Catch a Small Moment!

Hello Everyone!

It is no secret that I love teaching writing to my firsties. Today we talked about how the authors of some of our favorite books write about "small moments. In her book, "Small Moments-Personal Narrative Writing," Lucy Calkins describes the action of these authors as taking a small moment of life and stretching it out to make even longer stories.  My kiddos already know that they write best about what they know--from their own schema, but today I wanted them to "catch" one of their small moments.  We donned our "safari" hats and caught some small ideas on sticky notes, made some lists,  visualized those moments in our minds, and began our "small moment" piece. We are discovering our own stories! 

Our Small Moment Anchor chart

 Catch a small moment. Picture that moment in your head. Talk about the details of that moment. Draw that moment, and write about the action!

I got the safari hats from the Dollar Tree this summer! I knew I would find a good use for them!!

Small Moment Catcher hats are ready!

For your printable of our "Small Moment" writing activity, click here

I was so excited at the amount of writing my kids did today.  Many of them didn't want to stop!  We will work hard tomorrow and the rest of the week.  I am so looking forward to conferring with each and every one of my "Small Moment Catchers!"

I hope you catch one of your own small moments and discover a story!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Candy Corn Connection

Hello Everyone!

Great week at school this week!  We worked hard on place value and expanded notation in math. This time of year I like to bring in the fun fall inspired math manipulatives...This week? Candy Corn!  We worked on the best way to count a large quantity of items and discovered that if we group things by tens and then by ones, it was a faster way to count! That led us to experimenting with expanded notation and the composing and decomposing of two digit numbers. We ended the week with a fun, quick little candy corn math craft connection. Take a peek!

practicing expanded notation

Sweet candy corn connection

For your 11 page Candy Corn Connection mini unit including craft connection patterns click here

Thanks for stopping by for a peek! Stay tuned for more fun learning!

Have a sweet weekend!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Sunny Sunny Day! (Objects in the sky)

Hello Everyone!

This week we spent a lot of time learning about the sun. Our science curriculum stresses learning about and observing the objects in the sky.  We learned some amazing facts about the sun through reading books and getting on PebbleGo.  We had some fun with some poetry and created a craft connection to go along with our poetry.  (I forgot how much fun finger painting can be!)  

Our Circle Thinking Map

Remember this song??

Brainstorming words for our poetry

Fingerpainting a sun

Writing our own poem around the sun

For your free printables and pics of the charts and craft connection, click here

Tomorrow we plan on measuring shadows. But I think it's going to be a rainy, rainy day. 
Next week?? The Mysterious Moon!  Stay tuned!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Lollipops and Dots- Short O Rocks!

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for stopping to take a peek into this wonder-filled world of first grade! This week we are working hard on the short o sound in our word work. We learned a fun song about short o. We brainstormed  lists of short o words.  We tried to include short o words in our writing, and we had fun practicing them.  Two fun activities that will help cement the use of short o in words were our "Lollipop Words" and our "Dot Words." Take a look at the pics! 

Simply cut some white circles. Draw a swirl.  Write all the op words you can think of. Trace over words and swirl with a marker. Color. Tape on a stick! Yum!

Dot words were made with bingo dot markers. (We had some dot markers left over from our bubblegum unit!)  Some kids decided to create dot to dots out of their dot words! Way to go, guys!!

Have a hoppy...I mean happy day!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Shhhh! We're building our Stamina!

Hello Everyone!

I hope I'm not interrupting and interfering with your own stamina building! :)  But I just had a quick post about our stamina work.  Stamina for our first graders is the ability to stay focused long enough to hear the directions, follow through with several steps of those directions, read for greater lengths of time, write for greater lengths of time, and even sit in one spot in the cafeteria for 30 minutes! Today we specifically talked about stamina in our reading and writing and why it is important to build and grow our stamina. Just like athletes practicing their sports in order to get better and stronger, students need to practice reading, writing, focusing, etc.  We talked about when we are doing our Daily 5, we are adding a few minutes each time.  We are building our own Stamina!  We are going to be stronger readers and writers!! As the kids were working today, I told them I was going to look for those whom I could tell were really working on building their stamina. As I found those kids, they were rewarded with a stamina strip (just a little paper bracelet), as well as being rewarded with work done completely and growth of focus on reading and writing evident. 

Here's a little poster we have hanging in the room! :)

Earning a Stamina Strip!

Building Stamina by reading to someone for a little longer!

Love the strong man building his stamina!

For your own copy of our Stamina poster, click here! :)

Now you can go back to building your own stamina! Thanks for stopping by!!

Joyfully!

Nancy