Miraculous Journey of A Read Aloud

As a teacher, one of my favorite things to do is read stories. I can pull so much out of them when we have a shared reading experience. I also love that with a read aloud I can expose them to higher levels of books and questions. Plus, the bonus of having the shared experience of reading a book together is just so powerful. It unifies our class. When we get to the tough parts, we've got each other to lean on for emotional support. We just found a book powerful enough to do this in such an amazing and beautiful way.

We just finished reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. What a fabulous story! It had the kids hooked and begging for more. 

If you read it with your class, beware. It is not a happy, fluffy bunny story. It is a story about a journey. A hard journey, but... by the end of the book the kids were cheering! I just love when that happens.

We're going to be reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next...with a little twist.  

What books do you love to read with your students?

Rainbow Art

It is raining in California! Finally! Last week I saw a beautiful double rainbow and I felt inspired.  So I decided to do some art.

The students in my class are 7 and 8 years old. That means that the kids in my class have rarely experienced true rainy days due to the drought. So, with the fabled El Nino hitting, I decided to have a little fun with the rain.  (Better than complaining about Rainy Day Recess...though trust me...It has not been fun.)

I pulled out all the markers I had been hoarding storing and had the kids work with their seat partners to find a red, orange, yellow, green, blue, an purple one. They needed to find the ones that said "Washable" or the older ones that said nothing. The new ones say, "Ultra Washable." I found that those ones did not work as well for this project.

I gave them each a small piece of Water Color Paper. Our were 6 x 9in. They then colored a rainbow on the paper. My example look like this:

So all of theirs looked like this:

11 years and I always forget to have lots of different examples. Learn from my mistake and have a couple of examples that look different.

Have the kids put a lot of ink on the paper.

Then, we put them out in the rain. The kids thought I was nuts! Lucky, they are kind of used to it and don't question me too much when I'm crazy.

We waited about 5 minutes and then we went to get them. I told them they could tip them if they wished. Some asked to leave them out longer.

This is the end result. Painting with the rain is pretty awesome.

Then, I gave them choices. They could write a narrative, an opinion, or do some research on rainbows. The only requirement is that rainbows be highlighted somehow.

I love reading their creativity. One write about a rainbow that pukes all the colors that are in the world. One wrote about the Aurora Borealis  Get a copy of the rainbow writing paper here.

St. Patrick's Day Close Read Fun

Ah...green everywhere. And every time any little thing is out of place, the kids are quick to blame the leprechaun. And they spend all of recess hunting for a 4 leaf clover. There is lots of magic in it though. Second graders in our school have had 2 years of practice creating Leprechaun Traps in Kinder and 1st. In 2nd grade, we get to do something even more fun! A close read! Just kidding. But our district LOVES a close read, so we do them a lot. They help with reading skills and this one gives lots of fun information about St. Patrick's Day.

The kids do enjoy learning about the holiday and the traditions though. They get to work in a group, and highlight things green. I love this time of year when they monitor themselves and I can just keep pushing them deeper into learning. I love watching kids help and encourage each other don't you?

They also get to explore a traditional recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage. One of my students asked if that was what leprechauns like to eat. Another student responded, "Of course, why else would she make us learn about it?" Because we all need to know what leprechaun's like to eat.


We're also working some pretty cool art that will harness the power of rain to make it extra fun. Finger's crossed the weather participates this week and rains enough for us to finish it. I'll post about it soon!

Here's the Close Read we used if you're interested.

How do you celebrate in your class?

Biography Book Report Time

My students presented their biography book reports. Biographies are not my favorite genre to read myself, but I love how excited that kids get to read them.

I have a large stock of biography books that I keep on hand for this assignment and for the excitement that ensues after they find how cool it is to learn about another person's life. The kids get to pick ANYONE to read about...They get so excited to have so much choice.

This is all the stuff they get to take home! It has a written, oral and art component. All done at home. We've done extensive studies of Martin Luther King, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. The kids know how to read biographies and what to look for. They now get to do that same work, but at home. One of my clever students got so excited he said, "It's just like Martin Luther King, but we get to do it all alone. We are responsible for the work now." I just love when they get so excited about the gradual release of the cognitive load don't you?

There are directions and check lists and clear expectations with take home projects. It's the key to the success of the project. I try to not break it down too much because I want the kids to be creative in their work. I want them to take responsibility and learn how to get it all done on time. This is a great lesson to learn in second grade before the consequences are huge in the older grades.

The kids bring their projects in on the last Friday of the month. They present their report to the class in a quick 1-3 minute presentation of the person they studied. They can only use their notecard. This is their first oral report with proper oral report expectations. Well...it's the first on I don't help with at all.

After, they show the portrait they drew and everyone claps. Here are some of the portraits they've created:

I love hearing the "ooh" and "ahh" sounds when kids show their art work.

Do you do biography book reports? Give it a try! If you want to use the project we have made for our kiddos, you can find it here.

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today we started working together to create products for teachers like us. The goal was to make things that we would want to use in our classroom. Things that engage the students in real learning. Things that inspire and motivate...and are easy to prep.

With those goals in mind, we created our very first product ever! It was a unit on researching weather. We have books and the internet, but we wanted to make sure that the students had access to kid friendly text that gave accurate information. And it just wasn't out there. So we made it!

Because of the books and resources we were able to gather, we decided to study:
Hurricanes! Tornadoes! Floods! Lightning!  and Blizzards!

And the kids ate it up! We as the teachers ate it up! Our administration ate it up!

It covered so many standards, engaged the students in authentic research and report writing, and all with guidance from the teacher. Check out the focus!

Here are some examples of the writing part that the students did. The resources walk them through gathering information on different aspects of their weather system. In our class, we created books. Even with 30 kids and only 3 computers, every team typed their writing! They were motivated I tell you!

                  

And of course we added an art component of making a pop up that shows the key features of their weather system. The blizzard team thought it was extra hard because their book teaches the reader to stay in, and how could they show a white out? I loved watching them struggle though it and compromise on this.

                  

They then had to present this info to the class and boy did they shine. Most groups wanted to pick a second type of weather after they did one. We displayed the information on the wall too because they loved seeing their work and reading the work of their classmates. This made a great display for Open House because the kids couldn't wait to drag their families over and show them. 

To celebrate our one year anniversary we are discounting our Weather Bundle for 24 hours only. It's the perfect time of year to learn about all the different weather systems that will be in the news this time of year.

Happy Teaching!

Wow! Where Has the Time Gone?

Where does the time go? I ask myself this question all the time.

We have been in school for 37 days now! I can't believe it. We have already had our fall break (yes, we get a week off in the fall!) and now starting to get into the holiday craziness. We have been busy teaching, creating and having such a fun time with our kiddos.

We have some new products up in our TPT store. Find us here. 

Fall has started and we have a close read unit, which is great for high Kinders, 1st grade, and 2nd graders who are learning to access nonfiction text.

Find that unit here.

Teaching first graders to CLOSE read and access a nonfiction text can be a challenge. I am learning and thinking of new ways to help make it easier. This unit helps break it down and make it not as intimidating. How do you introduce nonfiction texts to your little ones?

Halloween is just around the corner and we have new nonfiction units about SPIDERS and math games to go along with them!

Find the Nonfiction unit on spiders here and the math games here.

And if you are studying butterflies... we have a new nonfiction unit that is great for the 1st graders to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly and there is a bonus mini unit on Monarch Butterflies. This is the time of year that they make their great migration.

Find this unit here.

We are LOVING our new blog designs are ready to hop into blogging. We would love to hear from you and see what new products you have been working on.

Happy Saturday!

Our Classrooms!

We are lucky enough to be right next door to each other! I love having my teaching friend so close to me.

I am so excited to link up again for the #2getherwearebetter linky hosted by Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd Grade and Lucky Little Learners  

This month we are coming together to talk about classroom reveals. We have been back to school for 16 days now! K has just moved to a new classroom and new grade and now E and K are classroom neighbors! We could not be more excited. 

Here is a peak into our classrooms.

Here is to new adventures!

This is my 1st grade classroom. My back wall is "under construction." I am still waiting for a new whiteboard to be installed. Can't wait!

This is where my kids can get writing supplies, group work buckets, whiteboards, or what I call "offices," which are privacy shields. 

I decided to do away with my "teacher desk," which basically just collected papers, filing, and was a great place to hide things and opted for this instead. I am LOVING it! I feel less cluttered and I have more room for collaborative tables for the kids to work at.

More pictures to come once my whiteboard is installed and the rest of my room can be put together, but I didn't want to miss out on this awesome linky! Pictures to come in the "Our Classrooms" tab soon.

Happy Wednesday! -K

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Welcome to my classroom! When you walk in, this is the first thing you see so I try to make sure it is bright, happy, and inviting. 

Smaller board with some adjective poems.

 I love showing all the kids' work. This wall holds up to 30 kids and the kids are all represented. 

My writing wall! Displays all the kids' work but also let's me quickly see who is still needing to finish.

This is the goal setting board. We use Whole Brain Teaching's Super Improver Wall accompanied by our brag tags. This is my first try using Brag Tags, but so far I'm loving it. I made a set of Bag Tags to go along with our Super Improver Levels. Click here to check them out. The kids have already made so many improvements!

 And of course! My room is full of books! I may have a slight book addiction. This is about half of what I put out for kids.

Finally, the storage! I love that my classroom has so many cabinets and I can hide the stuff **cough**junk**cough**. I also use it to display the love notes I get from my fabulous students. I love seeing their personalities in these friendly notes.

Thanks for letting us show you our classrooms! I'm off to explore the other fabulous classrooms in this link up! Love being inspired by other fabulous teachers! #2getherwearebetter

Happy Back To School Season! -E