We Are Thankful
Posted in fifth grade, first grade, fourth grade, fun events, holiday, Pre-K, second grade, and third grade
Category: first grade
The Wonky Donkey and Seesaw
Posted in bilingual, first grade, picture book lesson, technology, and TTESS 1819
Last week, I created my first Seesaw activity! (link below) After reading The Wonky Donkey and singing the song, the first graders had to think of a NEW flaw for the donkey. They used Seesaw in pairs to draw their wonkier donkey and they used the microphone to tell about its new flaw. They had a blast!
Exploring Animals with Pebble Go: English and Spanish
Posted in first grade, picture book lesson, and technology
First graders enjoyed the award winning read aloud, Oh No! by Fleming and Rohmann. They predicted what would happen at the end of the story and who came to rescue the animals. At the tables, they watched the book trailer, sequenced the animals (sheet below), and rotated on the computers to explore animal information on Pebble Go in English and Spanish. PebbleGo is one of our district databases. The kids can listen to the sounds, read short text, and watch videos to go with each animal. After check out, they watched a San Diego zoo video about tigers. Fun!
Fun with Chris P. Bacon
Posted in first grade, nonfiction lesson, and picture book lesson
Last week in the Jackson Library, first grade had fun reading a nonfiction book about the cutest pig ever, Chris P. Bacon! The true story of Chris P. Bacon explains how this pig born without back legs was rescued by a kind veterinarian. We read the book Dr. Len wrote himself and learned how he designed a wheelchair for the pig using K’Nex toys. Chris P. Bacon inspired us by showing us that it is good to be ‘unique’!
video
Technology Station
Our OK Book
Posted in first grade, picture book lesson, technology, and writing
The week before STAAR testing, first graders created their own digital book based on Rosenthal and Lichtenheld’s book, The OK Book. The book shows the stick figure shaped like the letters ‘OK’ attempting different hobbies and activities. The figure isn’t very good at these activities yet, but that is ‘ok’ and one day they will find their favorite hobby and talent. The kids used DoodleBuddy to create their pictures and AnyFlip to publish. Check out first grade’s book!
Leprechaun Coin Bridge STEM Challenge
Posted in first grade, holiday, and STEM
Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders competed in groups in a Minute to Win It style game. After discussing bridges and building a sample model with mirror cubes, the kids had to devise a plan to create a bridge-like structure made from only pennies. They had to use all of the 30 pennies in the bag and they had to be able to slide a pencil underneath the bridge. After the challenge, they discussed how they would improve their bridge next time re-vamped their designs.
Potatoes and Cabbage song
What Will Grow?
Posted in apps, first grade, nonfiction lesson, and picture book lesson
Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders enjoyed Jennifer Ward’s (@jenwardbooks) new book, What Will Grow? The kids love the song-like, rhyming text and are amazed when the pages fold out to reveal the beautiful illustrations of Susie Ghahremani (@boygirlparty) depicting a towering sunflower or a deep-reaching carrot root. Click below for the independent assignment I gave them to work on at the tables. If students forget which seed produces which fruit/plant/tree, I added the rhyming words so they can match rhyming pairs like in the book. Kids explored the Gro Garden app, which teaches about sustainable farming in a holistic way.
My Teacher for President!
Posted in apps, first grade, holiday, Uncategorized, and writing
Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders read My Teacher for President by Winters and looked at similarities between their teacher’s job with the president’s job. At the tables, they wrote about what their teacher would do as president. We used festisite to put the teachers’ faces on twenty dollar bills. Scroll through to read their papers!
Groundhog Day Fun
Posted in first grade, holiday, kindergarten, and picture book lesson
Last week in the Jackson Library, kindergarteners made a fun groundhog puppet and first graders sequenced story events using the book, Mr. Groundhog Wants the Day Off. They read an interactive story about Groundhog Day at the computer station using the Starfall site.
Hmmmm….Motives?
Posted in first grade, and picture book lesson
Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders analyzed character traits and the motives of the characters in @bobshea ‘s Cheetah Can’t Lose picture book. As we read the book about Cheetah racing the kittens, we watched the little kittens snicker and Cheetah become more brazen with his bragging. The kids started putting velcro boxes on Cheetah’s feet, balloons in his hand, and sundaes in his mouth on the poster to think about what was really going on here. I think the visual poster in addition to reading the book helps them to conceptualize what is happening. After deducing that the kittens were trying to make Cheetah lose the race, we discussed the complex ending and why it ended that way. It was a great discussion on how to be a true friend and the characteristics of a friend. At the tables, the kids recalled the objects the kittens used to thwart Cheetah.
