Hour of Code- Holiday Style

This year, Almond embraced the "Hour of Code". We signed up with our buddy classes to code together. The assignment was to make a holiday card using Scratch. The students needed to choose a background and insert it into the card. Then, they needed to choose at least one character and insert the character into the card. The final instruction was that the character must move. Many students programmed the character to move and say "Happy Holidays". With Scratch, students can program interactive stories, animations, cards, etc. It is free of charge, and I encourage all parents to go on and set up an account for your child. There are two versions, Scratch for 3rd grade and up and Scratch Jr. for TK-2nd. It really gave our buddy groups a chance to work collaboratively, the 4th graders helping the 1st graders and vice versa. It was amazing to watch them create some very cool cards.

This is what the program looks like while the students are still programming their interactive cards. Our lab was open during the week so that parents could come and work with their children on the program too!

There are so many options. The students can really explore and be creative. There were no direct instructions given. The students really had to figure it out on their own. I was amazed at the problem solving skills and the patience of my 1st graders. 

The Holiday Season

It is halfway through Christmas break, and I am now finding the time to update my blog. My son is down for his nap, and my husband is off working out at the gym. The only sound I hear is the snorting of our little frenchie, Emma, who just last week was spade. We have had a wonderful break so far. Christmas was very busy. We had three Christmases this year. The day started out at my husband's mom's house for breakfast, which was delicious. Then, we moved on to my parent's house. Finally, we ended the night at my husband's dad's house for dinner. Everyone was invited to dinner, so it was so much fun! At the start of the day, I was not in the Christmas mood, but by the end of the night, I wished that the holiday season would continue, which is probably why I continue to watch Hallmark holiday movies.

Before school let out, we were so busy. I have decided to tackle everything in one blog post because I do not know when my next free moment will be. As you might experience, after Christmas is spent getting together with friends that were traveling during the holiday or are visiting from out of town. Each night this week seems to be filled with a dinner.


We work on two major projects during the holiday season. First, in Language Arts, we focus on the story of the Gingerbread Man. We read various versions and do different activities. One of the activities that I love is a gingerbread man glyph. The students answer questions about themselves and create a gingerbread man to match how they answered. For example, the gingerbread vest color corresponds to their student's favorite season. The students learn about each other and have fun doing it.

We do many other activities including sequencing, character analysis, problem and solution, etc. We also write a paragraph on "how to catch the gingerbread man". 

From the beginning of December to the break, we take a trip around the world in social studies. We learn about continents and countries, traveling to different places to see how they celebrate the holiday season. The students receive a passport and suitcase for the journeys. Each country is found on a map and colored. Each students gets a sticker for visiting each country, and they color the countries flag to place on the outside of their suitcase. 

Many backpackers do something similar. When they travel to different countries they buy patches to sow onto their large backpack.  Before I became a teacher, I backpacked across South America with a friend who is now a teacher in England. I saw many backpacks adorned with patches from all over the world. It is incredible how traveling changes a person. Maybe I will write about my travels in a different blog entry, but traveling is one of my passions and definitely a hobby of my husband and mine.

We visited Mexico, France, Germany, Israel,  and the United States of America. We started in Mexico and learned about Las Posadas. Then, we went to France and learned about Pere Noel and Le Creche. After that, we went to Germany and learned about Christmas trees and St. Nicholas Day. When we traveled to Israel we learned about Hanukkah. Finally, in the USA we discussed Kwanzaa. Each country and holiday came with an article and comprehension sheet. We also did a craft to represent something that we learned.

This poinsettia represented "Las Posadas" when people decorate their homes with this beautiful flower. Legend has it that a girl wanted to bring a gift to the baby Jesus and only had weeds, but an angel changed them into a red poinsettia. The poinsettia was a new flower and considered a Christmas flower from the beginning. 

The students drew these with guidance. They turned out beautiful. I followed these instructions found at Art Projects for Kids.

We incorporated math into the creation of a Christmas tree to represent Germany. 

I cut different length strips and had students line them up from longest to shortest. Then, they were allowed to decorate them with ornaments. The last step was to add falling snow to the night sky. 

Germany is credited for starting the Christmas tree tradition that we have today. Although, evergreens were used for centuries before that, dating back to before the Egyptian Dynasties. Egyptians worshiped Ra the sun god. During the winter when the days were shorter, the sun god was said to be sick, but when the winter solstice arrived, it marked the time when the sun god would get better. Many people used evergreens to remind them of the time when all the green plants would grow again after the winter solstice. German's decorated trees in their homes and outside. It is also widely believed that Martin Luther, the reformer who started the Lutheran religion, was the first to put candles on a Christmas tree. Today, we use lights instead of candles. My family is Lutheran, so as a child, I grew up with the story of Martin Luther. It made me excited to be both German and Lutheran. It also made me love Christmas trees because they represented a part of my heritage during the Christmas season. 

It is my hope, that during this unit, every student learns something about their culture and a friends culture. I want them to understand that culture is important. We are all American, but there is another part to who we are. I learned to embrace my German heritage, taking the bad with the good. I want my students to want to explore their heritage and love where they come from. 

Friendsgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time to celebrate friends and family. My husband and I decided to have a freindsgiving because we were not going to be having a traditional Thanksgiving since we are going to the 49er game on Thanksgiving. It was the first time that I had ever made a turkey. My husband brined the turkey for me, and it was my job to put the rub on the turkey and cook it. I bought the brine and rub at Cost Plus Word Market. It came in a nice kit that was very reasonably priced. I woke up really early thinking that it was going to take me a long time to cook the turkey. I watch the Reynolds Wrap video for how to cook a turkey and decided that it seemed easier then other ways. I basically placed Reynolds Wrap at the bottom of the pan, put the turkey directly on top of the wrap and created a tent for the turkey. It made for a beautiful turkey and quick and easy clean up.

I used our new roasting pan that is beautifully initialed. I loved the look. I felt so domestic. 

I also wanted to create decorations for the party. I went on Pinterest and found a sign that I felt like I could recreate. We had an old mirror that I painted with chalkboard paint to create a framed chalkboard. I used chalk board markers to write on the sign. This is what came from my efforts.

This is the sign that greeted our guests as they arrived. 

I also went to Papersource and bought crafts that I could DIY. I made photo props and a "Give Thanks" sign. The table clothes were purchased at Cost Plus World Market at the same time that I bought the brine and rub package. I used fall flowers in mason jars to create the rustic feel that I was going for. 

We had such a wonderful time with our friends. Thank you to all that came and enjoyed feasting with us! We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving that is blessed with family, friends, and really good food...

Thanksgiving Stations

Before our 1st grade Thanksgiving feast, I run Thanksgiving stations. There are four stations that the students rotate through.

1. A Voyage Map
2. Pilgram Hats/Native American Hats
3. Thankful Writing
4. Pumpkin Dessert

The four stations are designed to support our feast. The students learn about the pilgrims voyage. They create hats in order to dress up for the feast. It is their choice whether they want to be a pilgrim or a Native American. They write sentences about what they are thankful for. This is used for a placemat at the feast. During the feast, we send a microphone around the table. Each first grader has to give one sentence about what they are thankful for. My students' writing help them to remember what they are thankful for. The pumpkin dessert is eaten by all first graders on the day of the feast.

First grader writing about what she is thankful for.

Students decorating their Native American hat bands with symbols.

Students measuring, cracking eggs, and mixing their pumpkin bread.

Working on a Scholastic News about the pilgrim voyage.

The day was so much fun! 

Pilgrim Boys and Girls

Thanksgiving is a time to remember the pilgrims who came to this land to escape a life of persecution. I want my students to learn about the lives of the pilgrims in Plymouth. We study Samuel Eaton and Sarah Morton who were children in Plymouth. I ask each child to imagine what their life would have been like. Then, we brainstorm how their lives are the same and different from the pilgrim children. Each child writes a paragraph about what their life would be like if they were a child at Plymouth. Then they turn themselves into pilgrims. 

Here are two of my students with their craftivity and below is a close-up of their writing. 

For November, I think that my students are already talented writers.

Fall Leaf Poem

Fall brings many wonderful things like cooler nights, warm flickering fires, and cashmere sweaters, but we also leave behind long, warm summer days. The students and I brainstormed about what we say hello to and what we say goodbye to with the coming of fall. After we brainstormed, the students wrote poems. They are so talented, and the poems turned out beautifully.

They are each so individual! The colors are a mixture of bright summer days and cool fall night.

Scarecrows

Scarecrows are one of favorite things about November. My students make these large scarecrow puppets and write a "how to" about making a scarecrow. 

I hang them up around the classroom. They look so cute, and they make my classroom look so festive!

Author Visit

I had met an author at the Fall Festival in Los Altos and invited her to visit my class and read her book to my students. Her name is Jenny Hurwick. She wrote the book "The Adventures of Frazzle and Twitch". He reading was entertaining, and the students had a great time!

Find her at @frazzlesbooks.com, and explore and buy the book here.

Pumpkin Stations

Every Halloween my class does pumpkin stations. There are about 4 to 5 wonderful parents that volunteer to lead a group in different activities involving a pumpkin. It gets gooey and sticky, but it is so much fun! I absolutely love pumpkin station day.

This is the first year that I have used Tangled Up In Teaching's "It's All About Pumpkins" unit. For the most part, I think that it was a success. I typed up my own instructions for the parents. If you want them, you can email me, and I will send them to you. There were portions of the papers that were a bit small for first grade writing, but it was adorable and got the students estimating and doing more activities than I usually have them do. I did not have any time to spare in the end, which sometimes happens during stations. Students were asked to do different things with their groups pumpkin. Many started off by measuring the circumference. This required them to wrap a string around their pumpkin, take it off, and measure it using a ruler or yard stick.

When the students were done, they would bring up their string and I would place it on a poster. This shows how large all of our pumpkins were. I have had this poster for 4 years. I made one, laminated it, and I keep using it year after year. Next year might be time for a new one, but it has held up really well. 

Students also had to see if their pumpkin floated or sank. First, they guessed what would happen. Then, they took their pumpkin out to one of two bins filled with water and put their pumpkin inside. This might have been one of the more exciting activities. Some students could not believe that a pumpkin as big as theirs floated. 

They also had to guess and weigh their pumpkin. I was s busy running around that I forgot to take a picture of this. I had to weigh the pumpkins to make sure that my scale would work. I had brought my scale from home and each pumpkin had to be placed in a certain spot or it would read error. I let the parents know ahead of time and there did not seem to be any issues with it. The one issue I had was finding my counting cubes to measure the height. The students just used their ruler. I later found them in an unusual place. :)

The best part of the stations is the cutting open and carving of the pumpkins. For some, this is the first time feeling the inside of a pumpkin. I had some parents that brought fabulous knives and just got right in there. Of course, only parents were able to use the knives. The students got carving sets. 

Counting seeds is great practice. The students counted by 2, 5, and 10's until 100. The worksheet was small, so many just started to put them down in piles on the table tops. Most groups counted up all of their seeds, which was cool to see because these pumpkins had a lot of seeds. 

After all of the literacy and math activities comes the carving. We ends up with some very different pumpkins this year. They students shows team work and creativity when choosing how to carve their pumpkin. I think my favorite was the half cat, half bat pumpkin. 

Pumpkin Adjectives and Craftivity

It has been a while since my last post, so I have so much to write. It is October 31st, and my classroom has been for crazy making. We have explored pumpkins and bats, witches and monsters. It has been so much fun. This is also the first year that my son has been old enough to walk around in a costume. My husband was sent on a mission to find the perfect costume and came back with a chicken costume. This was not my idea of the perfect costume, but it was what we are going with. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out tonight.

Getting back to my classroom, first, I will start with pumpkin adjectives. My students brainstormed many different adjectives to discuss the inside and outside of pumpkins.

After we brainstorm these ideas, we write sentences about pumpkins using Foxwell Forest's pumpkin creativity. It gets the students writing multiple sentences. Each student can write as detailed or basic as necessary for their skill level. It helps to show me how students are challenging themselves to write above and beyond. I don't have images of the writing, but they turned out cute. 

Fall Leaves on Water

I love the fall! the weather gets colder, tree leaves turn wonderful shades of red, orange, and brown, football starts, and I can finally pull out all of my sweaters, scarves, and boots. Fall is by far my favorite season!

I was discussing fall with a teacher friend who teaches in San Jose. She does this beautiful leaf project with her students. As she was describing it to me,  a lightbulb went off in my head. I could do this project too, and that is what I did!

Day 1
We started with a book reading outside all about fall leaves. After I read the book, my students and I went on a lead walk. There is a great book about leaf walks too. (I am drawing a blank, but will fill in later.) I ask the students to find 6-7 leaves in all shapes and sizes. We explored all areas of the school from the field to the fence beside my classroom. The students discovered that there are many types of trees in our school.

Day 2
Next, the students traced their leaves onto white paper. I wished I had watercolor paper, but I just used 12 x 18 construction paper. The students painted on top of their pencil drawn leaves with a pictures of glue and black paint. This did not work as well as I thought it would. Crayon and oil pastels will accomplish.

I ask each student to make simple veins on each of their leaves. Now was a great time to revisit what veins do for the leaves. Simple veins allow for the leaves to look more like leaves, but not turn black as they pain. If they draw too many lines their is not much room for water color. 

Day 3

Time for water color! For first graders, I teach a very specific way to use water colors. Every student get a water color and a brush. There is no sharing because we have one set of watercolors that the whole school uses for their wart lessons. When the students share an mix colors it is hard to clean and return the watercolors in a state that would allow other teachers to use them. This is what I write on the board and tell the students:

1. open paint

2. wet brush with water

3. drop 5-7 drops of water into yellow

4. mix using swirly motion

5. paint with yellow only

6. Every leaf needs to have yellow

7. do not wash your brush until I tell you to.

8. Repeat for orange and red

If students move from yellow to orange to red they mix lighter colors with dark and the paints do not need cleaning. Students may not go back and paint with yellow once they have started orange. They may not go back and paint with yellow or orange when they have moved on to red. At the very end, the students dump their water and put their brushes into a bin with water. I place each picture on one of the two beautiful drying racks I snagged this year!

Day 4

Water color again but with green and blue. It is the same process as day three, but students start with green and then move onto blue. the paint around the leaves so no white can be seen. It looks like fall leaves are floating down a river. 

When the students give me their watercolors I sprinkle salt on the picture and use a spray bottle to wet the watercolors again. the salt creates a cool bubbling affect and three dimensional texture. Try it with any project! Here are the results…

Beautiful fall leaves!

Science- Exploring With Solids

Our first science unit is on matter. We specifically cover solids and liquids, but I like to throw in gas too and do some experiments with gasses. For the first part of science the students get to explore with solids. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes for this part of the lesson. I walk around and ask questions that get students thinking about the properties of solids. They start to create pictures. Here is one of the 3-D pictures that one of my students created.

 This student was creating a boat in the ocean. I think that she was being very creative!

This student started to stack the items from largest to smallest. It is a great way to provide the math vocabulary for measurement, early in the year. 

I love exploring solids. If you would like to do this at your school, you will need:

A plastic bag

cloth

plastic cut into a shape

popsicle sticks

wood cylinder

wire

plastic tubing

any other solids that you would like to include like

wikki sticks

string

pipe cleaners

construction paper

Place all items inside the bags and let the students explore at a center or their desk!

Word Work

Now there are worksheets to match!

Pick them up here. The posters and word work activity sheets make word work easy peasy.

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Word Work

I am so excited to start my teachers pay teachers store. One of the items that I have created for Daily 5 word work in my class are these beautifully colored posters that help students remember each word work activity that they can take part in during Daily 5. I love them because they are fun and easy. You can get them here. 

Apple Stations

I would like to take this time to thank all of my wonderful parents who volunteered to run apple stations this week. 

 Students having fun learning about apples!

 So many colors!

The only 6 sided star that I have ever seen.

Cutting up apples and counting seeds.

Learning about fractions with apples.

Counting by 2, 5, and 10's. How many seeds are there?

After we learned about fractions, the students cut up the apples into smaller pieces. I placed them in a slow cooker and we made some amazing chunky applesauce. 

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The students were able to taste test the applesauce at the end of the day.

Apple Week

Lest week was apple week, which is one of my most favorite weeks because we do so many fun activities!

We start by learning all about Johnny Appleseed. We read many stories about the real John Chapman. The students complete a sequencing of Johnny Appleseed seen below.

We work on a guided drawing of Johnny Appleseed and add him to a tree and sunny background. I found the idea here at Blog Hoppin'

I will be posting my my student's versions soon.

On September 26th, which is Johnny Appleseed's birthday, Johnny Appleseed actually showed up! Thank you to APC Dramatic Arts Program for an amazing show. The student's really loved listening to Johnny tell us all about his life. 

It was a wonderfully interactive presentation. The students were asked to help plant an apple orchard, and they were lined up to show how big a log cabin was and how tall an apple tree grows. I have never seen so many hands raised to answer questions. It was great. 

Colors, Colors, and More Colors

At the beginning of the year, we celebrate color week. Each day is a different color of the rainbow. Each child brings in an item of that color to share in front of the entire class. I create a poster with the color name at the top and tape up the items with the student's name next to the item they brought. These posters will stay up in my classroom for months. The kids love the color collages. Here are examples of some of this years collages.

We do color activities all week, but the collage is my favorite.