Cute Door for Teacher appreciation week

My room decorated my door for Teacher Appreciation week last month. Look how cute it is! 

Tooth fairy

We read this really great book.  The cover is the picture below.  The tooth fairy is a hot topic in First Grade.  This book helps explain why the tooth fairy looks different to each person.  The students loved it! 

Below is another class' response to what they think the real tooth fairy looks like.  In the book, it talks about how children don't see the real tooth fairy because it would scare them.  To help with this, the tooth fairy takes on the image of someone the child trusts.  My students art didn't get hung up for this.  There written response went home with their pictures.  I had my students do a painting of what their tooth fairy looks like when they appear.  It didn't go as well as having the student think of what the real tooth fairy looks like.  I hope that makes sense.  

Is it a worm or a caterpillar?

Guess what we found on the playground? Well we didn't know for sure at first either.  The students all had an opinion and so we did some research. This was a group activity.  Below is the Venn Diagram we did to decide if it was a caterpillar or a worm.  

After we did that, we did some research to find out.  We discovered it is actually an inch worm which is a type of caterpillar. The students each wrote about what they learned and we made the display below.  

How Many People Can your boat hold?

So there is this really fun and exciting experiment where students build aluminum foil boats.  Before they do, we talk about what a boat is and what shapes might be. After they have all built one, with no tape or glue, we put it in a tub of water and see how many people it can hold before it sinks.  The students love this activity.  I didn't get any pictures of the boats with the students this year.  If I think about it, I can post some from last year later.  The activity takes a long time but it is worth it in many ways.  We have to count each of the people which can be a struggle for some of the students (this year we did it at the beginning).  

After the students finished, we wrote in our science journals.  The students were able to record what they did and what they learned.  

We also had this chart with their estimate and the actual number their boat held.  When we finished, we discussed the best way to fold the boat so that it can hold the most people. 

Pumpkin carving

Yesterday, we carved pumpkins. I have lots of pics of this fun activity but since the kids are in them, I will only post what they looked like at the end. I am so grateful to the parents that came in to help with this activity! Just as a note, the parents were the only ones allowed to touch the knives. I know some of you were worried about that so I thought I would put an end to your fears :) The students pulled out the seeds and pulp. They also worked together in pairs to decide how they wanted their pumpkin carved. Some needed adult help to know what could be carved and what was not possible. The students then separated the seeds from the pulp while the parent carved the face. In case you are wondering, both this year and last year, the boys were grossed out by putting their hand in the pumpkin. I even had one throw up this year! The girls had no problems! 

Here they are outside my door. 

We kept each pumpkins' seeds separate. I took them home and cleaned them all. I kept out three of the pumpkins' seeds for us to count today. The rest I cooked. I made one set with salt, one with garlic salt, and one with cinnamon and sugar. The students then got to taste them today. 

Counting the seeds is a BIG project. The students need help figuring out a way to count them in a reasonable way. We learn about place value with this project. The students make sets of 10 and combine 10 of those to make 100. Here is what they looked like when they were done: 

We then held up the pumpkins and had the other students guess how many seeds there were in each pumpkin. The students guessed outrageously. They also thought that the smaller the pumpkin, the less the seeds. This is not always the case. It has to do with how old the pumpkin is when it is picked. In this case it worked out that the smaller one had the least, however it only had 15 less then the medium sized one which was quite a bit larger. Here are the pumpkins with the papers. 

This last picture is of all three of them together so you can get a better idea. (Ignore the mess on my table in the background) 

This was a fun activity but it does take awhile and really teaches what tens and hundreds means. Several of my students wanted to guess what ten was and put that many in a group without counting but then their numbers were off and they would have to go fix them. I did this whole group last year and it was easier. However, I did prefer doing smaller groups because the students were more involved and therefor got more out of the experience. 

After having the students count, it is fun to read this book (below). It is about a class that counts pumpkin seeds. It also explains why sometimes smaller pumpkins have more seeds then bigger pumpkins. My students really enjoy the book. 

Pumpkin fun!

So I have done quite a bit this year with my first graders and pumpkins. We have read lots of books and learned quite a bit. Last Friday, we read and looked at several books that detailed the life cycle of a pumpkin. After that, I have my students a blank sheet of paper and has them draw a flow map with the pumpkin life cycle. I told them they needed at least three steps in their flow map. They had to draw a picture and then label each one. Before, I have always given them pictures or other support to help with this type of activity. This year, mostly because of the group of students and other activities we have done, I felt like they could handle the assignment in this way. The kids really enjoyed creating their own flow map and for the most part did really well. I was surprised by much they remembered and how they represented it. It just goes to show that if we reasonably raise expectations, the students are capable of meeting them. Here is how I hung it in the hallway. 

Notice the number spiders around it. The students thought that it was funny that the spiders were "climbing" on their pumpkins. Here is a close up of the spiders. 

Student mailboxes

So I have been trying to find a way to organize my classroom better as well as make things easier for me. As a teacher, there are a lot of things that has to be done everyday. I always feel like there is more I need to be doing. Up to this point, I have been putting all the papers that need to go home in each child's folder. It takes time to sort through work and put it on the correct folder. Also, when students were absent, their papers would get stacked up and I would have to remember to send it home with them the next day. This process is very time consuming when teachers don't have time to waste. I was looking to get some kind of mailbox system where I could file their work (or have someone else) and the students could get it out and put it in their folders themselves. I looked at many different systems but I just didn't have the space to use them efficiently. I called my sister Athena, who is in an education program now, to see what she thought and if she had any ideas. She described what her teacher she is working with did. I decided to try it! Not only does it not take up space but it was a WAY cheaper them all the other options (a very big plus because now I can use the extra money for something else). This is the system that her teacher uses that I am now using in my classroom: 

Each student has a slot. The extra ones at the top are very useful. I can put things in there that need to go home but I don't have time to do it at that moment. Also, if I get homework copied early I have a place to keep it where it won't get lost. These are hanging on my bathroom door so they aren't in the way but easily accessible. Also, students coming back from their specials classes can put things in there that need to go home so it doesn't get lost and they don't have to dig out their backpacks. I have used this two days now and I love it! My life is easier and it saves time. I give my thanks to Athena and her cooperating teacher! 

How I got my name

So at the beginning of the school year, we read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. We talk about our names and how they have meanings. As a homework assignment, the students have to find out how they got their name. The kids love it! They think it is so cool to share with the class. Also, it helps them feel important and like their name means something. After that, we do an art project where they get to decorate their name with tissue paper. When they are done, we hang it in the hallway with a types up version of where their name came from. We have them hanging up outside our doors for open house. Here are this year's. 

It's a cool idea and they can put the tissue paper on while you are doing beginning of the year assessing. I leave them up for awhile until I have something want to replace them with. 

Our discovery!

So in case you didn't know, last year I got moved to first grade. I am still teaching first and I am loving it! Also, for the first time ever I stayed in the same classroom. This might not seem like a big deal but it made such a difference. I feel like I am finally getting more organized and my classroom the way I like it. 

Anyways, enough of that. I have a class with quite a few boys. I am trying to. Ale science and writing more fun. To do that, I created a science journal for them to write in when they are at the writing center. One person at a time can go to the science center and observe something and write about it. Sometimes we will do little experiments to put in there as well. I was going to buy science journals but they are too expensive and don't have everything I wanted. Here is what I developed ( I made this video for my sister but you get the idea): 

Ok well I can't put videos in using the app. Or at least I don't know how. I will try and add what it looks like later. 

Anyways, when my students were outside, working on doing filling out an observation for the first time, they found something. They had a huge discussion on whether it was a caterpillar or a worm. I was going to put a video of it here, but like I said, I don't know how. 

We talked about what we knew about caterpillars and worms and we made a Venn diagram. After that, we looked up some more information and watched the video of it moving. Then, each student drew a picture and wrote about what they learned. I put it all together so we could hang it in the hallway. Here is what the finished product looked like: 

They loved doing it so I got an idea. We are going to partner up and do little science research projects. We started today. They are really excited. They are going projects on birds, bats, owls or a combination. They are also deciding on how they want to represent what they find. I am trying this for the first time so we will see how it goes. Also, I am walking them through it. I hope it goes well. They are super excited. 

Bats

So I just found an activity I did with my Kindergartners last year.  We learned about bats and wrote a bat fact we learned.  Then we got to make a bat!  We used our foot for the body and our hands for the wings.  The students loved this, especially putting paint on their foot!