Enemy Pie

So in our classroom we started our mini-unit on conflict resolution. I kicked off our unit by reading one of my favorite books Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. We discussed how sometimes things happen that we aren't happy about and sometimes we have a problem with someone at school. In our classroom most of our class has a big problem with conflict resolution. They believe that every issue involves needing to tell Ms. Manetta and me. We've been trying to teach them better ways to solve problems when they are not something Ms. Manetta or myself need to be talked to about. We thought that a mini-unit on the topic was needed.

 After reading the book we made an enemy pie and tricked the students into thinking we were going to serve it to them during snack. Our pie, was a pie crust with mud, leaves, moss, ivy and other mystery objects from outside. They were absolutely convinced that their must be dog poop inside it too since it would be the nastiest thing to give an enemy. (Of course there wasn't any inside though)

We then discussed various scenarios we have seen in our classroom and asked the students to come up with ways to solve the problem. (i.e. someone won't stop following you at recess, someone took the book they were reading) We also talked about being nice to all of our classmates.

After washing their hands, Ms. Manetta asked them for volunteers to eat our pie. We had one brave soul who raised her hand. We then pulled out a pumpkin pie from behind Ms. Manetta and explained to the students that we had a real pie to be our anti-enemy pie. They were quite excited to eat pie for snack.We had a few groans of disappointment that they wouldn't be eating our pie we made.

Today we also started our animal research projects. The students were given their bookmarks to write their notes on about their animal. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it seemed for my first graders. We writing time was over they moaned, when do we get to finish. I told them later in the week we would.

It's Friday..Friday...Friday!

Our week has come to an end and it's Friday at last! The class was so excited for today. The day went by so quickly. This morning we went to the library and the students each picked an animal book and one of their own. Later we raced Super K to the playground... and beat them! During writing we read the book The Principal's New Clothes. It was neat to see their wheels in their brains moving when they realized they were having a text to text connection. Afterwards we started to create a huge Venn Diagram to compare The Emperor's New Clothes with The Principal's New Clothes. The students were so happy to see the giant white paper. (In our class we don't have roll paper so I had to get some from the Pre-K classroom for the occasion) We ran out of time to finish it so we will have to on Monday. The most fun part of the day was our movie party! We got together with Super K and watched Cars 2 in auditorium. It kept skipping but the kids still seemed to enjoy it. It also probably helped that they were able to munch down on Twizzlers too. We finished our Friday off with our Friday song and the trick the janitor game and last but not least a read aloud. Our first Valentine's Day story this year.

Primary colors

So our internet in our classroom hasn't been working very well the last few days so I haven't been posting. Inside our classroom we've been working on a few things. In art we have been learning all about the color wheel and specifically the primary colors. The students had the choice of painting three different pictures with only red, yellow and blue. They were told that they could not mix the colors in anyway. I think they all turned out very unique.

We also read the story the Emperor's New clothes. Only one student had read the story before. It's was so entertaining to listen to them giggle when they realized the emperor was in his underwear. Tomorrow is our movie day, I can feel the students' excitement. We are going to watch Cars 2.

Right Turn, Left Turn

So yesterday was a day off for all of us. It was inauguration day and coincidentally MLK Jr. Day. I think the students needed that day off too. Today was a big catch up day for us. One student came back after missing all of the previous week. Another is still out. In math we started a new math unit. I decided to introduce my students to the concept of pretests to help give me a better understanding of what they know and don't know before a unit especially since our curriculum "Everyday Math" likes to repeat things and then randomly throw in subjects where they shouldn't be. We are starting chapter six in our 2nd grade math curriculum. This chapter is a weird mix off addition, arrays and division... not things I would necessarily group together.

In grammar we are working on commands, statements and exclamations. It was so funny to hear some of the students' answers when  they were asked to right their own commands and exclamations. "Do your homework or you won't get dessert!" and "Hooray, it is time for our wonderful math centers!" I was so pleased to hear them include one of our vocabulary words from reading this week too. :)

Manetta introduced them to a fun game called Right Turn, Left Turn it's a game of changing directions. It was a fun way to review left and right. We still had a few friends with their fingers ready to remind themselves of left and right. It was a great $5.00 find at a local game store! They began to get better at the game than me towards the end as I was trying to keep track of the directions and who raised their hands faster.

We found some adorable ideas for art projects in February for the President's birthdays. I'm so excited to do them.

Below are some pictures from Mish-Mash Math Thursday when we were reviewing for our test last week.

The students practiced ordering numbers from greatest to least and then least to greatest. They loved having to work together to find the answer when I mixed up the numbers and added in new ones.

The students used mirrors to find the lines of symmetry and then they had to figure out if I drew the line of symmetry was drawn correctly. They all excelled at this.

Comparing and contrasting and assessments and Friday Fun

Today in 1st grade we started to talk about comparing and contrasting. I decided to introduce the Venn diagram to compare Snowmen at Night and Snowmen All Year. We have practiced one once during reading but I made it and the students had to help me fill it in. This time they were in charge of coming up with ideas and recording them. Some of them did pretty well and a few needed some reminders.

Our snow globes are officially hung up and our symmetry butterflies are up on the bulletin board. I think they turned out pretty fantastic. I was so excited to do those projects. In math we had our chapter 5 test today. I was happy when I saw my lowest score was a 88%. I've been working pretty hard at reviewing concepts with them during centers for the past two days and they've been really good learners these past few weeks.
Next week we are starting to review addition and subtraction strategies. We need some much needed practice in subtraction.

We have next Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so we focused on trying to talk about Martin Luther King Jr. with our first graders. When we first started introducing him to the students, two of them thought he was a president. I can officially say they all know who he is and can tell you he was, "black, a pastor and helped make the world better for people and that he died"... in the words of one of my kiddos.

We officially earned our last row of compliments and so did super k so next Friday we will be having our celebration party. The other teachers and I decided to have a movie party. In the sanctuary we will be using their projector and the big screen to watch a movie at the end of the day. We also played our official Friday song and played trick the janitor.

Math Centers and Snow globes

Today for math centers we had several fun filled centers. One center we built pyramids out of sugar cubes. The students loved it! I wouldn't let them eat the sugar cubes though so they were a little disappointed. The last thing they need at 10am is more SUGAR!

At another center we worked on fact families with "Fact Families" we made from a template we found on pinterest. It's very cute. I found them on this great first grade blog! http://firstgradeschoolbox.blogspot.com/search/label/Printables/ 

There was one independent group where the students work on math boxes in their math journals to review concepts. At our last center the students made pattern block symmetry. One partner would make a design and the other partner would have to show the line of symmetry and mirror the image.

My favorite part of the day was our "If I lived in a Snow globe..." writing projects. Each student had to come up with 3-4 sentences describing what they would do and they later made their very own snow globes with them inside of it. These turned out adorable! A couple weeks ago at recess I had the students pretend to catch snowflakes on their tongues and snapped a picture of it. I've had these pictures hidden away for this project. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Symmetry and poor behavior choices

Today we finished our "My teacher would appreciate it if..." writings. They turned out pretty funny. We also worked on Symmetry in math today. We folded various shapes and tried to find the lines of symmetry. The kiddos loved it. My favorite moment was when they realized how many a square and circle had. One of them giggled in delight and another jumped up holding it saying, "Ms. Lauren look!"

One of my kiddos has been having a really hard time. We are currently positively enforcing his positive behavior but when he does need to sit out for a few minutes during recess for unsafe behavior or not listening he says, "Yay I get to sit out!" He keeps putting a positive spin on everything whether he should be or not. He's been doing this since kindergarten I believe. We've tried conferences with him, colors and warnings. Manetta and I have no idea at this point how to stop this response.

Oh I also finally hung up our How to Make Hot Chocolate writing pieces and assessed them. THe students did pretty well writing directions! :)

Perspective Snowmen, Pyramid Disasters and Goal Setting

So today my kiddos made perspective snowmen. We had a little bit of a hard time listening and following directions, but after some more time we all finally finished our snowmen. I think they turned out quite cute. I need to design a bulletin area for them to go on.

In math we started to learn about pyramids. Our textbooks suggested making them out of straws and twist ties, and since we had some left over time we decided to attempt it. I think the textbook makers never tried this because there is no way normal 2nd graders could accomplish this. Manetta and I even struggled to make these pyramids. So we axed that plan for paper pyramids and sugar cubes.

One other thing our classroom is goal setting. We've had several discussions on resolutions and goals. We even made resolutions for home and goals for our classroom.

Our goal board needs some sprucing up but I think their classroom goals are pretty well written for first graders! :) I'll add a picture later when it gets a makeover!

Reading Buddies... Kadinsky and a little bit of MLK Jr.

The whole class was glad it was Friday today, including myself. We finished our official first full week back after Christmas break. Today I had the students write to the prompt, "My teachers would appreciate it if..." as I walked around the room I had to laugh because most of them had the hardest time coming up with simple things such as: "I clean up after myself after art and lunch" or "not talk when they are talking." Some of them insisted on giving us things like chocolate and coffee. I will try to post some of them next week.

This week we worked on some neat projects. We finished studying the artist Kandinsky and made these very abstract looking trees. Ms. Manetta's mom came in to help us add glitter to them. A few days later...we are still finding glitter all of the classroom.

Something else rather neat we worked on was our Martin Luther King Jr. timelines. Each of my eight students were given 3 different events and they had to illustrate the event. My favorite one is MLK being born, it makes me wonder what they are thinking when they draw.

We started buddy reading with the kindergarteners today. I can pleasantly report that there were no big issues with it. Two of my first graders even had two buddies and they managed wonderfully. The other teachers and I decided the buddies worked so well that we are going to do it every Friday instead of every other.

One other fun tidbit of our Friday afternoon was when I introduced the kids to Rebecca Black's Friday song...you know the slightly irritating song that says "It's Friday...Friday..." The kids seemed to like it and Manetta introduced them to the game "Let's Make the Janitor Think We Were Never Here" which in reality means clean up, but they loved it. I had never seen the room and desks look so clean before. This may become a Friday ritual in our room.

First attempt at blogging and library day

     This is my first attempt at blogging. I figured since it's my first year teaching I would attempt to document my adventures in teaching. I teach first grade at a private school in Kirkland, Washington. I co-teach with another wonderful teacher, Ms. Manetta. It is both our first year having our own official classroom so we are both learning. I am also relatively new to Washington. I moved here at the end of August from Michigan. So I've been learning all the things that are different in this wonderful state. From licensing requirements, state standards to the weather... each day is a learning experience for me.

      Today was library day in my classroom which means, we all walk down the street to the Kirkland Public Library. It's quite the ordeal. We all put on our rain boots and rain jackets and tie our hoods on tight. On the way my co-teacher, Ms. Manetta, and I hop, skip and gallop with the kids all the way to library. Sometimes we get the occasional nice bus driver to honk and wave at us, this of course delights the kids.

    Once we reach the library the students know the drill. They always go to the same corner and either Manetta or I read them a story while one of us goes to check the students' library cards for overdue books. After story time the students get to pick out two books. We've been stressing the Five Finger Rule in our classroom. So the students have to test the book before they are allowed to check it out.
     The American Girl books are really popular among the girls in my class, so I slowly guide them to that shelf every two weeks. This week I was successful in persuading two girls to check them out since they have read through my small collection of American Girl books. Caroline is the new favorite American Girl since we recently got the Meet Caroline book added to our classroom library. I was sad when I realized Scholastic doesn't sell them very often. Does anyone know a good place to buy used ones cheaply? I've checked Amazon and local library book sales.

      Another eventful part of our day was indoor recess. It's rainy season here in Washington now so these indoor recesses are slowly becoming a re-occuring thing. I've been slowly trying to add to our toy shelf for days like today. I recently purchased a few Hot Wheels cars, Polly Pocket Fashion Dolls and the game Headbanz.    Today Headbanz was the hot commodity. It's so amusing to watch them all play. From across the room I can hear their giggles as some one guesses wrong. I'm so glad they like the game because when I first bought it and introduced it to them they all stared at me with blank expressions and then said they wanted to play something else.