My "Tweeties"

~Tweets~

This year, I am tweeting about my classroom!  Follow me on Twitter @kyablonski2 to see the latest and greatest ideas in my classroom!  So, I decided to stick with the bird theme.  I started with some Carson-Dellosa BOHO birds borders, and it evolved from there.

Here is my outside of the classroom welcome sign:

For the locker tags, I made a tear-drop pattern and traced it onto thick scrapbook paper, then traced a heart-pattern to make the tail feathers.  A quick paisley cut from another scrapbook paper + a googly eye, and I was all done!

 

See how my friend, Master Teacher Regan Aymett uses a twitter board for exit tickets!  You can check out her lessons at www.betterlesson.com.  Students put their post-it note exit slips right up on the Tweet board!

Science *Every* Day in First Grade

It's really important to me that my students have science *every* day, but how can that happen?  I have incorporated science as a center during my Daily 5 independent work!  In order to justify placing it in the ELA block, it had to incorporate both reading and writing skills.  

The NGSS standards call for our littlest scientists to be making observations and communicating them... well, that sounds like writing to me!  What a great way to incorporate nonfiction text features like labels and captions with student drawings, and math skills like nonstandard measurement and comparing sizes!  Here's a link to my NGSS Grade 1 Pinterest Board!

Here are some science bins, with specimens and related books.  I am also hoping to get a project funded on www.donorschoose.org for more related books!

My son has been collecting dead bugs in our backyard now too, and putting them in sealed petri dishes!  

And here's my magnet bin, filled with items from my kitchen junk drawer.  Does it stick?

 Here, we aren't just observing shells, we are comparing textures, sizes, and shapes.  We can also identify what used to live inside by finding the shells in books!

Here's my grade-level-partner's science center!  Isn't it just adorable with the lamp and green drape?!?

Plus, each student will have a science journal for recording their observations!

Science Rocks ~ sometimes literally.  :)

~Sweets~

What better way to introduce themes of friendship and the essential question, "What makes a good friend?" than a book about worst enemies becoming best friends!  Enemy Pie by Derek Munson is the perfect book for the first few weeks of first grade!

After reading the first half of the story, students write their thinking on a metacognition thinking bubble.  They just love making predictions at this point... will Jeremy Ross's hair actually fall out when he eats the pie?!?  

We also paint paper plates to make our own scented pies!  

On Day 2, we start by writing an ingredient list for Enemy Pie in our Good Morning! Writing Journals.  Then, we read the second half of the story.

After Day 2, when we finish the story, we complete a shared writing for Friendship Pie.  Here is some of my class's best thinking: