Beginning of the Year Writing Inspiration

Hello Everyone!
Well, starting my 33rd year as an educator of young children has been inspiring.  I gain strength from these kids every year.  They rejuvenate, exhilarate, substantiate,(and just about any "ate" word you might think of...or make up!! :) me to no end!  We also have an amazing first grade team this year and I anticipate nothing but "awesomeness" happening this year.  
We began the year with our Super Hero theme and the kids love it!!  A huge thank you to our wonderful moms for helping with the hallway vision!! And the kids' little projects to start the year came out so cute!!


Our shirts say "I Teach 1st...What's Your Superpower?"   (I'm in the red skirt)

We will put kid's pics on the stars.  Can't wait!!! 

Thanks to the moms who took all the pics!!!

One of my roles this year is to help plan the written expression lessons.  I am in love with helping kids write!! On tap this past week was showing kids where to get inspiration for their writing.  Many of you have your kids create a map of the heart.  That is exactly what we worked on this week.  The idea comes from 

Georgia Heard's book, Awakening the Heart.

For this activity we focus on the "heart that feels. " The heart holds so many memories, loves, places, etc.  I created my heart for the kids to get an idea of what inspires me and then let them get busy with their own!

Mini poster of heart questions

My "Map of the Heart"

These became a part of the kids' writer's tool box.  

One of my sweet teammates shared what she loves to do with her kids to help them look inside and feel special.   Will. I. Am. created a song for Sesame Street called "What I Am."  Oh Yeah!!  We pulled it up on You Tube and sang and danced away!!  The words are so powerful!!  We created a large I chart including the fun words and then the kids created their own showing "what they are."  This will go into their tool box as inspiration as well!!

If you are inspired, CLICK HERE!!! :)

I'll be back soon to share some of the "name" activities we did to get to know each other and learn about letters and sounds. Stay tuned.  I hope your beginning of the year has been just as SUPER as mine!! 

Ready or not...here we go!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Words DO Hurt

Hello Everyone!
I am so looking forward to doing our Superhero unit with our new group of Superlearners! As I was thinking about the beginning of the year, I knew I wanted to incorporate the "Wrinkled Heart" activity that I've done the past 9 or so years.  We always spend time talking about bullying and how we always need to think before we speak. I like to use Chrysanthemum or Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon for this activity.  Take a giant paper heart and have kids crumple it up each time something is said that hurts the main character. After the story, try to smooth the heart. You can't get get the wrinkles out.  A great hands on and visual activity to help kids understand that words do hurt. Have kids place band aids on the wrinkled heart as a symbol of their commitment to thinking before they speak! Here are a few pics from previous years. It has evolved!!

Well, to go along with our Superhero unit, I decided to try using a paper superhero cape!! I think it will work. I redid the little poem as well. Take a peek!

For Reader's Response Journal

For your own little unit with the heart and cape ideas, CLICK HERE!

Have fun with this!!  And have a Super weekend!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Superhero Unit to the Rescue!

Hello Everyone!!
I hope you all are doing well! The last couple of days have been rainy! We need the rain soooo bad, so I'm not complaining! In fact, I love a good rainy day!! It means "Cleaning and Creating!"  Needless to say, I worked on the "creating " part first! I was able to finish up my Superhero Unit! Are you still trying to figure out your beginning of the year theme? Well, this little unit ended up to be over 100 pages, but it is full of "setting the stage for a positive year" activities. I have included some "Getting to Know You" activities, as well as organizational, incentive, goal setting, ELA, Math, Science, and Just for fun endeavors. Most of the supplies you will need to enjoy and learn through these activities can be found at The Dollar Tree or Target Dollar Spot. Here are just a few pics of what is included.

First Day Poster to color

 

Patterns for this little cutie are included in unit

Use Glow Bracelets for mini portable Venn Diagrams

A Strategy Game

A Subitizing Game

This little unit is Super Free!

Fly on over and CLICK HERE!!!:)

I hope that you can use even a small part of this.  Please let me know if you spy any typos or if you can think of something else you want me to include!! I can't wait for school to start again!! I'll share pics of hallway and door displays when we get those up!

Now off to do some cleaning and then maybe some more creating! Oh! And I need to read our ELA book for our summer bookstudy.  We are working on "Make It Real" by Linda Hoyt. So far, I'm loving her practical strategies for using informational Texts with our littles!!

Looking forward to this joy filled day!! Hope you are too!

Joyfully!

Nancy