Monsters continued

It's Monster Week, Pt. 2!

Monday we did a fabulous lesson that I saw on a blog that I follow and love. It is a great introductory lesson that involves schema and building connections. As we talked about our schema for monsters, I added squiggles of our "magic brain waves." We talked about dendrites, and I even showed the kiddos pictures of our brains hard at work. They loved it! After we discussed our schema, we turned off the lights and behold - our brains had been activated! We'll be adding to our schema all week long. I can't wait to do this activity before starting our others units all year.

To talk about Columbus Day, we also watched a really neat BrainPop video and sequenced the events of his exploration. I was glad to know that the kids already knew a lot about him! We even practiced our map skills to talk about his journey. We've been listening and learning because the kids remembered all about our cardinal directions!

Tuesday we continued adding to our monster schema. We used a new color so we could tell our new information. I was excited to know that everyone couldn't wait to turn off the lights and see how we had activated our schema! :) We then read There's a Nightmare in my Closet and made connections to the story by thinking up our own nightmares. We talked about adjectives and verbs to go along with our nightmares.

In Computer Lab this week, we created Kidspiration projects. We made webs of ourselves. The kids had a fun time using the program, and I was glad to see them all hard at work!

Wednesday we read There's An Alligator Under My Bed and created a Flow Map to make our own stories. The kiddos brainstormed what might be under their beds and what they'd do to get those critters out of their houses. I was excited to see how creative they were being with their ideas. We've been working hard on using capitals and periods, too!

Thursday we had Early Dismissal, so we had a short and sweet day. We researched Christopher Columbus on PebbleGo, as it was his birthday. The kids wrote their facts down on a "sail" then we created our own versions of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. They loved it!

Friday we wrapped up our projects for the critter under our beds. The students wrote their final drafts and then created their beds. We used our watercolors, and they loved it! They really tried their hardest to listen during our painting lesson, and it showed when it came time for them to do their own projects. They turned out so beautifully!

Our student observer did another science lesson with the kiddos, teaching them about light. They were attentive and respectful, so I was a very proud teacher! :)

We learned all about fire safety this week. The kids learned about Smokey the bear. We were very excited to learn that he was a real bear cub! We talked about nonfiction and fiction genres while we learned about the bear's story.

We also created matchbooks with fire safety rules inside. It was interesting to see who had heard of matches before and who hadn't. Sometimes I forget how little our firsties know. It's another reason why I LOVE first grade! We get to learn so much about the world together, and it's very exciting to see those lightbulbs go off each day.

We also did monster math this week to practice addition. The kids rolled dice, added the numbers, and used those numbers to create monsters. They had so much fun and learned a lot!

Looking forward to another fabulous week! Please remember to send back your field trip permission slips if you haven't already! :)

Monsters... and more!

We're now in October, and everyone is excited for holidays and the beautiful weather! I have already been notified a million times that Halloween is this month. :)

Monday we began our monsters unit by reading Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. This is such a fun book, and I find that even though they've read it 100 times, the students still absolutely love this book. We practiced "following the yellow brick road" again to retell the story. The students came up and practiced using sequencing words to tell the story from beginning to end.
We created a Circle Map to brainstorm what we know about making good choices. Then we used our map to help us write a letter to Max about making different choices. We talked about letter format and how to write addresses on an envelope. The kids loved that they'd be sending their letters to imaginary Max! :)

Tuesday we took a break from monsters to read The Chick and the Duckling so that we could make connections to the short u sound. It's so important for the kids to be connecting their phonics across the curriculum, so that they can see how beneficial it is to learn their sounds. After reading the story aloud, we retold it as a class and learned about using expression when we're reading. We discussed different kinds of punctuation - periods, commas, exclamation points, and question marks. We talked about what they look like, how they sound, and why authors use them. Then we read through the different letters using expressions. The kids enjoyed the lesson, and I think it really helped them to make those important connections.

Wednesday we read The Brave Little Monster and made connections to the text. We talked about times that we've been scared before and what we've done to stay brave. We also researched ducks on PebbleGo and created some pretty cute ducks using tracers. We took the information we learned from PebbleGo so that we could create a Tree Map then use that to create sentences about ducks. The kiddos did a wonderful job!

On Thursday, our Student Observer from UH did a great lesson on being good citizens and friends. She had the students create and sign a constitution, then they even said an oath so that they could ensure they'd be great friends. It was such a cute lesson! I was glad to see that the kiddos were in engaged and respectfully listened while she taught. I was a very proud teacher. :)

Friday we closed out our short u week by reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The story had a troll in it, so the kids realized it fit right in with our monster theme, too! We retold the story using beginning, middle, and end. Then a couple of us were adamant about "following the yellow brick road" so we made sure to make time for that, too. We discussed the importance of the setting in the story and created pictures of the setting. Using cut-out puppets, we retold the story then glued it all together. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. :(

In Social Studies, we have been discussing leaders. Using Kidspiration, our class created a thinking web about leaders. We brainstormed different characteristics and examples. Some of us even thought it'd be important to add a key into our map, just like with real maps! I LOVE when we can make these connections! We then learned how leaders have different responsibilities based on the different places they lead. We created a leaders book and learned about the different leaders at home, school, and in government.

We integrated a lot of short u activities into math this week to practice our addition facts. We've been focusing on using part-part-whole mats to help us with addition and subtraction. One day we made bugs with thumbprints (so many short u's!) and wrote corresponding number sentences. Another day, we turned leaves into part-part mats and the students wrote number sentences again. The more practice we get using these new strategies, the better we become. I'm so glad to see the lightbulbs turning on! :)

I also added a new anchor chart to our Calendar time. We have started using our problem-solving skills to work on number sense. We are thinking of all the different ways we know to write our "Number of the Day." It's been going great so far!

We finished off our science unit for physical properties and classification. One day, the kids brought in toys from home, and we came up with different sorting rules. A lot of the students came up with VERY creative rules. I was glad to see that they were using all of their senses when sorting. We came up with living/nonliving, hard/not hard, legs/no legs, turning parts/no turning parts, long/not long, real/make-believe, and various other rules.

Rolls / Doesn't Roll

With Legs / With No Legs

To finish a wonderful week, our class also earned an extra recess! As a whole grade level, we've been giving each class incentives for good behavior. The classes can earn up to 5 stickers a day - 1 for the quietest class before school, 1 for the quietest class before recess, 1 for the quietest class after recess, 1 for the cleanest lunch table, and 1 for the quietest class after lunch. This week, our class won with 11 stickers! I was extremely proud of my friends. The weather was gorgeous, so we got to go outside for an extra 20 minutes. :)

Can't wait for another fun week!