End of Apples and Beginnign of Spiders

Last week we ended apples and now this week we have begun spiders. So let's back track a little and look at the end of apples. On pinterest I found a cute apple activity where you made a book with an apple cut out and it inspired me! I used the ELA and math activities we had for apples to use with it and viola! Here is it...

 

  

I know some are messier than others but my philosophy is that it's the kids' art not mine so it needs to be finished completely by them. My first year teaching I took over in January for a class that the teacher retired from. She did not like "ugly" art so she did most of the cutting and gluing herself. So when I began the kids didn't know how to cut and glue! They sat there staring at me waiting for me to do it for them! UGH!

So now onto spiders. Monday's writing began with a story. A few weeks early when we were lining up to go home and right by our backpacks was a HUGE spider. I quickly shooed the kids away and we walked up to the front of the school and told my teacher friends about it. They then became curious so they went to see this spider with my own children but after a few minutes of hunting decided it was gone. Wellll.....it wasn't! It traveled across the concrete to the building beside me and introduced itself to the curious teacher. Our computer guy came to her rescue and stepped on it. Guess what...it was so big because it had babies all over its back!! Babies went EVERYWHERE! They ended up having to fumigate her room. So that's how we got started with spiders.

Now we made our opinions on whether or not we are scared of spiders.

  

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spiders-Writing-Informative-Opinion-Narrative-CCSS-1473288 

We brainstormed why we would and wouldn't be scared and then everyone picked their opinions. Tuesday we did our final writing. I don't know if you can see the picture on the right...the little girl's mouth is screaming because she is so scared. The one on the right is a shoe getting ready to step on the spider! LOVE IT!

Now onto our CLOSE book. We read the book without any pre-vocabulary feeding. Then we went back and the kids told me what words they didn't know. We talked about the meanings and I even pulled up some YouTube videos to actually show the kiddos a close-up of spinnerets. That freaked them out because they realized it was on the spider's butt! 1st graders and the word butt equals laughing for at least 5 full minutes. 

 

 

  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spiders-Nonfiction-CLOSE-Reading-Book-1464225

Then we did our reading comprehension and got to COLOR! Who doesn't love to color!

On a side note...I don't know why I am sharing this...buuuuutttt....one of Youtube videos of a spider had instrumental music in the background and it took a few minutes for me to realize it was Metallica's One! I love that song! LOL

Apple Book

Today we finished our Apple CLOSE reading book. It's a two day process to complete the book because I don't want to overwhelm the kiddos by shoving it all down their throat in one day. Plus it gives them an extra day of reading it with me before they take it home to read it for their reading logs. Here's a step by step of our book.
First we read it one time through without doing any vocabulary front loading. Then we go back page by page and circle any words that the kids do not know the meaning of. 

This seems to work better than front loading it. So instead of here's the meaning of 10 words you have no idea what they are let's talk about one at a time. Also, there are many times that they already know some of the words but words that I may not have thought about they don't.

 

This is an example. I had no idea they wouldn't know the words "squeezed". But one of the top girls raised her hand and said she didn't know the meaning of that word.

Next we read it again. This time to find out what the author is trying to tell us with the book.

 

We collect the books and save them for tomorrow to work on the comprehension. We begin by reading the book again. I always tell them "let's read it like first graders" which means quicker and not like a robot.

Then we begin with the first reading comprehension question.

 We go back through the story and circle the answer with the color the question says to use.

 

 My main goal is for them to prove how they know that is the correct answer.

 

I also give them a little time to color....well those who have finished writing their sentences. I do have those students who take FOREVER to write a simple sentence.

Here are more of the students works.

 Go to my TPT store to get this book if you loved it!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apples-nonfiction-reader-close-reader-1458866

Sunflowers and more

Another week is done. It was a short one for the kiddos...since they got Friday off because we had an inservice day. I always have so many ideas on what I want to do with my inservice day but like most days my "to-do" list was WAY to long! I even downloaded a free "to-do" app for my phone so I wouldn't loose it (you know...the 2, 3, or even 4 lists you write because you lost the first, second and even third one...) but only 2 items were checked off! This week our theme was sunflowers. Writing was relatively easy this week since we only had time for opinion and informative.

 Here's how I have the informative stapled together. We complete the prewriting together on one day and then the next day they do the final writing by themselves after we brain storm an introduction sentence.

 Up close of prewrite.

 

Up close of final writing.

 Check out the rest of the sunflower writing package at my TPT store.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sunflowers-Writing-Informative-Opinion-Narrative-CCSS-1443200 

We also read about sunflowers in our CLOSE nonfiction reader.

 

I found an app on my phone that adds frames...you like? You can also find my close reader on TPT.

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sunflowers-Nonfiction-Close-Reading-1372187 

Other accomplishments this week we started our fuzzy reward system. A teacher friend (thank you Shelly!) told me all about it and how it has changed her classroom. I have been using the chart that you go up and down on but it just wasn't working. So I looked up the link on pinterest, learned all about it and now we are using it. Let me say...KIDS LOVE IT! All I have to do is walk around and drop a fuzzy or two into fuzzy bowls and BOOM everyone straightens out!

  See those fingers pointing to words! Yep because they want fuzzies!

Another accomplishment...we went to the computer lab for the first time! It was hair pulling out for me but a dream come true for them. Hopefully we are allowed more time as the school year progresses!

Next week....APPLES!

 

 

 

Behind the name

I always wonder where some bloggers get their blog names. Some are obvious but unless you know the story behind the invisible person behind the keyboard, you may not know where they get their name. Anyone curious about the M.A.D.? It's awesome...they are my initials! (Unless you truly know me then you might be questioning my sanity...which honestly does need to be questioned on a daily basis). I'm actually very proud of my initials! Is that weird? Even if it is too bad...I've had a thing about initials my entire life. The story goes all the way back to the newborn version of me. 

Don't you love those cheeks! I didn't miss a meal even at nap time. Right Mom!

My mama named me after my great aunt. My daddy's last name started with a P so she had the M and the P. She wanted my initials to spell something and I guess thought Ann was too plain so she went with Angela. So there I was...a wee one with initials that spelled M.A.P.

So growing up I always asked people their middle names to figure out if their initials spelled something. Most often...nope just me. You can say I was always pretty happy that it was only me. 

Fast forward to those awkward dating years..whenever I started dating a new guy I would see what my initials spelled with their last name. I was mostly disappointed.  I did date one guy who's last name started with a P! I thought perfect! I wouldn't have to change...but fortunately that one didn't work out. The story comes to an end when I met my husband! 

Isn't he the cutest thing! Even while frogging!

His last name ended with D which is how my initials were transformed to M.A.D. But you know the best part...His initials spelled M.A.D. too! So guess what....we made sure our kids' names spelled M.A.D. too! We're the M.A.D. family (and not just for sanity reasons)

Finishing 5 Senses

Have you ever had one of those weeks....where you just want to climb into bed and hide under the covers? Yep that was my week. It started with a state visit to count books and other incredibly disruptive things which completely fell apart when the adults who entered our domain were unable to count workbooks... they mistakened 26 books for 22... we should have had the kids count. I know they can count to 26. Geez! Things didn't get better as the days went by...but as I lay vertical on the couch I can finally relax. At least until the Notre Dame game begins...then I have to break the suction between my bootie and the couch to make some football food!

So let's talk about the good parts of the week. We got to finish our 5 senses unit with the best part! The tasting!! Since I've started teaching I've done the normal tasting of pretzels, mini marshmallows and lemons but I amped it up a bit. We tasted peeps (for sweet), pickle chips (for sour and salty), pistachio chews (mostly for texture), and of course cocoa powder for the infamous bitter face! I have to share the one action picture of took of the cocoa powder tasting.

 

 Poor Adrian...he really does seem to not like it. The little girl on the left waited for the others at her table to taste before she did anything. The girl on right was trying to hide her distaste...but I saw it. Come to find out Adrian really did enjoy the cocoa powder. By the end of the tasting he had licked his napkin clean and had it all over his face. This is why I do this! They never know until they try.

 

Here's our writing to go along with it. I learned from our last narrative writing...we did this one together! It was so much easy and less hair pulling out for me.

 This was our informative writing from last week.

Our week also including an assembly for 9/11. It's a nice way for us to honor those who sacrificed themselves and the innocent who didn't have a choice. 1st grade sang God Bless America. It was also a day to say goodbye to one of our teachers whose last day coincided with 9/11. He is a U.S. Air Force Reservist and his unit has been called to duty. He is being deployed to Southwest Asia. So it was a very solemn day.

 One of the best things about my own kids going to the school I teach at...I never miss an assembly. I got a good picture of Morgan but unfortunately Mia was super tiny and was surrounded by a bunch of bigger kids so she was hidden and I didn't get a good picture of her. Sad face.

Here's aiming for a better week next week! I need to start the suction peeling...game starts in 1 hour...gotta get some grub going.

 

 

5 Senses

This week we began the first of two weeks where we learn about the 5 senses. Before I begin on our reading I have to share with you a story about one of my little boys. This little guy craves positive feed back so it's a constant battle between the two of us....when to talk and when not to talk. So as we were talking about the 5 senses he raised his hand numerous times to tell me something he already knew about the subject. After the 3rd time....I stopped him and asked him to say 5 senses one more time for me. Sure enough, I had heard it right....he wasn't saying 5 senses he was saying 5 sentences. I giggled a little and repeated to him the words he said.  He laughed, slapped his knee and announced to the rest of the class how goofy he was. That lightened up the day for me.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5-Sense-Nonfiction-Close-Reading-Book-1436137 

So onto our book...this was our close reader for this unit. Amazingly I didn't have anybody moan this week about having to read it more than once. We worked on the book over 2 days for about 20 minutes each day so that the kiddos don't get that deer in the headlight look.

 The first day we read the story twice. After the first time we circled words that some of the students didn't know the meaning for.  Braille was a big word. Even though we talked about it...some still had a hard time remembering the actual word. Of course then we read it again and I had some smarty pants who asked if they could read some of the pages to us on their own. Doesn't that always make a teacher smile??? When a kiddo wants to try without being prodded and begged...WOW! I know I love it. After that second reading we wrote about the author's purpose. So far that has been easy (or has some of my kiddos say easy cheesy...which always reminds me which kinder teacher they had :) ).

 Awww...an action shot.

Here's some of the pages as the kids worked on them. I always find it strange when the kiddos color peoples faces orange or green. I get it...orange...they don't have a peach crayon yet (at the beginning of the year I only give them the packs with 8 crayons) but green??? I don't get it...is everyone sick?

Next week we get to do the actual tasting for the 5 senses....bitter is my favorite! I use cocoa powder and they get all excited thinking it's chocolate and then BOOM! You get the gagging faces, tongues hanging out as if the farther it's out of their mouths the less they'll taste eat!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mary-Daugherty