We are on our last week of school. Isn’t it funny how the last week of school seems so distant? It’s a mere five days a way and yet it seems like that Friday will never come. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my job. However, I could use some much needed rest and vacationing.
Our end of the year party we decided to go with a ice cream sundae theme. We gave the children three choices. One of them being an ice cream sundae theme and the others a picnic theme (hotdogs, finger foods, etc.) or dessert theme. Apparently, the sundae idea won them over. If you have any ideas on how you are going to end the school year, feel free to share.
I recently found out that I am looping up with my first graders. This excites me because it is something new for me, not to mention I absolutely love my students. With that to digest, I was also told I will be teaching different subjects and new curriculum. I am flooded with excitement, but also very nervous. I’m leaving the grade I new so well for a grade I have never taught. I have a feeling this summer will not be as relaxing as I thought. I have several things to brush up on and research. I have to make sure the classroom is set up differently, that it looks “older”, the arrangement is different, the list could go on and on. However, the good news is, looping has shown to be beneficial to the students. Research has proven that students have less anxiety, the teacher is more prepared, and create long lasting relationships (trust) with your students. Expectations, rules, and rituals are no longer an issue. Your students know what is expected of them and so on day one of school, teaching can begin immediately.
I found a great article that was research based and discusses many benefits of looping. Check it out below.
Looping: Supporting Student Learning Through Long-Term Relationships
I noticed that my first graders are beginning to bully one another. I think it is very important to nip this as soon as possible. I try and read books about self esteem, friendship, etc. We also discuss ways of solving conflicts and issues that may arise. We also have a no tolerance for bullying in the classroom. If students begin name calling, hitting, or bringing others down their behavior cards are turned. I think they are beginning to catch on and see the importance of treating others with respect. Books have been a great way to slyly say what I’d like to get across to them. They are very kid-friendly and students can easily relate. Just be sure to cover all aspects of bullying while they are young because when they are older I feel it is much harder or even too late.
Response to literature is a very important skill that first grade and all grades need to know. You can incorporate it an author study or separate it and focus on particular skills. I know many of the skills I like to cover are:
Setting
Compare and Contrast two books by the same author or same genre
Characters
Problem/Solution
Prediction
Retelling (Beginning, Middle, End)
Main Idea
Author’s Message
The list could go on and on. I know when doing beginning, middle, and end I like to use a very long piece of paper (long ways/landscape) and cut three sections into it. The beginning is skinny, the middle (where most of the story took place) is wider, and the end is skinny. This is something the children can physically see. They know the middle should have more details because it’s thicker. While the beginning and end are not as wide because less takes place in those parts of the story.
I love celebrating a student’s birthday with them. It not only makes them feel special, but let’s them know that you care about them. I usually have the class sing them happy birthday, I give them a card with some treats, a birthday pencil, and a birthday badge. I also let them be a special helper for the day. How do you celebrate your students’ birthdays?
I will begin an author study on Chris Van Allsburg in just a short few weeks. I’m very excited because he is a very talented author and illustrator. Some of his famous books (Polar Express and Jumanji) became featured films. This is my first year completing an author study on him, but I am very excited. In the past I’ve done author studies on:
Kevin Henkes
Tomie dePaola
Leo Lionni
Dr. Suess
Eve Bunting (Does not have her own website)
Laura Numeroff
Jan Brett
Patricia Polacco
All of these authors are well known and have many great books published. Several of them also have websites that you can visit for author study information. Many have printable worksheets, information on the author, games, etc. If you are interested in one of the authors above, click on their name and visit their site.
As you already know Earth Day is April 22nd. It is a great opportunity to teach your students about recycling, reducing, and reusing, as well as planting trees and picking up litter. Have your school create a clean up day. Each class can have a 30 minute slot to clean up your school campus or plant flowers. PTA may be able to help and you can raise money as a school to plant flowers or trees. I have also attached cute printable bookmarks for the students. Click on the link below.
We had our play day and egg hunt yesterday. The day was fun, but exhausting. We hid 1300 eggs for our four first grade classrooms. Thank you parents! Without them, I’m not sure how we would have hidden all those eggs. It ended up being a huge success and the smiles on the faces of all those children was priceless; however; I’m glad it’s over.
After my one week off, I will continue on with response to literature. We will be working on evaluating books. After reading some of my favorite books, the children will have the opportunity to evaluate them. After I model it of course, I will have them write this in their journal:
My opinion of the book was…
My reason was…
My example…
Their example must be an actual quote from the story. If you don’t like the format above, you can also go with: I liked it when… I did not like it when… My favorite part of the story was… Good Luck!
I must say after a very long few weeks of report writing, I am eager to go on to response to literature. It’s a whole new ball game and since I am excited to start it so are the children. My first lesson for the genre was simple and easy. I had previously written the standards for response to literature on chart paper. We went over those and then I began reading a simple story. I have first graders so I kept it simple. Nothing with a lot of detail or confusion. I chose Knuffle Bunny by Mo Williams. It has a simple story line and plot. The children won’t fret about what is the beginning, middle, or end. After reading the book, I had the students fill out a graphic organizer on what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. Of course I modeled how to do this with another story first. It’s a great introduction lesson to the new genre.
As an introduction to skills, I gave all my students a shot of shaving cream on their desks. They smeared it and I began shouting out their spelling and high frequency words. They started spelling them in the shaving cream. It was a blast and they loved it, not to mention the desks came out sparkling. What a great way to get the kids involved and excited to learn!
