SNOW Much Fun with Snowmen!

Snowmen here. Snowmen there. Snowmen, snowmen everywhere!  We have been making snowmen, writing about snowmen, reading books and poetry about snowmen, playing math and phonics games with a snowman twist....so fun!  With all this background knowledge about snowmen, it seemed to be the perfect item to use in order to make an analogy to a very important writing standard: adding details to a narrative.

This writers workshop started with a lesson that looked more like art.  We all cut out snowflakes and then put them together into three, big, stacked snowballs.  I announce, "Voila, finished!"  The children wanted to be polite but I was getting some funny looks.  In the most respectful way, they told me we needed to add some details.  Details make everything better!  We worked together to add details like eyes, carrot nose, hat, mouth, scarf, buttons, until....

Yes, a detailed snowman is so much more interesting.  We were on a roll, so I made the writing analogy.  I wrote a story that was one sentence without detail: "I have a dog."  We compared the writing piece to the plain white snowman without detail.  My writing needed details.  The students knew just what I should add and started telling me the missing details: what's her name, what kind of dog, what color is she, how do you feel....DETAILS!  I improved my writing piece and the students set to work on their own stories.

 

These 1st grader writers were detail driven.  They wrote pages and pages adding several events and details to their writing.  They were very proud of their hard work.  At the end of writers workshop the students shared their amazing pieces and complimented each other on adding details!

Our Snowy Days

The children loved listening to the book Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  We made our own class book about what we like to do in the snow and used the same illustrating style of the Caldecott winning book.

 We have had a very snowy January.  Not only is the snow outside but there is snow much learning going on inside.   In writer's workshop, we worked on adjectives and verbs to write beautiful snowflake poems.  We also made a winter word web and wrote poetry about winter.  Take a look!

 

Reading Rainbow

When class starts with 20 first graders launching an app and singing, "I can go anywhere..." you know you have found a gem!

Growing up, Reading Rainbow was my favorite television show and the app does not disappoint this loyal fan. The Reading Rainbow app is AMAZING! Last year, the primary students at Eagle Cliffs did a "Read-A-Thon." Part of the funds raised were used to purchase a subscription to Reading Rainbow for our first grade team. The subscription allows for each student to have access to hundreds of books and videos collected by Reading Rainbow. But you don't have to take my word for it.... watch the trailer below to see what this app has to offer.



I have been using the Reading Rainbow app in my classroom for 4 years now. It was one of the first apps I introduced this year and Reading Rainbow continues to be part of our everyday reading routine. The app is filled with incredible fiction and nonfiction books that are read aloud to the children by terrific, fluent readers. There is also an amazing library of videos that build background knowledge and take the children on interesting virtual field trips. The kids are so engaged in reading anytime they are logged in. Their eyes light up as they "turn" through the pages of the digital books. You can hear giggles as students listen to funny stories and "WOW"s when the students see and hear something interesting. They are recommending books to each other and are proud of the stickers they have collected for reading books in the app.

You can get a Reading Rainbow subscription at home for $4.99 per month. Visit their website for more information: https://www.readingrainbow.com/. Just this year, the app launched the education version of the app. This is what we have a subscription to. One of the new features is that you may access our class account from home. How exciting is that! On any web browsing device, go to our class blog. On the top button bar, click "Reading Rainbow." You will be taken directly to our class's page. Click on your child's balloon and have them enter their password. Please take advantage of this incredible library. You will not be disappointed!

Inference Investigators

     To work on the reading comprehension strategy of inferring, the Connected Ones became investigators this week. To infer in reading, you have to use your schema (your background knowledge) and the clues the author gives you to infer things that might not be written on the page. We read a story about Tim and his grandma. Tim and his grandma were spending a snowy day together while Tim's mom went to work. When she came home at 4 o'clock, Tim and Grandma were no where to be found. However, they left many clues about what they had been up to during their "snow day."   As inference investigators, each group of students got an envelope with some of the evidence Tim's mom collected. As a group, the investigators went through their envelopes. They would write down the piece of evidence and then infer what Tim and his grandma might have been doing. For example, one group had a McDonald's french fry container, so they inferred that Tim and Grandma had McDonald's for lunch.

Some of the evidence was tricky.  The investigators really had to think.  For example, one group had a wrapper and some of the group members inferred that Tim and Grandma had a cupcake for snack while the other investigators in the group thought maybe they ate muffins for breakfast.  Great ideas, both could be correct.  Later, the group found a recipe for muffins and decided the wrapper was in fact from blueberry muffins!  The groups did a nice job collaborating before they wrote down their inferences. Teamwork!

The investigators used the evidence to figure out many of the activities that Tim and his grandma did all day.  They still had a question to answer, where were Tim and grandma at 4 o'clock when his mom came home.  The groups all got together and discussed all their findings.  They were able to make a timeline of the day.  One group had a movie schedule with the 4 o'clock showtime for frozen circled.  That was it!  Great job inference investigators! 

Math Centers

We have been digging deep into place value objectives.  We have been comparing, building, decomposing, writing, and learning about numbers.  Our explorations have included low tech methods and high tech methods...my favorite being, like the little man above, combining the two to be true 21st century learners.  Of course, with anything we do we like to incorporate fun with the rigor. Here are just a few of our activities!

To introduce comparing numbers we used snowballs.  We scattered snowballs all over the carpet.  Two teams had twenty seconds collect as many snowballs  as possible.  Then the players counted the snowballs and announced to the class.  The students all wrote the inequality on their whiteboards.  Here is one round of our fun.


Using our knowledge of greater than/ less than, we decided to play a little game...#guessmynumber.  We started playing this guessing game with a second grade classroom in North Dakota through Twitter.  We chose a secret number and the other classroom asked yes/no questions to try and guess our mystery number.  We had to use our knowledge of greater than/ less than, digits, place value, even/odd...both classes are working hard.  Here is just a peek at some of our tweets:

 We have a great app called Mystery Number that is similar to this #guessmynumber game.  The app contains four different games that give students lots of opportunities to explore concepts of number and place value.  One of the games has students guessing a mystery number by asking questions just like #guessmynumber.  The games can be played with one player or two.  Check out Mystery Number ($1.99) on the app store. 

There are also some amazing, interactive games online that practice important place value objectives.  Check out the links below.  We have done these games on the Chromebook lab.  The children are so engaged in "playing" they don't realize how much they are learning!

 Greater Than Less Than

 Shark Pool Place Value

 Hundred Chart Puzzle

 Find the Bone

Skip Counting- 10, 5, 2