Hello Everyone!
We had a very busy 4 day week last week. Why do I always try to cram 5 days of learning into 4 days? You would think I'd have learned my lesson by now!! PHEW!I think my littles are enjoying first grade so far, though!! I had one sweet mom say her little girl came home every day saying first grade was more fun than summer camp! Wow!! I do like making learning fun, but I also want to teach responsibly by making sure each lesson sparks authentic and real individual learning. I believe in a hands on and visual approach to learning with my kiddos. This has proven itself to me time and time again. No student ever said, "Can I have another worksheet?"
Here are a few things we worked on this week.
In math we worked hard on subitizing, composing and decomposing. I pulled out my bigger than life 10 frame board (made on a shower curtain liner) and made each lesson tactile and visual.
The kids loved the superhero shields and badges I found at The Dollar Tree!
In Writing we started working with Story-boarding. We weren't able to make it all the way to publishing because of the short week, but we will certainly hit it this coming week!! I have to say, if you have students who hesitate or have an aversion to writing, this is the approach to take. In just four days I see my students gravitating towards their getting their ideas down on paper through their boards. By drawing their story first, they are already learning about the organization of writing and the importance of adding details. I started off reading the book "Ish" by Peter Reynolds. (Thanks to my teammate for introducing this book to me!!) This sweet books lets kids know that their drawings don't have to be perfect!!
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| I modeled a story with simple drawings and stick people. I wrote a few words to help clarify. |
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| Then modeled organization of board and writing |
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I can't wait for Monday to continue the process!!! Way to go Kids!!! My Writing Unit explains the process and includes printables. CLICK HERE!!! :) |
Then we practiced our scientific observation skills by doing a fun Super Skittles Surprise Experiment!!
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| Look at the S floating up !!! The Skittles science is in my Superhero unit! CLICK HERE!! Tomorrow is our 10th day of school already!! We are celebrating that very important number all day!! Here's a peek!!     |
I know some of you have been having trouble downloading documents. I have contacted Googledocs, and they are looking into it. Please keep fiddling around and retry. You can always e-mail me and I can send you docs by e-mail! No worries!!
Have a great week everyone!!! Let me know how things are going and if you can use any of these ideas!! Or if I need to change anything!! I appreciate you all!!
Joyfully!
Nancy
Thanks for the writing/storyboarding unit! It is just what I am planning for this week, and your resources will be such a perfect help.
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing! Thank you for sharing your quality work! My kids will just love the skittles experiment!
ReplyDeleteHolly
Do you have a copy of that cute scientist foldable somewhere? Thanks so much for sharing all of your goodies!
ReplyDeleteShelly
Hi Nancy
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog. Your students seem to enjoy your learning activities. I would also like to say thanks so much for your generosity. Your units are outstanding.
Regards
Caroline
Hi Nancy! As a first year 1st gr teacher, I am loving your units! thanks for being so generous... I , too, had problems downloading the docs. I did google "help and someone gave an answer that worked, at least for now..If you can push the print button, push it and then change the print from your printer to the click that says "save as PDF." You will have to rename it, but it will save. It saves as jumbled numbers and letters, so I just renamed it what you are calling it.. Hope this makes sense to you and helps someone else! Thanks again for your tremendous generosity! Amy :)
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