Fall Party

We had our Fall Party today at school and it went very well. I like to think of it as controlled chaos.  I had enough parent volunteers, which is always a must and the kids were very well behaved and still had a lot of fun.  Below are some pictures of the activities that we did at the party. I had six stations.

Station #1 - Oreo Spiders using Oreo cookies, Twizzler strings, M&M's, and frosting.

 

Station #2 - Ghost Name Glyph - My student teacher came up with this great idea. She printed each student's name with this cute Halloween font and they filled in the letters with colors depending on their answers to the questions. I didn't get the best picture of this one.

 

 

 

Station #3 - Spooky Fingerprint Pictures - Using a black inkpad, students put multiple fingerprint marks on their paper and then turned them into different Halloween characters - spiders, bats, witches, skeletons, etc.

 

 

 

Station #4 - Decorating a pumpkin - simple station - just construction paper, scissors, and glue!

 

 

Station #5 - Cookie Decorating - the standard frosting, sugar cookies, and sprinkles. Surprisingly the kids didn't get too carried away with their toppings this time!

 

 

 

Station #6 - Fall Stories - a parent read fall stories to the group.  A favorite of the day - Goodnight Goon

 

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I meant to get around after the kids finished the party and take better pictures, but didn't get a chance to. 

 

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween with their kiddos!











Setting - Literary Elements Activities

After spending two great weeks learning about characters as a part of our literary elements study in first grade, we moved on to learning about setting.  Setting is a tough one for first graders and it always has been for some reason.  The main part we focused on for these two weeks was where the story took place. We did discuss the time and the "when it took place" part of setting, but that discussion took place whole group.

Below are some awesome stories we used to focus on setting:

• Library Mouse
• Shark in the Dark
• Swimmy
• Chewy Louie
• Zinnia and Dot
• Corduroy
• Owl Moon (used for their assessment)
• The Gingerbread Cowboy (used for their assessment)

Setting Activities:

• The easiest setting activity we did only takes a white piece of paper. We had students write the title of the story, name the setting, and then draw a picture of the setting.
• Then, after a training on staff development day, I realized the Brace Map (thinking maps) would be a great way to identify what details led to the identification of the setting.

• For practice and for our two Friday assessments, we used the setting page seen below...

Google Docs - Setting Page

 

Here are a few kid examples for the story - The Gingerbread Cowboy.  My favorite part about this assessment is kids not only have to identify the setting, but they also have to provide evidence from the book that led to them picking that setting (the upping of the rigor in Common Core :-))

 

The setting is desert.  I know this because in the book there is sand in the desert and cactus.

 

The setting is the desert. I know this because in the book there was cactus and a coyote and the wild pigs.

 

 

Below is the rubric we used to grade the setting portion and reading response.

 

Got 5 minutes....

So you know that time in your day where you have about 5 minutes until it's time to go to recess or about 5 minutes until you need to move onto the next activity, but it's too soon to really get started on something else.  Well, here's an activity I often use as a filler in my room.  It's quick and also still educational! Each week we learn a new sound/spelling in first grade with our reading program.  Since our school is Thinking Maps trained one of the activities I throw in as that quick five minute filler is making a circle map with our sound/spelling of the week. It's a quick activity, allows for each child to participate and be engaged, and gives kids an opportunity to review and practice our reading sound of the week. 

Parent/Teacher Conference Week

It's the week that some teacher's dread, but I happen to find very enjoyable...Parent/Teacher Conferences week.  For some reason, I really enjoy this week and having the time to sit with parents and chat about all of the great things their kiddos are doing and all of the progress they have made so far this year.  This year it's even easier because I have all of my data in one place....my Data Notebook Binder.  In years past, I've had a binder with reading stuff, a binder with math stuff, and stuff in piles.  This year, I'm all organized. 

Of course, I had to make a cute cover. 

 

Inside, I have a tab for each child. I chose the dividers with the pocket in the front so I could have a place for papers that don't fit so easily in the binder. 

 

Behind each tab, I have the following items:

-Quick Phonics Screener (by far my favorite reading assessment)

-High Frequency Word Assessment

-Phonemic Awareness Assessment (for students who struggled on DIBELS only)

-1st Quarter Math Counting Assessment

-Problem Solving Assessment for 1st Quarter

-Counting Items Assessment

 

 

 

This has made conferences so much easier so far...only 2 more days to go!

Common Core - Characters and Opinions

A few weeks ago we took on the Common Core Standard in reading that focused on identifying characters and also took on the writing standard that focused on writing about your opinion.  Our first graders loved these books and loved these activities.  They also did a great job stating their opinion and why they felt that way about a certain character.

Here are some books we used throughout the two weeks to teach characters:

• Shelia Rae the Brave
• Ira Sleeps Over
• Chester's Way
• True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
• Julius, The Baby of the World
• Goldilocks and the 3 Bears

Below are some the activities we completed with the stories.

For Chester's Way and Ira Sleeps Over, we made circle maps that named all of the characters in the story.  We first made the circle map together, then gradually over time the kids made it on their own.

 

 



 

For The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, we made a bubble map listing characteristics of the Wolf, Alexander T. Wolf.

 

 

 

After reading Strega Nona, we made a double bubble map comparing Strega Nona and Big Anthony.  The kids got a kick out of this story - they always love when the pasta boils over and into the town and they also love at the end when Strega Nona makes Big Anthony eat all of the pasta.

 

For the first character assessment, we used the story, Julius, The Baby of the World. The kids had to make a circle map and list all of the characters from the story. Then, the kids had to write an opinion about the main character Lilly and support their opinion using text from the book.  They did awesome!!  See a few examples below...

Lilly was a bossy girl. I think this because in the book she was saying I'm the queen, I am the boss.

 

 

 

Lilly was an annoying girl. I think this because in the book she was messing up the numbers and letters.

 

 

Lilly was an annoying girl. I think this because in the book she was dreadful to her brother and not inviting him and not encouraging him and being mean. 

*Loved this one! Great word choice*

 

 

 

For the second assessment, we used the story Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.  The kids completed their circle map and then wrote their opinion of Goldilocks. 



 





Nouns

The new Common Core Standards are being used in full swing now at my school and I for one am loving the Common Core. At first, I was concerned about the increase in rigor and wondered would the kids really be capable of what they're asking them to do.  Well, I have since realized that yes they are and it's so important that we don't limit kids because often times they will surprise you. 

Below are some ideas for teaching the Language standard on Nouns - Common and Proper.

We started out by watching a BrainpopJr clip on Nouns.  The kiddos love Moby so anytime I can incorporate Brainpop I definitely try to add it in.  After watching, we started our tree map on nouns.  We decided that nouns are used to name things and to start out with we were going to focus on people/animals, places, and things. 

After reading A Mink, A Fink, and a Skating Rink - A Story about Nouns, we added more nouns to our list (for now - common and proper nouns mixed...I was mainly worried about them understanding the noun without them worrying about what type of noun it was).  After studying, common nouns for a week we took our Common Noun Sorting Assessment.  We use Thinking Maps at our school, so I used a tree map for the assessment that matched our class anchor chart map.

Common Noun Word Sort - Tree Map Assessment

Week 2, we focused on the difference between common and proper nouns.  This was a little tricker to explain and the kids have definitely struggled a bit with this.  We first used the anchor chart we originally created about nouns and went back and reviewed the words.  We used two different colors and circled the common nouns in one color and the proper nouns in a different color.  Then, we read the story A Lime, A Mime, a A Pool of Slime - More About Nouns.  After reading the story, we made a tree map only for proper nouns.  See below...

After studying common and proper nouns, the kids took a test, again set up like the anchor chart tree map, however this time instead of sorting into people, places, and things, the kids had to decide if the noun was a common noun or a proper noun.

Common and Proper Noun Sort Tree Map Test

And this is why I teach....

It's been a bit of a challenging year, but on Friday, I was reading through the bucketfilling slips that my sweet first graders had written me and I came across these two gems.  Kids are so cute and loving at this age and every once in awhile it's good to look at these little types of notes and remember why I got into teaching in the first place.

Miss V - You chechen (teaching) us.

 

Who doesn't love a sweet note like this?

 

 

Also, here is an anchor chart my first graders and I came up with explaining what a bucket filler and what a bucket dipper look like.  This anchor chart is hung over by the bucket filling area as a reminder.

 

 



Safe Place - Ideas for Students with Extreme Behavior

I've always had the typical behavior kid like I'm sure most of us have ever year - blurts out, is impulsive, doesn't listen, doesn't follow directions, etc and feel like normally I'm pretty capable of handling most behavior issues in my classroom.  Welcome to school year 2012-2013 and it is a whole new ballgame.  My typical behavior strategies haven't worked on two of my students who have some extreme behaviors - disruptive, running away from adults, hitting, kicking, screaming, extreme definance, etc.  Now, I'm aware this is starting to sound like a pity party (and I'm past that stage lol), but this isn't what the post is about.  I wanted to share some ideas that we're trying with these two kiddos in case it might help some of you with difficult kiddos. I can't take the credit for most of these ideas because they were a team effort.  I'm hopeful that those of you who also have difficult kiddos have a great administration supporting you. I'm very lucky to have the principal and assistant principal fully backing me along with the Behavior Intervention Teacher who we brought into the mix a few weeks ago.   I'm also attending PBIS training tomorrow for my school, so I'm hoping to have some other new ideas soon too!


One of the ideas that my fantastic assistant principal suggested was having a "Safe Place" available in the classroom.  "Safe Place" is a designated spot where students can go (either on their own or sent by the teacher) to calm down.  Since space is limited in most classrooms and I wanted "Safe Place" to be in an area where I could always see what the child was doing, I ended up taping off a large rectangle towards the back of the room.  Far enough away from the direct instruction area that students can't be too distracting, but also within eyesight so I see what they are up to.  "Safe Place" works sometimes and doesn't work others.  I also have found that a number of kids can use it.  I have a few kids who when they have a rough day, they throw a temper tantrum. "Safe Place" has worked extremely well for those students as a place to take a few minutes to calm down and get back on track.  Now, for the two extreme students, "Safe Place" works sometimes and doesn't work others.

Now, in "Safe Place" the extreme behavior students and I have come up with a list of activities they can do in "Safe Place" to help themselves calm down. This was another idea from my fantastic assistant principal.  The two students and I sat down when they were calm and talked about some things they think would help them calm down when they are angry or upset.  Both students picked hugging a teddy bear, drawing a picture or writing words, doing a puzzle, reading a story, and taking deep breaths.  Now, in a perfect world someone could be back there with them directing them to pick an option when they go to "Safe Place."  In the real world, that someone needs to be teaching the 20 other children in the classroom while the one child works on trying to calm themselves down.  Since I can't be back there every time to help them through the process, I came up with "Safe Place" cards, which I adapted from this Power Card idea I saw on Pinterest. I tweaked the Power Cards a bit and also called them "Student's Name - Safe Place Cards" and put the student's picture on the front. See the images below to take a peek at the "Safe Place Cards." I highly recommend putting them on construction paper and laminating them.  Mine didn't last a week before the student tried to rip them apart so thank goodness for a strong laminating machine :-).  After laminating them, I hole punched the cards and put them on a ring so the student can flip through the strategies and pick the one he or she wants to use.

In addition to putting the specific student's name on their cards I also put a picture of the student at the top.

We go over the Anger Rules a lot.  It's important to go over them many times when the student is calm because when they're angry they're not hearing most of what you are saying. 

Since I teach first grade and most of my kiddos are still learning to read, I used words and pictures. I also used pictures of the actual items in the "Safe Place" box so the student would be familiar with what was on the card.

 

 



Hope these ideas might be helpful. If anyone has any other ideas they've tried with students with extreme behaviors, I'd love to hear them - add a comment below!

 

Thanks!