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:
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