Fun Friday at Camp Raby

Last Friday, we went on a "hike" behind the school to observe animal habitats and types of plants.  To continue our camping theme, this past Friday we took a walk to the butterfly garden and observed types of insects we found there. (We used our "magic binoculars" and went back to class and wrote about our findings.)

We also had a picnic, where we found plenty of insects unintentionally...probably not the best idea I've ever had, but it was fun for a short while:)

For snack, we had "campfire" cookies and sat around the lantern reading camp stories for rest and digest time.

 We also did a sequencing activity on "how to make a S'more".

We've survived the transition to first grade well, made new friends, and had fun learning about each other.  We'll have one more week of "Camping" and I'll let you know this week what our theme for September might be!

Camping Out with Common Core

So I've been a little nervous about pulling the Common Core through my thematic units, but not having a specific pacing guide this year is actually a bit freeing.  This week we are working on story elements and writing about them.  We are also looking at nonfiction and tying it in with science, specifically focusing on the animals we would see if camping.  Here is a glance at some of our projects and literacy in action.

The "hiking legs" project was a Cara Carroll idea.  I read Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping aloud, and we talked about the word "literal",  and how the same phrases in language can be used to express different meanings. Students wrote about their favorite Amelia moments from the story underneath the boots.

This was a small group activity that I downloaded for free on TpT.  It is a camping board game that we used to practice Unit 1 Letterland words.  The game cards are tents and S'mores....way cute and made practicing those word cards a little more fun.

These two drawings are AMAZING...the directions were to identify the characters, setting, conflict, and solution through illustrations of the Harcourt story "The Hat."

This one was just for fun.  Students designed a tent on the very first day of school and described where they would like to camp. They are on display around the mirror in our classroom with the heading "Happy Campers".  We also did a survey on how many class members have actually gone camping.

Two more bulletin boards...one in the hall and one in the classroom.  This one says "Hiking to New Goals in AR." The little people above the board are students' representations of themselves.

Last week we also went on a hike on our trail through the woods.  The kiddos thought we were going on a real field trip...they were super excited, even when they realized we were just taking a walk. They made pretend binoculars, got out the field guides, and identified types of plants and trees on the trail, as well as looking out for animal habitats and bugs. (I can't believe I forgot my camera that day.) For literacy centers, we set up tents in the classroom using sheets and read Kevin Henkes' books in honor of the first week of school. Students learned how the mouse stories began and the process through which Henkes creates books.
     Students also made some super cute portfolios to look like sleeping bags, which will hold all of their "camping gear" (work) for parent night next week.  I'm not sure what September's theme is going to be, but it will be hard to leave the campsite.:)

Before and After

     This is my 19th year of teaching, and I can honestly say that I believe this was the best first week yet! My new firsties are responsible, smart, and eager to learn.  This was what my classroom looked like before....

and this is what it looked like AFTER my new kiddos arrived in their sparkling new shoes....

(The sticks and rocks in the middle made up our "campfire" and went along with our opening theme of CAMPING.) I just love their colorful little feet:)

     On the first day, we read The Kissing Hand and ate kissing hand cookies made by me the night before school started. I am always such a bundle of nerves the night before that first day, that I can't sleep.  So I make cookies...(and I eat chocolate...lots and lots of chocolate:)

I feel so fortunate to have such a sweet class this year, and supportive parents who turned in 100% of the paperwork and supplied us with lots of extra "stuff" for our class.  I'm excited about a great year and look forward to posting lots of photos here.
     

Yesterday our class performed our first Readers' Theatre of the year with "Cinderella Bigfoot". Despite the fact that a tree fell across our "stage" and we had limited room to perform, the kiddos had a good time practicing reading with fluency, expression, and oh.my.word...character. Does this class ever have CHARACTER!

For Readers Theatre, we typically read a book on Mondays, find the script free from readinglady.com , read through the scripts on Tuesdays, assign parts and practice repeated readings on Wednesdays and Thursdays, then bring props and costumes to act out our plays on Fridays in our outdoor classroom. The kids absolutely LOVE going to the woods. It is like our own little Terabithia. (Or at least it was, until tornadoes dropped trees on it.)


Meet the cast:

Cinderella Bigfoot and Prince Smeldred

The Stepsisters, Wheny, Whiny, and Moe

The Stepdog, The Stepcat, and The Stepladder:)

Elsie, The Dairy Godmother

The Queen and King

The Narrators

Artistic Director

Next week, we will do a science experiment script entitled "The Bouncing Egg." You won't want to miss photos from that one! To go along with comprehension and retell, I found an activity on First Grade Parade called The Yellow Brick Road that looks really engaging. Students recall setting and characters, plot and events by traveling on the brick road as they retell the story. There are free printables to download here:

Yellow Brick Road Retell

I know what you're thinking....it is so not Valentine's Day anymore, so why is that template still there?  Well...I am thinking the SAME THING!  Aaagh. I found the cutest spring templates and Blogger is just not cooperating.  I have worked for two solid hours editing HTML codes, got all the way to the previews on two different designs, and am then unable to save them. I will. keep. working.
     So what, you might ask, has my class been working on lately? Well, with my assistant out for six weeks or more, it has not been easy finding time to blog about such cool happenings as I had hoped.  We have been busy assessing, always, we do the regular routine kind of stuff with county adopted programs, but honestly, this is the time of year when I get bored out of my mind and need to change things up a bit.  Again, I have to thank all the Pinterest posters out there for the fun ideas.  Since February, we did contraction surgery, we burst contraction balloons, hopped on pop for Seuss Day, shrunk hats for leprechauns, proved that opposites attract (first graders did some electroplating!), and did a few things, well...for fun. (That is allowed in school, right?)  Here are a few pictures from the last month in review:

We began learning contractions by surgically altering words and putting them back together with a bandaid for an apostrophe.  The students completely loved this activity.  They completed a hospital report following the activity with their names as "Dr. ___" listing all the words that had undergone surgery.
     The next day, we popped balloons that had the contraction written on the outside, but contained the two separate words inside.  The students had to decide which two words made up the contraction before popping it back apart by sitting on the balloon.  I'm not sure it was really worth blowing up all those balloons, but it was fun while it lasted!
     I should entitle this blog "blog possessed", because not only will my layout not save, but now my pictures will not rotate.  I can only assume it is Blogger's problem.  Surely it isn't me?  Is it? I planned to keep this blog real, and here is my evidence!  My sideways photos are staying in!!

On Valentine's Day, we graphed conversation hearts, learned all about St. Valentine, and the class made some REALLY cute Valentine boxes.  I was completely impressed!

On the 100th Day, the firsties drew portraits of what they would look like when they are 100 years old....

And on St. Patrick's Day, the pesky little leprechauns trashed our classroom.  They did shrink the hats, but they escaped the traps and left a few gold treasures behind....

Enough said.....

The hats turned out adorable!  I'll definitely repeat this activity next year.  The class was super excited, and their smiles were so worth the trouble for a little glitter mess:)

tired but inspired

     So in order to keep this first blog real, I have a confession to make.  I am TIRED, people!  I think I have been tired for seventeen years!  The little people in my life keep me on my toes all. day. long.  I love them, I really do.  But I am exhausted.  Yet I have that same feeling I get in August (not the sick one because summer is over, but the other one).  You know the one.  How when you go into a teaching store and it is the very start of the school year ....and you get all motivated by all the new cool STUFF?  You see the potential of what your classroom can be like THIS year? And you get inspired by all sorts of ideas and it is actually sort of FUN to get organized? sort of.

Well THAT is how Pinterest and this whole blogworld is changing my perspective.  If your school district is like mine, and if you've been teaching for a while, you know that just when you think you have a handle on things, everything just goes and changes.  So I am absolutely THRILLED to see all the elementary ideas people are blogging these days, and none of us have to invent the whole wheel anymore, just a spoke here and there:) Plus,  I have a Pinterest obsession.  I'm afraid I am going to need counseling over it. Not really.  Maybe.

I want to show my classroom through my blog with the ups AND the downs, the things that work for me AND the things that DON'T.  I want to share with all of you other firsties and get ideas from you too.  I like the cutesie stuff, but we all know that a lot is lacking in the commercial offerings out there.  My desire is to combine the Common Core with FUN.  It seems to me that our resources are either too dry or too "fluffy", do you agree?

Anyway, come by anytime to see what's going on in my class and I'd like to stop by yours too!


Here's a look at my classroom happenings of the past few days:

My first graders worked on a marshmallow math activity I found on Pinterest.  It is free and printable...I just have to figure out how to post the link.  It involved sorting, measuring, graphing, comparing, and adding.  (and eating:)

The greater than/less than symbols are sometimes confusing, but no one seemed to have a problem imagining the "big mouth" chomping the most marshmallows.

After students graphed the various colors of marshmallows, they tasted one of each and graphed their favorites using post-it notes on the board.

We also did an inferencing activity seen on Pinterest (I think it is a Cara Carroll idea.)  The kids LOVED this.  I have read the book No, David! to my classes for years, but never had an activity to do with it.   This one got the idea of inferencing across beautifully (and of course the favorite part of the story is when David runs down the street naked!)

As you can see, the Davids were "first grade made".  I don't use a lot of templates.  If it is an art activity, it needs to be created with their own style!

I also tried out the Twister "Sight Word Edition" game for one of my literacy small group stations.  I did not want to write on the game, so I put down sight words from a pack I found at the dollar store.  The game is now in my weekend bag with a Sharpie and a word list...I am so going to write the words on the game.  They got kicked everywhere.  Also, it is best if a teacher or volunteer can oversee the game or the kids TOTALLY cheat.  They don't read the words and they cheat on the left/right thing as well.  But the REALLY liked the game.  Even when they had to play by the rules:)

Have a great weekend all!