New Blog Design

I am excited to see my new blog design. It was time to change the blog to something more colorful and cute.

I want to say thanks to Alicia at Dreamlike Magic for the design. I think she did a wonderful job and am very happy with it.

I'm still sitting at home sick. I found out on Saturday evening that I have bronchitis. I'm very tired of coughing. I've been busy typing up lesson plans for my substitutes. I finished this evening plans for the rest of the week and then drove 30 minutes to my school. Hopefully, things are going okay in my classroom. I have a very active classroom of 30 first graders. They take advantage of things when I'm not there. I'm sure I'll have to revisit the rules and procedures when I return.

Penguins and ELD

     This week I was teaching an ELD lesson that I wrote up after taking a Systematic ELD class. I was evaluated one day from my coach and it went well.  I wasn't able to teach the whole 5 day unit because I ended up getting sick.  I'm home sick today.  I went to work on Wednesday with a fever.  I don't know how I did that .  It helped that I had 7 kids absent.  It was more like a regular class with only 23 kids.


     The ELD lesson was using the book Penguins by Gail Gibbons as my mentor text.  I taught them about verbs looking at the action that penguins do when they move or do other things.  This was our first introduction to verbs.

     We continued a chart that we started on what we know.  This week we added what new learnings we knew using verbs.  Those are in pink on the chart.  I took pictures from a book called Busy Penguins that showed penguins doing things.  These were great illustrations for the students.  There were examples such as penguins bumping, penguin sleeping, penguins sliding, etc.  

     We used sentence frames to have the students partner up and share.  This is so good for the ELD students, as well as, the English students.  I think the students learned a lot about verbs.  

Penguins:  What We Know and New Learnings using Verbs

Sentence Frames using verbs
and adjectives

Since I've been out sick, I haven't been able to finish my 5-day plan.  It appeared the substitute yesterday didn't teach the writing part, which is the next step.  Today, they should have done a shared writing using these sentence frames and using verbs and adjectives.  Next week, we will finish by having each student write their own paragraph and putting it into a class book.

     Now, I need to start thinking about my next ELD lesson.  This quarter we are to teach Realistic Fiction.  I think I'll start an author study on Tomie dePaola, one of my favorite authors.  My third graders last year just loved learning about him.  He has so many wonderful books.  I think the first graders will like his books, too.  We read one book a week ago called Stagestruck.  It was great because Tomie got in trouble for not listening, a problem many of my students have.  I'm not sure which book we'll do next.  Maybe The Art Lesson.  That's always a good book!

     Well, I better get ready to go to Urgent Care.  My doctor is in Portland, an hour away.  I called yesterday and she told me to go to Urgent Care since she doesn't work on Fridays.  I hope they can give me some medicine.  I have a 3 day weekend and I don't want to be sick the whole time.

Field Trip and Other Happenings

     Happy Easter!  What a wonderful day to reflect on what my Lord and Savior has done for us.  I'm spending the day in Portland with my dad.    


     This was the first week back after Spring Break!  Boy, it sure seemed like a long week!  It was so hard getting up early everyday.


     On Wednesday we went on our first field trip with 5 other classrooms in our school.  We went to the local community college to see the play, Peter Pan and Wendy.  It was a very good and exciting play.  Many kids were seeing a play for the first time.

Waiting for the play to begin

It was fun seeing the students reaction.  Everytime the curtain closed the boy sitting next to me would say, "Is it over?"  I explained that they were just changing the scene.

I took a picture of the boy with Pete the Cat whose mother made a sweater for Pete.  It was so cute!  She is letting us keep it, so now Pete wears a sweater.  We have two Petes that go home every week, so we'll be able to keep track of which one belongs to which VIP.

Pete the Cat wearing a sweater

Pete the Cat came to school with this sweater on our recent late start due to snow on March 21st.  

The students are learning about penguins.  This week I will be using the book Penguins by Gail Gibbons as my mentor text.  I recently took a Systematic ELD class since we have new requirements in teaching ELD.  I'm working on preparing a 5-day lesson using this book.  On Tuesday my literacy coach will observe and evaluate me as I teach.  I'm hoping this will help my principal to see that I do know how to teach ELD.  This is one area that she said that I "do not meet" because she had only seen me teach it once.  Unfortunately, she's not in my room all of the time.

Well, I better get back to my ELD plans and lesson plans and, hopefully, I'll have time to relax some, too.

Have a great Easter!

Diane

Snow Day and Spring Break Is Here!

     Well, it's been a long time since I've written on here.  It's been a busy and difficult year for me, but I made it to Spring Break.  We had snow last week.  That is unusual to have snow in March in Oregon.  Wednesday we had a 2-hour delay.  This was to be our first of two 12 hour days for conferences.  I taught all day and then had evening conferences.  It rained during the day, but during our conference evening it was snowing.  There was lots of snow on the ground when I went home and I did a little slipping in the road.  Thursday was a 12-hour conference day.  Conferences were cancelled because of the snow.  What happens now with those conferences?  We only meet in the spring with the ones we feel need it.  I need some parents to know about their child's behavior (I have too many out of the 31 kids who play and talk rather than listening and learning) or that they are low in reading.  


     I have two students each week who are the V.I.P. for the class.  They take home a bag with a stuffed Pete the Cat, his book, and a binder that explains everything and where the student will write about their time.  Thanks to Erica Bohrer and others for the idea.  One boy came to school on Wednesday, our late-start day, and Pete the Cat was wearing a knitted sweater.  Everyone got a kick out of this!  He said that his mom put it on him.  I meant to take a picture but didn't get to it during our busy day.  Hopefully, he'll bring one after Spring Break.


     I am on Spring Break!  Yeah!  I so much need this break!  
This Spring Break is going by way too quickly.  I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday!  I spent a few days cleaning at home and one day at school.  I visited a friend who had a baby a few months ago and we taught together.   I drove yesterday to spend the rest of the Break in Portland where I grew up.  I'm staying at my dad's house.  Today I saw a friend, who is a teacher.  We went to a movie and had a long lunch together.  It was fun!  I may contact another friend or two in Portland before I return.  I need another week off!


Everyone -- Have a great Friday or as an assistant at my previous school used to say, "Happy Friday Eve!"


      

January News

      It's been hard for me to write anything on here lately.  I think that is due to being new to blogging and my skills are limited.  Also, I'm having a hard year in a new grade and being scrutinized by my principal.  Friday was the end of the first half of the school year.  I can do it!  I will try to update what's been happening and write on here more often.  Another problem is that I forget to take pictures at school.  I finally have some to show!


     We began January learning about new year's resolutions.  The kids set goals for themselves.  We used some papers that many bloggers offered for free and I also had one that I bought.  I don't remember who made them.


     In our district, Winter term in first grade, is when we teach nonfiction literature and nonfiction writing.  We began this unit learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.  It was exciting teaching to first graders who have never heard about him before.  They got upset at what happened.  I read several books to the kids.  One of my favorite books is Martin's Big Words.

After reading this book and a couple of other ones, we began to use charts to show our learning.  We used two organizers that I got from Erica Eberhart's Martin Luther King unit.  In the first one, we drew a picture and then wrote 3 facts that we learned.  Sorry!  My drawing skills are limited, but it helps when the kids get hung up on their drawing.  

The second one we charted Martin Luther King was - had - wanted.  This is our second time of doing this type of chart.  It is a wonderful way for the kids to show what they know.  The students wrote their own chart on paper to be used when they began their writing about Martin Luther King.  Here are a couple samples of student work:

The students began to write sentences about Martin Luther King using their graphic organizers or the ones on the wall.  This was a big step to get the students to write more than one sentence.  They are learning about the writing process and writing a draft, re-reading for meaning, proofreading, editing with the teacher, and publishing.  We are in the middle of that process.  I should have some samples to show on my next post.


     I have been wanting a better place for the students to write their drafts.  Right now I give the kids either notebook paper or handwriting-type paper.  They put it in a folder, which I have found they have a hard time managing this because other papers end up in there.  They have a binder that the published work goes in or completed ones that we don't publish.  I observed a teacher last week and she used primary composition books.  I asked my principal about it and she said she could order them.  I'm so excited about that!  Now, I'll have a place to compare how they are doing and it will be great to show at conference time.

Here are two students working on their writing.


     In my district, Winter Term in first grade, is teaching nonfiction literature and writing.  Right when I needed to begin Amana Nickerson from One Extra Degree posted her Arctic Animal Nonfiction unit.  I bought it right away to teach the kids the nonfiction features.  I am introducing one or two each day.  We began the unit by comparing fiction and nonfiction books.  We recorded what we found in a Venn Diagram so that they could see their similarities and differences.  I also am using Deanna Jump's Arctic Animal unit.  I read her book All About Walruses.  The kids loved learning about them.  If they finished their Martin Luther King writing, they were to begin writing about what they know about walruses.  Next week we will continue and label the parts of a walrus.  This will be our first time in labeling.  Something I've been wanting to teach the students.  The kids are looking forward to learning about these animals.  We will learn about the walrus, polar bear, and finish with the penguin.  We use the GLAD method of teaching and I'll incorporate a penguin GLAD unit.  This will be our first GLAD unit for the year.



     Exciting things are happening in our classroom.  The kids are learning and love coming to school each day.  I just need to get them to not talk so much.  Does anyone have ideas that would help me on the management of 31 students who like to talk during work times and while I teach?  I'm up for ideas.


     Well, this is a little long.  Hopefully, in the future I'll share more often.


     

What's Happening in Our Classroom

Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything.  It has been a busy Fall getting settled into a new school, learning new procedures, and getting to know the students, as well as, learning first grade.  I haven't taken any pictures lately, so I'll just update what's been happening.


We have been learning about fire safety.  I have read lots of books to the kiddos and we have made some charts.  We made a chart with a fire hydrant on the background and put post-it notes on it with what the students know about fire safety.  I saw this on another blog.  I think it was on First Grade Garden.  This was a great activity.  The kiddos were full of knowledge about fire safety.  I introduced the word schema to them and talked about how they are adding to their schema everyday.  They have loved learning about this and hearing about my brother, the fire chief.  On Thursday, after our lesson, the kids looked out the window and the fire department was at the school.  How exciting!  We later found out that the lady who works in the cafeteria had chest pains, so they came to help her and take her to the hospital.  We also made our first tree map about firemen.  This was a great tool to use as they were learning.  I'm sure we will use more of them.


Since Halloween is coming and we don't do much with Halloween, I decided I could read a book or two.  Friday I read Where's My Mummy to the kids.  They sure enjoyed this.  We made a chart about Baby Mummy at the beginning of the story. Tomorrow we will add the end of the story.  This was something I found from Deanna Jump's lesson.  We will continue other activities on Monday.


You can tell I've been getting so many ideas from other teachers.  I'm reading the blogs as much as possible.  It is helpful to me since I'm new to first grade after teaching upper grades for the past 10 years.  I still feel I prefer to teach third and fourth grades, but I am adjusting.  I do admire all of you that love first grade.  I don't know how you do it.  I prefer to teach kids that have some background, know how to read some, and have some school behavior skills.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll change.


We are entering grading time.  Grades are due on Friday.  I will be spending today and the rest of the week working hard on them.  Unfortunately, I have been sick this weekend with a terrible sore throat.  I'm sure I'll be home for at least two days.  I don't want to infect any of the kids plus with the throat hurting I won't be able to use a loud voice over my 31 kiddos.  I'll be at home working on the grades.


We are still working on procedures and how to work quietly and walk in the hall quietly.  It sure is hard with 31 kiddos in the classroom.  They are sweet kids, but there are just a lot of them.  Budget cuts have made it so that class sizes are so large.


I will be missing Halloween at school.  We don't celebrate Halloween, but the school is having Crazy Hair and Hat Day.  I will be sitting and making plans for the substitute for tomorrow.  Hopefully, the kids won't be too excited and hard to keep focused.


We are participating in the Postcard Exchange.  It has been fun to receive the cards and find where they are on the United States map.  We've received 6 so far.


I will try to get pictures of what we do for my next post.

Good News and Pete the Cat

     I have good news!  I received my teaching license renewal this week and I did get the ESOL endorsement.  This was the reason I was told that I was transferred.  I won't be transferred again for this reason.  My district wants everyone to have this.  I took the classes several years ago, but didn't take the test.  They don't require the test, now, if you took it when I did.  I am so happy!


     Well, I made made it through 3-1/2 weeks of teaching first grade.  It has been so different from any grade that I have taught.  I feel like I am learning as I go.  I have a nice group of 30 kiddos, who love to talk.  I'm just not used to kids who talk while I talk.  I guess we have lots to work on.


     I saw lots of things on the blogs about Pete the Cat, so I decided that would be a good way to start.  I bought the first book and the stuffed animal, as well as, the many Pete the Cat units I found on TpT beginning with Deanna Jump's unit.  I appreciate everything that teachers have made.  It helps teachers like me who are new to first grade and need ideas without having to spend too much.  I like all of the free items.  I did have to buy the second book about a week ago.  We will continue reading that one.


     We made the Pete the Cat craft in Deanna Jump's unit.  They turned out very nice but were a lot of work with 30 kiddos.  It's hard when they don't follow or pay attention to the directions.  With 30 kiddos, it is hard to keep them focused.  It does help so much, though, that I have a document camera and they can see exactly what to do.  Here are some pictures of our Pete the Cats.

The kids worked on a writing that will go below their pictures.  We had these up for Open House and the parents were impressed.  I'm going to have a V.I.P. in our class and use Erica Bohrer's Class Mascot forms.  Pete the Cat will go home.  I will demonstrate this week how to do this and then the kids will begin.  With 30 kids, we might have to have two V.I.P.'s on some weeks.  I may need to purchase one more cat.


     I don't have much option for making my own centers for Math.  We use Bridges for Math and there are six Work Places that the students do.  I may throw in another one when possible.  It has been overwhelming learning all of this.  This weekend I'm hoping to find some containers for the centers.  I had to wait until payday.  September is a hard month to buy things after I bought supplies during the summer.  Managing the centers is what I want to work on now.


     Our first math unit is all about bugs.  I will be incorporating Deanna Jump's insect unit, as well as, the one that Made For First Grade has.  I love how I can incorporate literacy along with the math throughout the day on insects.  We also use GLAD in our district.  There is an insect unit, so I will be investigating that and trying to get it ready.  Those units take a lot of time to prepare, but they are so good in teaching ELL kids.