MLK Week...

Hi Everyone!

I'm finally ready and able to blog about this past week. Needless to say, this weekend was crazy! Good, but crazy!

To start, I wanted to share our adorable Martin Luther King writing projects. We read a book titled "Happy Birthday Martin" and watched Brainpop. We discussed why he was a great leader and how he has impacted our world today. The students then wrote about it and made their very own Martin Luther...not pre-cut or traced of course!

  

So cute! I love the one with arms...his closing sentence says "This is why the world loves Martin Luther." Love it!


We also reviewed the concept of verbs! The students chose a verb to use in a sentence and then made a foil person to coincide! My teammates found this idea on another first grade blog, but I'm not sure of the name! So, here's a shout out to that blog! Creative and out of the box idea. The kids had a very fun time "foiling!"

                                   

Moving on, I LOVED, and I mean LOVED our writing focus last week. We are in the process of learning to write How-to-Books/detailed directions. My brilliant team came up with the idea of a reversed Writers Workshop. After several lessons, the students were given about 15 minutes to write their own directions for making Peanut Butter and Jelly!

 

Then, the students sat with a partner and had to read their own instructions to the other student. The student listening had to follow the directions exactly! WOW...I had so many students say, "Now we know why we have to add details!" Exactly my point I thought...

  

After they gave directions, and ate their sandwiches, we came together to discuss how important it is to add details to our writing! I did have students say, "This was the best Writers Workshop ever!...Maybe we should call it Eaters Workshop!" Haha

I wanted to close by showing a few "random" things going on in our room! Due to the winter season, we have hung up our snowflake stained glass! We change these out every season...so hearts are next! We pre-cut the construction paper outline, pieces of tissue paper and contact paper! Easy breezy! 

Check em' out! 

After the Christmas break, I wanted to help my students be a bit more organized! I always tell them that our space needs to be organized so that we think clearly! This will help our brain stay organized. 

Anyways, I bought cheap plastic bins for the students to use as desk drawers. All of their supplies go into the drawer. It keeps the clutter contained! 

     

Ahhh....love clean desks! 

Finally, we are heading into the 3rd quarter and it is time to renew our AR reading goals! Based on the students latest STAR results, each student has a new amount of tests to take. I made these new recording sheets to keep on their desks to keep track of their data. I wanted something short term and visible that would not get ruined! After taking a test, the student can use a dry erase maker to fill in a box. When they have reached the star, they have met their goal!

 

Trying something new and I hope it keeps the students motivated to keep reading and learning! 

That's all for now! Have a fabulous week and keep checking the blog for classroom updates. 

--Mrs. Hunter 

First Week Back! Here we go...!

 

 Ok all,

It's been a great week back and we have accomplished so much!

We are learning how to skip count and my team and I thought it would be great to incorporate authentic literature into our math block on Tuesday.
We read "The Napping House" and then skip counted how many heads, eyes, fingers, and toes were in our families. The students then wrote a paragraph explaining their work! We are always trying to come up with ways to incorporate writing!

 

    

 

 



 

We also prepared for literacy week next week through reading "Leo the Late Bloomer." We discussed how everyone blooms in their own time and how we can set goals to help ourselves bloom. We brainstormed reading goals and also reasons why being a good reader is so important! Then, they all went up on the outside of the door to complete the vision!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So cute! 

 

 



 

We have also finished a cute writing project on hibernation! We read non-fiction and fiction books about hibernation as well as watching Brainpop, and the student created their own story about hibernation. I also took pictures of the students pretending to sleep and attached them to their writing.

It really spiced up the writing!

 

 

     

 

 

 

So proud of them!

 

Looking forward to another great week ahead! Now, off to enjoy the weekend!

 

--Mrs. Hunter

 

 

 

 

Hi all!

Before I write a post on our first week back, I had to take a while to catch you up on our pre-Christmas break projects! There were a few things that were just too good not to share!

At our last class meeting of 2012, we discussed the meaning of the word PERSISTENT.
I knew I wanted to instill the word and concept,  for many students at this age have short attention spans for working through work/projects, so I gave it a go!
We passed the talking stick and shared how we could be persistent and what it meant, then they wrote it down. I have heard the students use it in their conversations with each other, with me, and have heard cute stories from parents on how it is playing out at home!

WINNING! :)

Here are a few!

       

 

 

I also helped the students write their own Mission Statements! I even let them trace them in "Special" markers! Who would have thought such a simple thing would get them going?! They are precious. Check em' out!

 

 



Here, this student explained to her classmates that to be a vet and help others learn about animals, she had to play pretend. I tought the kiddos the new word "visualizing" to encourage creative play!

 

 

I thought it was so cute how she spelled "through"...."thoow." Funny! 

Now I have to admit, teaching writing in First Grade has become a favorite of mine! My team and I are always trying to think of new ways to encourage writing, so this time it was "Publishing Pencils."
We bought sturdy mechanical pencils and had them edit and publish their Gingerbread stories with these special pencils. They also made their very own gingerbread houses to coincide (without me pre-cutting of course!)

So fun! I've never had a class so quite for so long! It was A-maz-ing!

These are a few!

  

 



Love!


I'm so proud of the progress my students are making and I can't wait for what is to come!

Happy Writing!

--Mrs. Hunter

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013!

It's already been wild and I know the year will be filled with many ups and downs as well as several learning and growing experiences!

The first day back from break has come and gone and it was really nice to get back into a routine with the students and with myself! Ha!

Today we read "Squirrel's New Years Resolution" and discussed what our new years resolutions would be! The students came up with some really cute ideas! My favorite was "to learn all the signs of sign language!" So precious.

Now..be for warned.I let the students make their very own project today, cutting and pasting all themselves, so what you will see is  not perfect, but very kid friendly! I'm trying to move away from pre-cutting and tracing everything to improve not only their fine motor skills but their creativity as well.

So here area few cute examples..

 

So cute and so scary at the same time! :)

We also spent a huge part of our afternoon creating a student led rubric for our Read to Self time! Here is what they came up with...

 

 

I was very impressed!

After our reading time the students rated themselves and said what they could have done better if they were not a 3 or a 4. I'm trying to really impress on my students the power of self reflection on a consistent basis and this has been a great way to do so within reading!

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

--Mrs. Hunter