Out of the World Research

The Connected Ones have been researching the solar system. I think our class has every book in our school library about the planets!  We even have a student that been going to the public library to help us fill in any information gaps.  I just love their curiosity and enthusiasm.  To research, we have been using books, videos, and World Book.

We used a note taking technique called coding.  In coding, the students read a section of text and then mark their thinking with symbols.

+ I already knew...

- I learned...

? I wonder...

!  Wow! 

Besides taking notes the students wrote mini reports, opinion papers, and fact files on the different planets.  Wednesday we reviewed all the facts we have been learning about the solar system with a QR treasure hunt.  The students worked in pairs.  They had to scan the code, read the riddle, write the answer to the riddle, and find the next QR code.  Can you solve one of the riddles?  Ask  your first grader for the correct answer!  They told me the clues were WAY too easy.

I am a terrestrial planet.

I am Earth’s twin.

I spin the slowest.

My clouds are poisonous gas.

The students really learned a ton. We have been doing so much nonfiction writing that we decided to change it up a bit with nonfiction poetry!  We used a form poem called compound descriptors.  The children would read over our class notes on the solar system and find key words.  Then, use those key words in two word combinations to create descriptive poetry.  For example, if our notes said "The moon shines because it reflects the sun's light."  The student could write "light-reflecting" as a line in the poem.  Here are some of the finished poems.

                     The Moon                    Pluto                          Uranus                          Earth

                   Deep craters             Dwarf planet                 Thin rings                   Our home

                   No gravity                  No rings                      Gas giant                    Blue green

                  Orbits Earth               Very small                 Spins sideways                Has life

                    by Karter                  by Danyka                  by Jeremiah                  by Lexi

While my favorite demonstration of new learning was the poems, the students are LOVING making planet songs.  Using the app Ditty, the students are using 60 characters or less to make short planet songs.  I must say, they make us all laugh!  I have this app on my iPad only.  It is fabulous for making the students think about the most important information because they only have 60 characters.  I do want to warn you if you are considering getting this app at home.  I have them make their songs with me because the app also lets you add GIFs to the lyrics.  I find that some of the GIFs are not first grade appropriate.  They are not terrible but I have been acting as the filter so they don't even see the GIF possibilities.  Here are a couple of the songs:

 

Drum Roll Please....

Proudly announcing two weeks of Royal Readers.  First, for the week of April 15th-22nd....

Between the three students they read more that 6 hours on Raz Kids! Wow! We usually have just one queen, but these two lovely ladies were only a few minutes apart so I had to give it to both.  Congratulations!  We only have one short and busy month left of school.  It is extremely important to keep reading.  At home reading makes a HUGE difference in school success.  Please continue to read at home as.....

Here are four more reading royals for the week of April 22-29th.  A job very well done!  Keep up the hard work, first graders!

Brilliant Biographies

For the last month, we have been reading about amazing people in our reading groups. We had the inquiry question, "What can we learn from amazing people?" Through our biography reading, we have learned about amazing people like Rachael Carson, Ellen Ochoa, Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and more. The students loved to share their biographies with other classmates and their reading made them even more curious about amazing people in history.  Luckily, the children's curiosity, our study of biographies, and Eagle Cliff's third grade hero fair all came together. 

The 3rd grade hero fair actually began our biography study.  The students went to the hero fair armed with clipboards, pencils, and the 5 Ws and a WOW.  They asked the third graders: Who are you?  What did you do?  Where did you live?  When did you live?  Why were you important?  and What is one WOW fact about your life?  The third graders did a great job answering our questions and the students learned a ton!  You should have heard the discussion when the first graders returned.
We used the same 5W's and a WOW when we read our biographies in reading group.  If the children didn't find all the information they needed, they used our online subscription to world book to find more information. The articles in World Book kids and World Book student include kid friendly text, videos, diagrams, and photographs.  See the post below to access this resource at home!

When we finished researching, some students picked one amazing person to write a poem about. The poem was a triangle poem. The first line answered "Who?" with one word. The second line was two words for "When?" and then three words for "Where?" Last, four words to describe "What they did?" and five words for "Why?" The students really had to synthesize the most important information to write the poems.  To publish the poems, we used an app called Legend to make a short video.  We are still working on publishing all the terrific writing.  Students posted the poems to their SeeSaw digital portfolio so the other students could compliment their hard work!

World Book Online

Look at this researcher!  She wanted to learn more about Thomas Edison.  She has her reading group book, her note taking page, and a biography on EPIC.  Then, check out her computer.  She was also  logged on to World Book Online to learn even more!  World Book is an online safe researching tool for kids.  Eagle Cliffs has a subscription.  The children are loving exploring and searching for information on this tool.

You can access this wonderful online encyclopedia at home as well! It is a safe search engine for all those interesting first grade questions. From a computer, students can click on the text and the computer will read it to them. Here is the link and login information. You can also access the link from the top button bar on the blog. Please check it out!

Worldbook Online

Log-In ID Home: eagleciffshome 

Password: eagles 

Earth Day

Thursday before the three day weekend, we celebrated Earth Day in the classroom!  We read some great fiction and nonfiction books about why it is important to care for our Earth and how we can "Go Green!"



With one of our new favorite apps, EPIC, we had a bingo board of Earth Day themed books.  Students had to read three of the books and initial their three choices on the front board.  Look at all the great reading!  Thank you, Kami Butterfield from Teaching with APPitude!

We put our technology to work today.  When we were working on Earth Day themed story problems and even when we were practicing editing for punctuation, we went paperless.  Using a teaching app called Classkick, we did most of our school work digitally, reducing the amount of paper used.

We discussed ways to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost.  Using cut outs of our hands, we made a poster of the Earth.  Then we brainstormed all the ways we can help the Earth and put the ideas on our poster.  Also, the students wrote their own piece on how to protect the Earth.

We didn't completely finish our writing before the day was done.  When students came back to school Monday, these directions awaited the children.

1. Finish your writing.

2. Take a photo for your digital portfolio in SeeSaw.

3. Upload the photo and record your voice reading the writing.

4. Send the photo and recording to me for approval.

 Aren't these first graders talented techies!  I just love how independent and capable they are becoming.  Each student was able to send me their work.  Here are just a couple examples.