Gung-Hey-Fat-Choy!

  Gung-Hey-Fat-Choy!  Happy New Year!!

     My class learned all about the Chinese New Year which began this year on January 31st and lasted two weeks. We learned some interesting facts about how the Chinese celebrate the new year.  We did this by reading books, watching videos on You Tube and doing research on the internet.  Here are some of the books we read:

My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz

Chinese New Year by David F. Marx

Lion Dancer by Kate Waters and Madeline Slovenz-Low

Here's one of the You Tube videos we watched:

http://youtu.be/FkPLmEvB8BA


 

     The final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations ends with the Lantern Festival. So, we decided to make some lanterns to hang from the ceiling in the hallway.  They turned out great! (Not my original idea) 



Here are the directions for making the lanterns:

 

Materials: 

12" x 18" red construction paper cut into two strips measuring 6" x 18" each

 

white index cards (3" x 5")

 

black construction paper handles 2" x 8"

 

Chinese symbols/words for students to copy

 



 

Make a small fold on one end of the paper.  Fold the rest of the paper into fourths.

 



Next, have the students write Chinese symbols or words on each of 4 white 3" x 5" index cards.  Glue one in each section.



Fold, stand up and glue along lip.  Glue or staple on the handle.

 

 

I would love to hear what you do in your classroom to learn about Chinese New Year.

 



Kids Teaching Kids

Hi Friends!

We all know how powerful it is when students can teach something to one another.  It's been one of my goals this year to give my students more opportunities to do this.  In order to be able to teach someone something, you need to understand what it is you're teaching and be able to explain your thinking in a way that others can understand.  I think this quote by Einstein sums it up:

 

 

Here are a few ways I've encouraged my students to teach others:

 

1.  When a student brings something from home that they've made and others show an interest, I encourage them to teach others how to make it.  For example, I had a girl in my class that made some of those rubber band bracelets.  Everyone was interested in how she made them. So I asked her if she would like to teach everyone how to make them and she said yes.  I went out and bought lots of the rubber bands in a variety of colors. The next day she worked with small groups of kids and taught them how to make their very own bracelet.  What a teacher she was! She explained how to make the bracelet as she slowly and carefully put one together in front of her small group.  Then she guided and helped each student as needed.  The kids were so engaged and made some beautiful bracelets. 

 









  

This student even wrote a book about how to make a rubber brand bracelet.

   Another student taught the class how to make caterpillar bookmarks using tongue depressors. 

 

  This student taught the class how he made his Lego creation.

 



 



 2.  Another way I've encouraged students to teach others is through class projects.  My students worked together to create a large mural depicting the story of the First Thanksgiving.  We hung it up in our classroom and invited other classes to come and listen to us share what we learned. 



When we learned about the signs of fall, we made posters and shared them with the first grade classes.  Each child from my class shared his/her poster with a small group of first graders.  They had to teach the younger kids about the signs of fall. (Sorry, no pictures.)

3.  Finally, I try each and every day to let my students know how much I value them.  Kids have so much to offer if we just give them opportunities to share what they know.  It doesn't just have to be what they've learned at school either.

Maybe you could have a "Kids Teaching Kids" time each week and students could sign up to teach something to the class. 



The Best Part of Me

Hi Friends!
Have you read this book?  If not, I highly recommend it.
It's called The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. 

 

 

The book has black and white photographs of the parts that children chose as their best part and handwritten essays about them.  The book inspired me to do something similar with my class. 

 

Here are a couple of my students' completed essays and our hallways display:

 

 



 





New Year's Goal: LOSE WEIGHT!

Hi Friends,
Those of you that know me personally, know that EVERY new year I resolve to lose weight.  In fact, I plan a weight loss challenge at my school every January.  I'm usually good for the first month or so and then I fall back into my BAD eating habits.  I don't know why I do it.  I just do it EVERY time.  Maybe this year will be different.

My daughter has great eating habits.  Here's a picture of her when she was training for a fitness competition.  She has more will power than I do. 



My goal for 2014 is to get healthy.  I need to take baby steps so I don't give up so easily.  Wish me luck!

Where is Jack the Elf?

Hi Friends! 
I bought an Elf on the Shelf book last year and read it to my first grade class.  The book came with an Elf which we named "Jack."  My first graders really enjoyed the story and couldn't wait to find Jack when they came to school each morning during the month of December. As some of you know, I looped to 2nd grade with my class this year.  Well, Jack arrived yesterday and my kids were so E-X-C-I-T-E-D to see him again!  I was surprised to hear how many details they remembered about Jack.
Here's what I heard the kids saying to each other:

"You can't touch him or he'll lose his magic!"

"He's going to fly back to the North Pole and tell Santa everything you do!"

"He can see you all the time."

"Jack likes to find new places to sit when he comes back every day, so you

have to look for him."

"He's a nice Elf because he tells Santa the good stuff you do and

 just a little bit of the naughty stuff."

 

 

This year I decided to make a little booklet for my kids to draw and write about where they find Jack in our classroom each morning.  I thought this would be a great way to work on position words as well.  Here's a picture of booklet.

 



 

Yesterday morning we found Jack above the light switch in our classroom.

 



 

 This is the first page in our booklet.  I asked the kids to highlight the position word.

I didn't have the kids draw Jack because I knew it would take too much time. 

Instead, I attached a small picture of Jack on the end of a popsicle stick so they

could place Jack where he belongs after reading the sentence.

 

 This is where we found Jack this morning. 

 

 

They can place Jack in the pocket after reading the sentence.

 

I taped a post-it note to the back of each booklet to store the popsicle stick.  I also

attached the end of the yarn to the back of the booklet so that Jack wouldn't get lost.

 

Where will Jack be tomorrow?

 

 

  

What Are You Grateful For?

Hi Friends!

What are you grateful for this time of year?  If I had to name my top three, I would say my family and friends, my health, and a teaching job that I love!

Last year I was reading a blog post by my friend Tammy at Forever in First about Gratitude Journals.  She calls them "G" Journals.  You can read her post {Here}.
I was really excited about making "G" Journals for my students so they could draw and write about what they are grateful for.  I thought November would be the perfect month for my students to think about what they are thankful for.

First we brainstormed and made a list of all kinds of things that we are grateful for.  Then I gave each student their very own "G" Journal.  Every school morning during the month of November, I place the "G" Journal on each student's desk.  They draw and write one thing they are grateful for each day.  By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, their journals are full of thing they are grateful for.   I send the journals home the day before Thanksgiving so they can share their them with their family.

Here are some pictures of my students' Gratitude Journals:

  



 

 

 

What are you grateful for this time of year?

Daily Five: Writing & Word Work Activities

Hi Friends!
Today I'd like to share some new activities for the Daily Five
Work on Writing & Word Work.  I taught first grade last year and looped to second grade with the same kids and wanted to change up some of my Daily Five activities.  These activities are NOT the only writing or word work activities we do each day.  I have a 60 minute Writer's Workshop and a 30 minute Word Work block in the morning.  My Daily Five takes place in the afternoon every day of the week EXCEPT Wednesday.

Here are my Work on Writing activities:



On Mondays, students write about their weekend.  I ask them to pick one thing and write about it.



On Tuesdays, students write a letter to our Student of the Week. I collect all the letters and put them together in book form and give it to the Student of the Week to keep. 

 

 



On Thursdays, students write in their Science Journals.  I have an object for them to observe that goes along with our theme.  They draw the object and write about it.



On Fridays, students can go to our Writing Center and choose an activity there.

 











Here's how I store the Work on Writing materials:





Here are my Word Work activities:

 

On Mondays, students play a game called Roll & Write.

They roll a die, find the word for the number they rolled and write it.  The goal is to roll and write until one of the columns is filled.  That word "Blasts Off."  You continue to roll and write until all the words "Blast Off." 

 



If you don't like the idea of kids rolling dice on their desks and making lots of noise, you can cut pieces of rubber shelf liner for them to roll on.



On Tuesdays, students write their words with scented markers.  I use Mr. Sketch scented markers.  Walgreens had them on sale for $5.00 a box in August!!   I store each set of markers in a Lock & Lock container.  I got them on QVC. 



On Thursdays, students use magnetic letters to build words.
I bought some heavy duty cookie sheets for this center.  I put the letters they need at the top and they build the words at the bottom.  I used a Sharpie to divide the two areas.  I include a list of words on the cookie sheet.



On Fridays, students work in their Vocabulary Journals.  They pick 2 words from our vocabulary word list for the week.  They write them, use them in a sentence, and then illustrate. 



My students love all of these activities.  I plan to change them up as the year goes on.  I'll share some more in future posts.