It's been a great weekend and I've LOVED spending time with my family and an old friend. So good for the soul. :)
I have to update you on a few cute things that have been happening in our neck of the woods, but first....the GIRL SCOUT COOKIES craziness has begun!
It completely slipped my mind that I had placed an order from one of my old students, and low and behold they arrived on Thursday! ((My Husband was super thrilled!)) I on the other hand must resit the temptation to indulge on these addictive treats!
She also created the cutest little thank you note/receipt! I was impressed with her business skills. :)
This past week we have begun learning about the world of Contractions! I briefly explained what a contraction was and how they were created, and used a cute idea from another first grade blog..The Contraction Crocodile! He chews up words and spits them out in a new form! The kids were ALL over this, and I think it really helped them visually understand the concept.
Each student then made their very own with as many contractions written on the crocs belly as they could. I've never seen them work so hard to fit all of them in!
Finally, I have to share our latest Inferring Adventure.
This week our mentor text was one of my FAVORITES! The Royal Bee.
The story tells of a Korean boy named Song-ho who lives with his mother, working in the fields to help his family survive. He is too poor to go to school, but decides he wants to create a better life for this mother.
Each day he sneaks down to The Sodang School and eavesdrops into the days lesson given by Master Min.
We began with discussing the meaning of critical vocabulary words and inferring what his life was like based on the text and the pictures.
My students were so engaged with this deeply rich text and so we decided to take it further. They each wrote their own letter to Master Min explaining why they thought he should let Song-ho into his school, even though it would break the schools rules.
They took this SO seriously. It was fantastic!
The next day we read on and discovered that Master Min did in fact allow him in.
He studied with the other students and was sent on to the Royal Bee which was a competition of knowledge that only one student from each school could attend.
After the competition played out, Song-ho and another pupil were the final two standing.
I took this opportunity to reinforce the concept of predicting and using textual evidence. I gave the students 5 minutes to write their prediction and then we came back and share before reading the end of the book! 
I love that this student said Song-ho would win because he is smart, brave, confident, competitive and very strong...he will be the Champion! :) So good!
After sharing, we read on Song-ho did in fact win!
It was a great experience that I feel left my students wanting more.
On that note, it's time to prepare for the week ahead, and I can honestly say I'm looking forward to the learning possibilities that the week holds!
--Mrs. Hunter
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