRST: I teach students a concrete reading strategy (or tool) they can use to help them become a better reader

NEXT: the whole class spends time reading and practicing their new strategy while I conference with students individually.

We will go through this process several times in a day so students will be learning lots of new reading strategies and will spend a lot of time actually reading as well as lots of one-on-one time with me! Here we are practicing what we call "read to self" - when students choose a spot around the room and read silently. 

Can't wait to share more... We launch math stations tomorrow!! =)

Welcome

Hello, first grade families! Thanks for visiting the blog... feel free to look around. I LOVE teaching first graders and like to share all the exciting things that go on in the classroom. A few years into teaching I realized that simply sending home work products and tests can in no way do justice to all the learning that takes place in my classroom, so I began blogging to share a more accurate portrayal of all that we do. 

To give you a bit of background, I was the kind of first-grader who needed to experience something to learn it. Reading or hearing about it alone just wasn’t enough. As it turns out, research confirms what I experienced as a 6 year old... the more our senses are engaged (think: movements, songs, experiments, pictures and video clips) the more we remember. So, as you may already have guessed, we will be doing ALL of these things and many more in my class this year! You can expect a lot of in-class projects, experiments and hands-on learning (and the picture proof will be found right here). However, before we get into first grade content, we have some other very important things to learn: Procedures. Procedures are the way we do routine tasks such as morning routines, moving around the classroom, lining up and walking in the hall. The better we learn our procedures, the more time we will have to learn content.

Thank you all for entrusting your most precious gift to us, allowing us to come alongside you to guide and show them the love of Christ. I’m looking forward to getting to know each of your children and their unique talents and gifts. Much prayer and planning has gone into this year, and I can’t wait for all the exciting things it will bring!

Last Days

The Lord has been so faithful this school year. It’s been one full of change and adaptation, and a lot of growth! I’m so proud of my students and all that we have accomplished this year!!! I wanted to share just a few of the sweet moments our class enjoyed in the last days of school.

The weather was so beautiful, so we spent some time in the garden (that we are so blessed to have, thanks to Mrs. Ramsey and the garden club) just drawing and writing about the amazing plant life there.

So many of the flowers were in full bloom and perfect for sketching detail!

 Super focused!

He was careful to find just the right color to represent his plant of choice.

I had planned for us to spend some time outside in the park/playground area to draw and talk about our favorite memories from the school year using sidewalk chalk. Unfortunately, rainy weather called for some improvisation so I used black craft paper and we created our own “sidewalk” indoors. The students loved this and I enjoyed hearing about their favorite memories. So many of them I never would have guessed...

Like this fella here on the left... yep, that’s a multiplication sign you see. His favorite memory was learning how to multiply =)

After the “sidewalk” was finished we hung it up and students shared their pictures and stories.  

This is one group of lively and imaginative students and I can’t wait to see my first-graders now second-graders all grown up come August! 

Field Trip to Botanic Gardens

I’m so excited and proud to share a snippet of our learning with you from our field trip to Memphis Botanic Garden. It was such a beautiful way to bring to life and connect our learning from science and social studies over the year. 

The event we attended this year is titled “Word of Plants” (check HERE for more info on visiting the garden with your family). 

Students got to check out a real live eagle’s nest!

We also learned how many of the things we use everyday come from plants... 

We visited “Africa” and learned about the many uses of coffee beans... in this case, for mask making!

A finished product!

While there, we dug for treasures in the sand =)

Then moved on to one of my very favorite parts of the Botanic Gardens: The Japanese Garden.

When I was much younger, my family used to take frequent trips to the Botanic Gardens for picnics - and my personal favorite - feeding the fish. It’s a little known secret that the fish in the Japanese gardens go nuts for bread! (shhh...) I brought our class their own loaf, and without telling any of our 1st graders the purpose of all this, had them lay down on their bellies on the dock. On the count of 3 I told them to drop a crumb of bread in the water. I wish you could have seen their faces!!! The fish came out of nowhere and were so thick you could reach down and touch them =)  I can’t begin to describe how exciting it was to able to share one of my favorite childhood experiences with your children... and I have a feeling it’s one they’ll never forget! 

This duck got a little nosey so we decided to let him take part in our little treat...

And no worries - we washed those little fingers thoroughly before enjoying our own picnic lunch!! ;)

 It was such a fun day and makes me grateful that we have such an incredible place for students to learn right here in out city. If you’re looking for a something fun to do this summer, I encourage you to visit the Botanic Gardens! It’s become increasingly more kid-friendly over the years, now with dozens of play and learning opportunities designed with children in mind.

Another little tidbit worth mentioning is what happened after the World of Plants event ended... we had a little extra time to explore my students were fascinated by the plants in the garden (where their seeds were, if they were edible, etc.) as we had just wrapped up our plant unit. As we were exploring, we were lucky enough to happen upon an incredibly knowledgable woman who was the head gardener of the area we were exploring. She was so kind and helpful to the students - answering all their questions and showing them how to carefully touch herbs to smell them without damaging the plants. 

They loved. every. minute.

Thanks to Memphis Botanic Gardens and the incredibly motivated learners in 1-D our trip was such an enormous success! 

Finally a Butterfly

Do you remember way back at the beginning of the school year when our class did a unit on metamorphosis? This video is from September when we got our first class pet - caterpillars. 

We watched as they all formed their chrysalises and waited it out all winter. In all honesty, we were beginning to wonder if they’d ever emerge, but I’m so happy to report that our patience finally paid off. On out very first day back from spring break (appropriately) there was a surprise waiting. One our caterpillars had finally emerged from it’s chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly! 

I wish I had thought to film its release into the garden, but it all our excitement, I was lucky to get this lone, blurry photo! The kiddos named him Peter and waved goodbye as he flew... for the first time in his life! One student, in all her excitement, exclaimed “It’s a miracle!” I couldn’t agree more. =)

Telling Time

In math this week, we’re all about time! Today we even practiced telling time down to the minute! These soon-to-be second graders are catching on quick and I have a challenge for their brains! 

Just as promised, if you can tell the time on each clock (and tell me HOW YOU KNOW what the time is) then I’ll have special surprise for you on Friday!

To get you warmed up, here is our favorite time song:

And now, I give you your time challenge!

(I know that the hour may be a little tricky, but as long as you can tell me why you chose the time you did, it counts!)