Heartstrings and Teaching Things

Hello Everyone,
Well, this past week has certainly been a mix of both emotional joy, and at the same time emotional devastation. We enjoyed a beautiful week of heartstring activities in class, while dealing with the tightening of the strings of so many friends, fellow teachers, and schools in the Houston area because of Hurricane Harvey. At the time of this post there are over 40,000 fellow Texans in shelters, with damaged or demolished homes. At times, all we wanted to do was go down and help, rescue, and provide. Our school has, of course, started a donation drive, our district is collecting school supplies, and there are many opportunities to donate financially. Right now, is a great opportunity to teach kids about sharing what we have with those who have lost everything, to be  examples in this hard time. I know they will feel the tugging on their own little heartstrings.  

Want a printable of this mini poster? CLICK HERE!!

Besides the impact of Harvey on our hearts and minds,  we've had a great start to our school year.  With our pirate theme in full gear, the kids have had fun getting to know each other and showing what they know.

Meet the Teacher Night Message in a Bottle!

This past week we set up our writer's workshop and focused on the inspirations around us.  We know that we write best about what we know!  For the past gazillion years, we have had the kids create a map of their heart.  I love using the book "Treasures of the Heart" by Alice Ann Miller.  In this sweet story, a little boy shows his mom what treasures are hiding under his bed and that each of the treasures has a story.

After reading the story, I show the kids a large jar of treasures from under my son's bed when he was little!

I have done this same lesson a few times in years past, but this year I challenged my kids to build a "jar" with treasures of their own heart.  I gave them each a plastic container and added a sticker.  We wrote a note about what to include in the jar and slipped it inside to take home.  The kids brought them back the next day with their treasures.  They were able to share the "stories" behind the treasures with their writing partners. Writing inspiration!!!

After sharing their treasures, we started work on our "Maps."

I loved how this extra step has already inspired my kids to write from their heart!

For the specifics on this lesson, I have a little unit I shared a while back, but here it is again!

CLICK HERE for the printable unit!

Thanks for stopping by our "Window on Wonder." These kids have already stolen my heart, and I'm excited for the year. I can't wait to share more with you! 

Stop by again soon!!

Till then, please consider making a donation to your local Harvey Recovery Donation site. This is going to take the proverbial village!!! Thanks in advance!

Joyfully!

Nancy

firstgradewow@gmail.com

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” - William Wordsworth

Hello Everyone!
This post is a joyful and emotional one for me.  Mostly because as I was creating this little writing unit, it brought back some incredible memories and  brought some joy for the days to come.  I was working on setting up some pieces for my writers workshop and decided to beef up my motivational lessons for the kids.  Part of this motivation includes the well known "Map of the Heart," a beautiful idea from Georgia Heard.  I've been doing the map of the heart thing for years, but I always thought something was missing. I needed the kids to be able to make more of a connection. Using a mentor text like "Treasures of the Heart" by Alice Ann Miller helps to clarify the heart part! I have used this book for other things before, but it fits so perfectly with the motivation and inspiration with which I want to cover my kids. The book is about a little boy who has many treasures hidden under his bed. His mom wants to clean, but this sweet boy wants to share the wonder of the treasures of his heart with his mom instead. 
Many of you know that my boys are older and are out of the house.  Many of you also know that I don't throw anything away.  Well, as a connector for me, I went upstairs to my oldest son's room. (Yes, it still looks the same as the day he left for college!) I dug around a bit, with tears rolling down my face,(cause I just get sappy sometimes) and found a few of the treasures from his childhood. He even had a little jar with some things tucked in, just like the boy in the story. Such sweet memories. I added a few more things to the jar and knew I had my own inspiration. 

Every kid has his/her own treasures, heart treasures, things that are so meaningful. I want to motivate my kids to write about those treasures. I don't want just their favorite food, or their pet. I want them to feel safe in sharing the treasures of their heart.

Giving kids time to develop an idea bank is something I want to spend a lot of time on this coming year. I want to set them up for success, and never have the chance to say, "I can't think of anything to write about!" 

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."

We will try our best, Mr. Wordsworth

So, that's how my new map of the heart student page came to be. It is included in my mini unit!

The picture right above shows another fun motivator. The idea came from another great mentor text.  Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. There is a mirror down in the bottom of the can!!  Kids need to see themselves as authors!! 

If you think you might want to try this you can CLICK here for the 15 page mini unit!

The unit includes other book titles to use, some other writing idea pages, and pics of some motivators. 

I am getting excited to start this new school year!!  How about you??

Next up?  Some more writing.  This time, a new small moment mini unit!

Till next time!

Have a joyfilled week!

Nancy

  

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