I'm Baaaaack!

Hello All!
I have neglected my blog long enough.  After some personal life changes that took all my attention, I am going to try to post again this school year.  I have some cool things to share (at least I think so) and am looking forward to getting my ideas back out there in the cyber world.  When I logged on I was overjoyed that my blog was even still here.  Even better?  That it continues to be viewed every month!  Thank you for keeping it alive for me.

My colleagues and I have been working super hard on Daily 5, GLAD, and Deanna Jump's "Guiding Readers" series.  We love it all.

Check back in the next few weeks! 

3, 2, 1, We Have Lift Off of....

California has new science standards, called the Next Generation Science Standards http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/ngssstandards.asp, which, for first grade, include teaching about patterns in the sky. So I, along with my first grade team of two wonderful teachers, developed a unit called "Space Systems:  Patterns in the Sky."  I have to admit, I was secretly thrilled that I finally FINALLY get to teach about space, even though we'd spent the better part of a lifetime developing other units based on those other standards.  I dove in wholeheartedly.

Putting our best GLAD thinking caps on, we searched the internet and google images, the GLAD website, Amazon, the school library, and of course, Teachers Pay Teachers for resources.  We put together a unit that I'm really happy with.  We started out randomly gathering information about "celestial objects" and then put lessons in order that seemed appropriate.

To introduce the topic, I color photocopied Fly Guy:  Space, a book in which the popular Fly Guy and Buzz go to a science museum.  I laminated the copies and glued the text to the back.  I then told the story about going to a space museum as a Narrative Input, taping the pictures onto a large backdrop as I told the story.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!

We had to think of CCD words (Cognitive Content Dictionary), so I taught "celestial," "lunar," "phase," and a few others that related to the unit.  Then once I had my learning awards ready, I could start teaching.

Here are some examples of learning awards, which I make with Google images and Microsoft Publisher.  I can't make them available for download per copyright laws, but they are very easy to make if you know how to copy/paste and draw a text box.

(I am unable to make my computer cooperate with this image for some reason!)

I decided to begin with stars since stars make up most of the sky when you look up and I wanted them to know what a star is before teaching them about the sun...a star input chart was generated (really, it's more like a "label-it" since it doesn't have categories) and used for about 2 weeks.  Once I do the initial teaching, they respond in their journals.  The next day, or the next time we have science, we review the chart with the Star Wars pointer.  I pass out pictures and smart cards, kids turn and talk (called the 10/2), then we come back to the front to once again review the chart, but they tape the smart cards and pictures over the appropriate spots.

This is the Star Input Chart after sticking vocabulary words and pictures to it.

After each input chart, we want to teach a chant, song or poem with movement.  For this lesson, we taught a scientific version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Little Star song here (coming soon)

Once they had some knowledge about stars, we created a Sentence Pattern Chart about stars.  Students had been previously taught adjectives, nouns, and verbs and they used the vocabulary they had been hearing to help think of words for the chart.  Here it is:

This chart was used many times, orally, to sing, to the tune of Farmer in the Dell, some Super Sentences.  It goes, "Adj, adj, noun.. Adj, adj, noun..Adj, adj, adj, noun, verb, prepostional phrase."  They turn and talk about what sentences they could create, then share out.  Another great activity to make it even more meaningful, is to write all the words in the proper color-codes on sentence strip.  I give each table group a baggie of sentence strips containing each category from which they must cooperatively create a sentence and share it.  After that, I was wondering where I put that flask :)  But seriously, these activities provide the scaffolding they need to be able to produce their own written sentences.

My colleague and friend, Kresta, used to scrapbook, so she used her hole puncher to create dots and had her kids make constellations.  So I blatantly copied her.  I'm not bashful about that!  Since stars are not star-shaped, they are ball-shaped, it worked perfectly.  I attached their star Super Sentences they created with the Sentence Pattern Chart:

I wish this photo had come out better...

This is a diamond shaped constellation.  This student was very successful in writing her sentences!

On Teachers Pay Teachers, I found a Moon Unit from which we pulled some really great pages for the kids to respond with, particularly the pages that have them write 4 facts about a given celestial object.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Moon-Unit-and-Project-Bundle-Objects-in-the-sky-40-Pages-CCSS-1056194

From there, I did a Comparative Input Chart on the sun and earth.  I included prior knowledge they now had to describe the sun (a star, a burning ball of gas), and the earth, which they had learned about in our map unit.  On the chart I compare how the sun and earth are the same (both are celestial objects) and different (Earth has life, the sun does not) and have them turn and talk to do the same.

This is after day 2, when the kids had already stuck the pictures and words onto it.

As with every input chart, we re-visit it and add "smart cards" which are just index cards on which I've written vocabulary words.  They are passed out to the kids who talk about their card, then when we review the chart again, we make decisions about where to stick them right over the original wording on the chart.  We also add pictures where it would make sense to do so.

After this lesson, I had them use their oil pastels to create a sun with yellow, orange, and red, then add a sticker of Earth (I've had these stickers from I-don't-know-where for a really, really long time).  While I was modeling, I used the terms on the chart like "hot burning ball of gas" and "celestial."  Someone remarked that the sun must not be that hot of a star since it's not blue.  WOW!  They are really thinking....

These are done on 1/4 sheet of 12"x18" construction paper.

During all these input lessons, students have opportunities to earn "Learning Awards," given out by student "Scouts."  These students sit behind the class, at desks (not on the floor), watching for the desired behavior, which is articulated by me before we start.  They get opportunities to give awards out and tell why it was earned.  At the end of the lesson, scouts choose an award for themselves.  The purpose of awards is to get academic vocabulary in the home, but they are really effective in getting the kids to focus on the lesson better.  See picture above...

Three weeks in, we taught about the moon...where it is, what it's made of, the gravity situation, etc.   My favorite book about the moon is If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty.  It beautifully describes what a kid would need/do/experience on the journey and on the moon, in addition to comparing the moon to Earth with a beautiful fold out section. I read it to the kids after we made two input charts on the moon, one that had facts about the moon and one that taught the phases of the moon.

After this lesson, they learned the Moon Chant, which we got off the GLAD website.  Thank you to the author for sharing!

Now we are getting the "pattern" portion of the unit!

More patterns in the sky!

With my students' help, I color coded the text by part of speech, thinking it will enable my low readers to more successfully read it independently.  We also acted it out with partners, one being the sun, one being the earth, then switching to one being the earth and one being the moon.  It was pretty awesome!

For homework I assigned a Home-School Connection.  Here are some of them:

These two were very detailed.

Here is another art project we did on the moon.  I traced a paper plate to make a circle, then photocopied that onto gray construction paper.  I had them come to my table in small groups to paint, encouraging them to dab the paintbrush to make mountains and craters.  I also had a small paper cup ready for more texturizing.  The next day, they cut them out and wrote sentences about the moon.

They asked if they could make a background.

He got the idea about texture!

The coupe de gras.....the Cooperative Paragragh!  In our GLAD refresher class, we were told that THIS is what all the strategies lead to, being able to analyze the information and put it together in a thoughtful way.  Imagine that.

This strategy always intimidated me/challenged me.  It isn't easy getting 6 year olds to cooperate, yet they are supposed to come up with a sentence, together with their table, that is accurate, falls within the topic, and is written clearly, with a marker.

Here it is:

When they finish writing their sentences, they put it in the pocket chart.  When everyone is finished, we edit the paragraph, with me "thinking out loud" as I go.  I discuss the indent of the first line, how we use a capital after a period, how we use the whole line up then continue onto the next line, transition words, how to group sentences, and a conclusion.

Kresta had a great idea...Have them write their own paragraphs.  So she made this frame and the kids used all the charts we had made, all the chants, the Cognitive Content Dictionary, and the sentence pattern chart.  They were all successful!

Other things we did...I broadcast the launch to the space station from Kazakhstan, which was declared "boring," probably because it did not have any special effects, fireworks, or crazy camera work.  We visited the Discovery Museum, Science and Space Center, in Sacramento, during which time the kids experienced a planetarium show.

The best things were when parents came up to me and told me how much their child is learning, telling them about stars, earth, the moon, and the phases of the moon.  Two incidents stand out in my mind:

• As a mom and daughter were stargazing, her daughter told her that the blue stars are the hottest.
• As another mom and daughter were watching the sun set, her daughter told her that as it gets dark here, it's light on the other side.

So many amazing experiences came out of teaching this unit.  It was worth the hours and hours of extra research, prep, and more prep.  Can't wait to do it next year!

Ceramic Self Portraits

     I love working with clay!  So do children, so this is a good mix.  At the end of the school year, we sit in small groups and make a loose version of "sgraffito" self portraits onto a clay pancake.  They are fired, glazed with clear gloss, then fired again.  The kids are always amazed when they finally get to see and touch the final product and can't believe it's something they made.  
     I'm not sure where I got the idea for this, but it might be in an art curriculum called Spectra.
     I model the entire method before anyone does anything with clay.  First, on a quarter sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" paper, I pencil sketch a simple picture of me, telling them to keep it simple, because clay is different than paper and details won't show up as well.  Then, on my lap, I roll out the clay, make holes for ribbon, use my sketch as a guide and gently scratch the same sketch onto the clay, warning them to not be too strong as you can go all the way through and it will break in the kiln.  "Gasp!"  The drama is what gets them...

1.  Start with a ball of clay about the size of a ball that would fit in a child's hand.  Roll it out onto a paper towel or paper plate to make a "pancake."  The paper towel is crucial so you don't have a masterpiece stuck to the table.  Roll to a about 1/4" thickness, no less.

2.  The adult then needs to use a straw to make two holes in the top of the pancake for ribbon.
3.  The child then uses anything pointy you have laying around, like a toothpick, old pencil, skewer, paper clip, etc. to scratch their self portrait from their practice sketch.

4.  Then use your alphabet rubber stamps for the child to stamp his/her name in, or, let him/her write the    name and stamp the year.  Whatever you want.

5.  Let dry for about a week, longer is better.
6.  We fire to cone 06, as anything hotter isn't necessary.
7.  Glaze with clear glaze, being careful to not drip onto the back.  If any drips do occur, clean off with a wet sponge.  Also, check the holes for glaze or you won't have holes anymore.
8.  Fire again and add ribbon!

I don't have a final picture, but imagine the one below all shiny like glass with a pretty satin ribbon in the holes.

     These are too much work to not show off!!   So they are proudly displayed on the wall for Open House.  I do, however, let the parents remove them from the wall, as the thought of them in a backpack, on the bus, gives me shivers.
     If you have a kiln at your disposal, working with ceramic clay is a must.  This is easiest and cutest clay project you can ever do, even if you have zero experience with clay.  There's a reason I've been doing it every year for the past 109 years!

T is for Turkey

     The truth about the first Thanksgiving use to be completely lost on me.  As a kid, I was taught about Pilgrims and Indians and my entire bank of knowledge about the matter was through what I learned in elementary school in the 70s.   I've always liked Thanksgiving, mostly because it's not a gift-giving holiday and it's remained a day to set aside the daily grind, spend time with family and reflect upon that for which we are grateful.  Back then, my entire extended family got together at my Aunt Helen's.  My mom contributed pies and cheesecake while other members contributed the rest of the meal.  There were cousins to play with and the Twilight Zone marathon to watch while we waited seemingly endless hours for dinner to be ready.
     In years past, I've shied away from teaching about Thanksgiving, other than what we do for a "thankful" performance, because I don't want to pass along the myths as truth.  Here is a link from National Geographic Kids that explains the origins of Thanksgiving:  http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/first-thanksgiving/  After reading through this, I felt better knowing I'd gotten what I do teach mostly right, with a few exceptions pertaining to dates.
     So, with that said, I'd like to share what my team and I do for the month of November, since it's typically a month of minimum days, followed by a short week, and chopped up periods of time anyway.  It's the perfect way to carve out that time to rehearse a performance!

photo from amazon.com

     A few years ago, a colleague found this book for sale at our library book fair.  She thought it would make a great play, as it's an ABC book with facts about Thanksgiving.  We set out to add music and poems throughout the story and voila! We now have a tradition.
     In order for the kids to understand what it is they are saying in the performance, we used our GLAD strategies to teach about where the settlers came from, why (briefly) they left Europe, and what it was like for children.  They can relate to that.
     On our map of the world, I drew a symbol for the Mayflower and showed them how it left Europe, crossed the Atlantic, and landed in Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth.

I made this map at the beginning of the year to teach about oceans.  I will continue to add to it all year.

     Then I taught them about the ship itself.  To prepare for the lesson, I google-imaged a diagram of the Mayflower, copied/pasted it into Microsoft Publisher, made a transparency, then used my overhead projector to project the image onto the board where I had chart paper taped up.  I lightly sketched the ship in pencil.  Thank you to whomever made that image available!  Please note:  if you currently have an overhead projector, keep it, because this technique doesn't work as well with a document camera.  Just sayin'.
     When it was time for the lesson, I used markers and talked my way through drawing the ship as they listened. I had my scouts watching for anyone who should get a learning award.  After 10 minutes of teaching, they turned and talked (this is referred to as a "10/2" strategy, meaning you teach for 10 minutes, then let them talk about it for 2 minutes).  The scouts awarded the good listeners and we moved on.

I'm now seeing my errors.  Are you?

     The next day, I passed out labels for reinforcement of academic vocabulary.  They had to turn and talk for a few minutes, figure out what their labels said, what they meant, etc.  We then reviewed the poster (really, it's just me and my Jedi knight pointer) and the lucky ones with the labels in their hands got to come up and stick them on.
     When that was over, I told them they were now going to get to learn how to draw this ship!  So I passed out paper and instructed them to get their black crayon out.  "I don't have a black!" ensued, so once we got everyone the correct color (do they eat their crayons?!), we proceeded.  It's so funny how nearly everything turns into an exercise in problem solving.

          I started with the body of the ship, across the bottom, then up to the beak and told them do the same. When I'm drawing, I'm constantly referring to the vocabulary from the poster, encouraging them to go ahead and try, to make mistakes, enjoy the act of drawing and not be concerned with the final product.  Otherwise, they'll never take the risk.  This is also why I always have them draw in crayon, to avoid perfectionism.  I love how each one turned out different!
     To fill in any gaps, I read The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern, as I believe it comes closest to what is on the National Geographic Kids web page.  It takes a closer look at how being on the Mayflower was for the children, who only had one set of clothes, shoes and no toys.  Learning about hardship is not lost on many of them, as they all too often experience it themselves.

photo by amazon.com

      I really like it when I can point out the fact they were real people, not cartoon characters, and the native people were torn about them coming.  I am, however, guilty of not teaching about the dishonesty and bad treatment that came the following year, though, and am not sure if first grade is the time for that.
     So for now, since they are only 6 years old, they get to memorize lines, recite poems, and sing about how Thanksgiving in this country came about.  We used songs from a Wolf Press play about Thanksgiving ("66 Days and 66 Nights" and "Our Trip to the New World"), several poems that we googled, some silly and some sentimental, and a Raffi song called "Thanks a Lot."
     It's a bit stressful, but I keep telling myself over and over again, "It'll be fiiiiine!"  Every time they sit on stage, practicing, but are talking and messing around, "It'll be fine," is my inner voice.  Because, gratefully, it's always FINE!  How can it not be?

This and That: Desks, Tally Boxes, and Fluffy

     My students have desks now, instead of tables, and it has made a huge difference in management.  I love being able to say, "Get your ____ out and _______," instead always having to store, pass out and collect everything.  In other words, they manage their own crap stuff.
     They still sit in table teams, some facing each other, or with their sides to someone's front, but during certain periods, I let them turn their desks to the front of the room.  I've started saying, "You are allowed to  ______," and for some reason, they think the simplest thing is super special because they are "allowed."
     "For the spelling test, 'you are allowed to turn your desk facing front' ready, go."  I count to 5, there is a hurried scramble to get their desks in just the right spot, then they have to stop right where they are when I say 5.  I am constantly being amused and entertained, especially during the spelling test.
     If you've never witnessed the first spelling test in first grade, I urge you to volunteer, aka:  spy, on the class when one is scheduled.  We move desks, I pass out papers, check that absolutely everyone wrote his/her name, and tell them, "Put your finger on number 1."  I check that everyone has their finger in the right spot.  "Nope, that's not 1, put your finger on 1."  When I believe most of them know where to write the word, I instruct, "Say 'rat'." They don't say it, but rather:

     In unison, "rrrrrRRRR.  aaaAA. t."  I don't tell them to do this, it just happens.  It happens for all 10 words and is so cute.  I'm lucky to have a parent in the room at the time, doing homework folders, and we exchange glances/smiles.

     Remember the dog homework folder tub I made?  Well, it's working like a charm.  Whenever a student tries to hand me a homework folder, I simply say, "Go give it to Fluffy!"  The lit-up face exclaims, "oh yeah!" and scampers off to do just that.

     A colleague shared her "morning work" that she does every day, so I tried it out.  I like it, especially the back which has a sight word to read, a sentence to read, and then a little rhyming ditty with the sight word in it.  Each has a tally box in which the students put a tally mark after they read.  GENIUS.

     Now they tally everything they read and it has changed my world!  The poem of the week, the sight word sorts they make, mini books, etc...are all have a tally box, or the kids can make a tally box.  I've even started using tally boxes for when they finish a worksheet early.  I have them practice an element of the worksheet on the back and tally, "Practice 'the' on the back and tally each time you write it."
     And when they read something to somebody;  a classmate, me, a parent, the principal, they get to collect the initials of whoever listened.  They love to show me how many initials they have on whatever they are reading!  Since repeated reading of familiar text is the key to building fluency, and kids are typically more drawn to video games and tv than to reading, anything that gets them excited to read excites me.
     Finally, Highlighter Game.  Every week they have to sort their spelling words by whatever concept the list is focused on.  To take it one step further, I started "Highlighter Game."  I used to use real highlighter pens, but due to $$ issues (and the fact that using a highlighter pen in the proper fashion is lost on 6 year olds), I have them use their yellow crayon.  To play, they have their completed sort and their crayon.  I have the words and call out hints.  If the word is pig, I might say, "Find the word that means a mammal that says, 'oink'."  Or I might do a cloze (fill in the blank), sound out a word for them to put together and find, or just say the word and help them decide on which column to find it.  It's a fun way to encourage higher level thinking while also practicing the spelling concept for the week.

They cut and sort words on Tuesday, then read and tally until I ring the bell.  We play Hightlighter Game on Thursday afternoon as a quick review.

     Every minute of every day is filled with meaningful learning activities.  So sometimes, I get overwhelmed by all I have to do to keep the cog moving along.  The resulting knots in my neck and shoulders is the evidence that I stress out.  But, on Pinterest I saw the most fitting verse that had a very positive effect on me:

"Stress is caused by giving a f __ __ __."  

     When I no longer give a F, I'll look for something else to do with my time.  Until then, let's hang out with Fluffy and play Highlighter Game!

     

Cats

     This year marks the 10th or so year that I've been teaching out of the Houghton Mifflin reading series.  I won't go into budgets/categorical funding/state of California or whatever is the reason behind having the same series for this long, but suffice it to say, it's stale.

     We start off with very easy, phonetic and predictable stories like The Cat Sat and The Mat.  Both are about cats, which are typically a high interest topic with first graders, but I think they each have about 25-30 words total, with the featured sight words making up about a third of that.  When I thought about teaching this again, I was filled with dread.  Ugh, the same old same old...

     But being trained in GLAD strategies, I was able to breath new life into Sam, the cat who sits on the laundry, tv, and dining table no matter how many times he's told "Go, Sam Cat!"  I gathered pictures of cats and taped them to a blank "mind map" which had the word "cats" in the middle of it.  I had the kids put their "heads together" and talk about cats, then tell me words that describe cats, which I wrote on the mind map.  Doing this readied them for reading the story and making it more interesting.
 

     Later in the day, we chanted and put motions (total physical response) to a poem about cats.  When they put it in their poetry folder, they had to copy the simple sketches, highlight their words, then read and tally.  It was an awesome day and made me look forward to more cat activities during the week!

I don't know the author of this poem.  I've been using it for Forever, though.

     The next day I used the Sentence Pattern Chart strategy to teach sentence building.  GLAD encourages using academic vocabulary, so across the top of the chart I put the parts of speech that would be in our sentences.  I had to complete the chart over two days, as the kids got antsy more quickly than I had anticipated, so the first day, we just brainstormed the verbs and prepositional phrases (the where? and when?).  The next day, we reviewed the poem and the story, then finished the chart by adding adjectives.

Made by First Graders who talked it out first.  I messed up on the color for verbs, which is ok, since I don't encourage perfectionism.

     We practiced singing the sentences to the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock and had lots of practice orally.  By the next day (day 3) I had the parts written on strips, color coded.  Their table teams were tasked with building ONE sentence with the parts I had given them.
     Their first cooperative learning lesson went pretty well.  There was some protest such as, "I don't have enough"  or "She took mine," which I knew would happen.  It's so interesting that even though I modeled and explained, had individuals repeat directions back, and I had the whole class repeat directions back, that this still happens.  It must completely baffle new teachers.  Anyway, it took some maneuvering (thank goodness there were 3 adults in the room!), but they were able to successfully make their sentences.

This was the 10th day of school, as evidenced by the Zero the Hero puppets!

        Each team then had to make sure everyone at their table could sing the sentence.  Each table got a chance to show off!  A few tried to hide and not do it, but when we all encouraged and clapped after their second try, their faces lit up with huge smiles.  This makes my heart sing.

        So on the final day, a Thursday, I wanted them to write their own sentences using the pattern chart.  Again, we practiced some singing to the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock all together, then I told them to "turn and talk" and tell someone a sentence.  Then I had volunteers say their sentence aloud.  After I modeled how to build my own sentence by using the parts of speech on the chart, I gave them some cat stationary on which to write their own sentences.  They ALL did a great job!!

Serious, orange cats sleep on the couch.

I didn't worry so much about punctuation and capitalization, as the objective was to build a sentence properly.

      GLAD works, and I encourage anyone who has to teach anything at all, to get trained and utilize the strategies.  There is no other way (that I know of at least) to get kids talking and using academic language quite like it.  

    Next week, we will read another tired story, Ten Dogs in the Window.  I plan on doing these same activities, plus some others...

Jitter Juice Revisited

     My colleagues and I decided to try our Jitter Juice lesson again this year on the first day of school.  It was so much better than last year (see post called "I'm GLAD to be a Teacher")!!
     I used the GLAD strategy for vocabulary (CCD chart, can't remember what that stands for!) in which I say a new word and they make predictions about what it means.  There was lots of discussion about what that word could mean.  Here are some of the responses:

"sitting up straight"
"space, like the universe"
"the universe" (perfect example of language acquistion!)
"the earth" (another great example!)
"a janitor, you know a spanish word for janitor" (this one had me in fits)

     I then praised them for their responses, as it seems like they really thought about it.  I then modeled the TPR (total physical response), which was like this:

Me:  "Jitters"
Them:  "Jitters"
Me:  fingernails in teeth, "nervous and worried" and eyebrows scrunched into a worried face
Them:  Copy me

     This would then be our signal word for all transitions for the next two days.

     Then I read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg.  It's a very cute book with a funny twist at the end!  All day long, I took stock and asked the class if they were feeling the jitters less or more, not at all, etc.
     During the last hour of the day, I poured grape soda into cups and had them line up.  When it was their turn to have Jitter Juice, I put a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the soda and I was delighted when each student lit up!  When I finished serving it up, I went outside (where they were sitting with another adult), I asked if it was helping.  The resounding, "YES!" said it all.
     When we came back into the room, I wrote on the board:  "Do you have the jitters now?" asked each student, and drew tally marks.  The score was 21 nos and 5 yeses.
     All in all, this was a fantastic first day of school.  Maybe the Jitter Juice really does help.