City Mouse and Country Mouse

In early October, we are working on the Elements of Fiction.  We're especially hitting Common Core standards of identifying and describing characters, settings, and events in a story.  Here, students listened to a read-aloud version of Country Mouse and City Mouse.  What a great story, since the characters and settings are ripe for descriptions and comparisons!

After reading, students chose which setting to write about-- the city or country.  They cited text evidence as to why they liked that setting the best!

Here's the amazing hallway display that a fabulous parent helped me put together.  Thanks, Mrs. Shedwick!

PS-- The story was a little challenging, though, because my school is in a suburb!  I introduced the WOW word "suburb" and we watched a Brainpop Jr. video to help us identify our place in the world.  :)

Student-centered emails

In true Charlotte Danielson fashion, the first grade team is now working to make our parent communications more student-centered!  Students contribute to the emails and tell their parents what we've been up to!  Pictures and video clips are included too, to really help parents become part of the classroom.

Here's a sample email my class sent in October!

Dear First Grade Families,

We are “fall”ing in love with science!  Luke A. enjoyed observing mealworms.  Did you know mealworms have antennas?  And Asiyah adds that they have 6 legs, which we debated a lot.  We have stereoscopes in our classroom and will watch them as they turn from mealworms to pupas to darkling beetles.  Zymal liked making models out of play-doh.  We made models of animals and labeled the external body parts!  Jacob S. shared that we made models because we are scientists!  Jacob L.’s favorite part was when we took pictures of our models with ipads and voice-recorded how the body part helps the animal survive.

Payton says that in reading we shared our thinking and connections to the wordless book, WAVE!  We made connections to visiting the beach.  In reading, we also read-to-self, went to the writing center, or read-to-someone.  Akirah’s favorite place to read is with a comfy pillow in a quiet corner of the classroom.

In math, Gracelyn explains that we learned part + part = sum.  London enjoys playing Compare Dots and Five in a Row Bingo.

We also had visitors from the Baltimore County 911 center.  We need to learn our addresses!!!  We can also practice making calls with you at home.

Here are some video links to our learning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k-ztjFEMNs&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYyjCjvhWJw

Have a great weekend.  Hope you come to the PTA Movie Night, tonight at 6:30!

Best wishes,

Mrs. Yablonski’s class

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: