Our first day was a success! I promised the children I would tell every parent THANK YOU for doing such a great job preparing these little ones for school. So please let them know, their teacher LOVES them already!Take a peek at our time together…
April is Poetry Month!
National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry introduced in 1996 and organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States.
In honor of National Poetry Month, students created “Book Spine” poetry during their library lesson. Students arranged book titles to make a poem. Just like regular poetry, they created a poem that was serious or funny.
To make a “Book Spine” poem the students started by moving books around with their spines together so that the titles were like lines of a poem. Students moved books around into different stacks until they found lines that worked best together to create a poem.
Below are some of the “Book Spine” poems our class created.
Created with flickr slideshow.
April’s Word of the Month: Flexibility
April’s word of the month is flexibility. Having a positive and hopeful attitude helps us to overcome challenges. When times are difficult or mistakes are made, it is important to stay motivated and be flexible. Being flexible helps us when we need to cope with changes. Flexibility helps us to think about problems in new, creative ways. This is also a great way to connect and understand growth mind-sets and fixed mind-sets. Being flexible is helpful in developing our true potential.
Read: But Excuse Me That is My Book by Lauren Child
In this funny “Charlie and Lola” adventure, Lola insists on going to the library to get her favorite book, the same one she has taken out over and over again. What will happen when she discovers that the book she loves is not on the library shelves? Will Lola be flexible and take an different book from the library shelves?
Flexibility is the Thinking Skill that focuses on the ability to adapt to new situations, improvise, and shift strategies to meet different types of challenges. Dealing with uncertainty, creative problems solving and handling change make take practice! Test your flexibility! Play the games “Me and the Key”, “Think Outside the Flock” and “A Spoon Full of Sugar”
Look at things differently and come up with creative solutions to problems. Identify an object from around the house and think about it differently. For example, different ways to use a phone book, such as for a booster seat, a doorstop, or a fire starter. Turn pots and pans into a drum set, or make a fort out of the couch and pillows.
In the comment section below, identify an object and describe how it would be used differently.
Remember…The username for a teacher’s blog is your first initial lastname and the password is your lunch code!
World Water Day
This year, World Water Day, landed on Sunday, March 22nd. It is the hope that World Water Day will raise awareness of the excessive use of water and decrease the population’s everyday usage. Here is a good example of how water is used in excess: The average American, taking a 5-minute shower, uses more water than an average person in the slums of a developing country in a whole day! I think a 5-minute shower is on the short end for most people. How long is the shower you take?
Today in library we read a nonfiction book about the "Water Cycle." The children then illustrated what they learned about the "Water Cycle" and read "Big Books" about weather.
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Watch the video below to help you understand how the water cycle works.
Character Education Performance
Last month we were responsible for teaching the school about the word tolerance. Take a peek below and check out some of our performance. Hope you enjoy it!
Persistence
per•sis•tence
noun p?r-?sis-t?n(t)s, -?zis-
: the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people
: the state of occurring or existing beyond the usual, expected, or normal time
Why ants? They are hard workers! They never give up! They teach us to view things from their perspective! And ants overcome obstacles! Persistence, ant style! When the going gets tough, ants keep going! Watch this short clip from National Geographic as Dr. Nigel Franks monitors how hard individual ants work by gluing tracking chips to them.
Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plantBut he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes
Read This!
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
When an ant scout returns home with a mysterious crystal, the queen ant decides it is the most delicious food she has ever tasted. That evening the other ants, wishing to make the queen happy, set off on a journey to fetch home as many of these crystals as they can carry. The journey is a dangerous one. Following the scout, the ants travel through the “forest” to the “mountain” they must climb in order to reach the treasure they seek.
Below is a fun little animation that illustrates persistence!
Bridges
Students have recently been working in the science lab with Mrs. Levine exploring the unit, The Materials in Our World. The unit has provided opportunities for student’s to observe and compare the properties of a variety of kinds of wood, paper, fabric, and earth materials. Hands-on activities allowed students to discover what happens when they subject the materials to a number of tests and interactions.
As active learners, students will apply their science knowledge to the exploration of primary sources and bridges!
During a series of library lessons, the students will become familiar with primary sources. The primary sources will include video and images of bridges.
The image, Wheeling Suspension Bridge, Spanning East channel of Ohio River at U.S. Route 40, Wheeling, Ohio County, WV will be revealed as tiles are removed. Students will be guided through the analysis of the the document using the protocol, “Observe.Reflect.Question.”
Students will identify and note details.
What do you notice first? · Find something small but interesting. · What do you notice that you didn’t expect? · What do you notice that you can’t explain? · What do you notice now that you didn’t earlier?
Students will generate and test hypotheses about the source.
Where do you think this came from? · Why do you think somebody made this? · What do you think was happening when this was made? · Who do you think was the audience for this item? · What tool was used to create this? · Why do you think this item is important? · If someone made this today, what would be different? · What can you learn from examining this?
Students ask questions to lead to more observations and reflections.
What do you wonder about… who? · what? · when? · where? · why? · how?
Watch this short video from the Library of Congress showing the entire trip from Brooklyn to New York in 1899.
As students identify questions appropriate for further investigation, a research strategy will be developed to help them find answers.
Read: Cross a Bridge by Ryan Ann Hunter, illustrated by Edward Miller. This very simple introduction to bridges explains what bridges old and new are made of, how they first came to be of use, all the different types of bridges there are (pontoon, covered, suspension, etc.) and the distances they cross.
Exploring the iPad App Bridge constructor will become an appraised bridge engineer and architect! They will create and design their own constructions and watch the cars and trucks pass over them – or see them fall and crash while the inferior creations collapse due to weight and the laws of physics!
Finally, students will design their own bridge using Screen Chomp and share their design with the teacher. Screen Chomp is a recordable whiteboard where you can share your ideas! Here is a quick look at ScreenChomp, a free screencasting app for the iPad.
Kindness
Read: Enemy Pie by by Derek Munson
One boy’s perfect summer seems to be ruined when his worst enemy, Jeremy Ross, moves in down the block. Fortunately, though, Dad has a recipe for enemy pie. But it seems that the pie will only be effective if the recipient is treated kindly before eating it. Reluctantly, the boy agrees to spend time with Jeremy.
It might not be Enemy Pie or like your grandma’s apple pie, but these factories go through quite the process and add their own magic touch for a melt in your mouth taste. Watch the video below to see how this factory produces mini apple pies.
People say they don’t have time to be kind. Watch the video below to see how to stop and remind others that kindness only takes a moment! Kindness blossoms…
Read: I Like Your Buttons by by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, illustrated by Nancy Cote
When Cassandra compliments her teacher, she starts good feelings flying throughout the school, out onto the playground, and all around the neighborhood.
Pay It Forward!
Watch a clip from the movie “Pay It Forward.”
Gratitude, Pass it On!
grat·i·tude noun ˈgra-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd : a feeling of appreciation or thanks
“Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” -Henri-Frederic Amiel Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Gratitude is being Thankful!
Dallas Clayton is an American author and illustrator best known for his children’s works in the Awesome Book series. Clayton's adventure started a few years ago after he wrote and illustrated a book for his son called An Awesome Book!. The drawings were bold and the message was simple: Don't ever stop dreaming, and when you do dream, dream BIG.
Not a single publisher was interested in the book, so he took matters into his own hands and published it himself. Clayton made the story available to read for free online. People started sharing his story and those people shared his story and so on so forth … readers of the Awesome Book exponentially grew and has impacted children as well as adults.
Read, The Awesome Book, the book that started it all!
Dallas Clayton published a second book titled, The Awesome Book of Thanks!
A whimsical, Seuss-esque book that will inspire readers to appreciate the big and little things in life. "Deliciously childlike art…skips across the pages, sometimes silly, sometimes practical…and always appealing." (Booklist)
Thanksgiving
Use the resources below to explore Thanksgiving with your child.
READ:
Thank You Sarah, The Women Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson. Use Sarah's story as inspiration. Think about things you can urge others to do to make a difference in your communities. Brainstorm a list of ways that you can make the community better. Use the Letter Generator to write a letter urging action, just as Sarah Hale did 140 years ago. Additional Activity Websites:
- Thanksgiving Timeline This site provides information about how Thanksgiving has been celebrated through the ages-including President Truman "pardoning a turkey" in 1947 and the Native Americans' day of mourning in 1970.
- The First Thanksgiving Use this interactive website to explore what it was like to travel on the Mayflower and live in Plymouth.
What really happened at the First Thanksgiving? Become a history detective and find out! In this fun activity, take on the role of “history detective” to investigate what really happened at the famous 1621 celebration. Along the way, you will see a few primary source documents which include a letter written by an eyewitness to the event, Wampanoag traditions of giving thanks, and a visit to Pilgrim Mary Allerton’s home. As a final activity, you can design and print your own Thanksgiving exhibit panel. Click the image below to launch the activity.
The Unites States of Thanksgiving is a post from the NY Times that I discovered via the post The Best Sites To Learn & Teach About Thanksgiving. Click through to see 50 Thanksgiving dishes gathered from each of the 50 unique states in the U.S. The cool thing is that it will show you your state first! Which dish will you help prepare for your Thanksgiving day meal?
Watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!
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