Literacy and Laughter Giveaway

My friend Amy is having an adorable book give away on her blog.  It features the new book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  This plus That: Life's Little Equations is fun book celebrating parts that create something wonderful when put together.  Wishes + Frosting = Birthdays.  I can see using this book as a model to create our own version.

Here's another fun book that takes a new look at equations.  It has become a favorite in our classroom

You can click on the books to check them out on Amazon.  Be sure to check out Amy's blog at Literacy and Laughter.

Poetry Coffeehouse

This is my FAVORITE event of the year!  I have done this event for several years and each year I love it more.  After several weeks of studying and writing poetry, students performed their original poetry for a packed house.  We set the mood by wearing all black, dimmed the lights, and had jazz music playing in the background.  We even had a "fire" going.  Here are a few students during our rehearsal.

Video was taken of the performance.  Of course, I didn't download it before break, so as soon as we return from Spring Break, I will post the video. 

After the performance, we enjoyed coffee and treats.  Thank you to Starbucks, Panera, Krogers, and Meijers for your donations!  I want to give a shout out to Mrs. C and Mrs. W for organizing the entire event. Thank you to everyone who attended.  

One last push

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has voted for my mini-grant.  I truly appreciate your support!!!  We are still in need of votes.  If you have not voted, you can click here to vote for our grant.
Voting ends tomorrow. Thanks!

Peter Pan

What a day yesterday!  We have been waiting and waiting and FINALLY our field trip day arrived!  Our first grade district field trip is going to the Taft Theater in downtown Cincinnati.  We began our trip by eating lunch at Sawyer Point, then enjoying the playground for a few minutes.  The rain held off and the students had a wonderful time.  Here we all are at Sawyer Point.

Next, we arrived at the Taft Theater to enjoy the performance of Peter Pan Jr.   It was fantastic!  The Children's Theater of Cincinnati put together a great adaptation of the Disney classic.  There was flying, singing, and great effects.  Overall, it was just so much fun.

Some of us were exhausted on the way home!

We finished our day by creating a class book about our field trip.  It was a great day!

What have we been up to?

There's a lot happening in Room 105.  Inferring, poetry, patterns, and SPRING!  I am SO ready for spring!  We have two weeks until Spring Break, but I know that it will fly by.  There's a lot packed into those two weeks.  We have a field trip, report cards, an Author Visit, and our biggest event of the year...our Poetry Coffeehouse!  I cannot wait!

So we began our study of poetry a few weeks ago.  The students are natural poets.  We began by going outside with an "idea notebook" to just observe.  Each student found a spot on the playground, found something of interest, and began to write observations about their topic.  Some of those observations became instant poems.  Here are the poets in action. 

We have read countless collections of poetry, studied different types of poetry, and next week we begin to put it all together.  Their poems are quite amazing! Stay tuned for more info on the Coffeehouse.

In Reading Workshop, we have begun a unit on Inferring.  We started out with a "Mystery Item."  I used Abby's Mystery Box poem to introduce the students to inferring.

I gave the students clues. We could change our inference with each clue.  It was a fun way to introduce the unit.  Since then, we have been working on using pictures, text, and our schema to help us understand the meaning of unknown words and develop a better understanding of the text.  Michelle's Reading Workshop Response Sheets are great tools for each Reading Workshop unit.  We have been using her inferring sheets all week.

I am hoping that Spring returns this week. I am ready to pack away my winter coat! We started our two week unit on Spring. I found a great new book, Mud, to introduce students to spring changes.

Students also learned about turtles too and how they adjust with the seasons.  We had a special presentation.  One of my teammate's husband brought in turtles and talked with the students about their habitat, diet, and other facts.  Of course that was day I left my camera at home! We made a fun little turtle and completed a tree map.  These are displayed on our bulletin board.

I will leave you with warm thoughts.  Here are some of my girls enjoying the one day it was warm two weeks ago.  They are ready for the warmer weather.

Thank you to all my students' families and blog friends who have voted for me in the We are Teachers
mini-grant.  I truly appreciate it!  If you haven't voted yet, you can find the link in the previous post.

Enjoy the weekend!

I need your help

Dear Friends,
 This Big Book easel has been on my wishlist for a few years now.  I have seen how it is used in Literacy Stations and know it would add so much to our classroom.  I have pictured my students reading the big books together and using the board below to make and manipulate words and letters.  I have applied for a mini-grant through "We are Teachers." With the grant, I would be able to purchase the Big Book easel.  I would also receive a Flip Video Camera.  Now think of the possibilities of the Flip!  I could record my students in action and post video on the blog.  Families who would not be able to make it to special events would have the opportunity to view it online...I have so many ideas!

I need your help.  The awards are based on voting.  So I am asking if you could please take a moment and vote for me.  It does not take long.  I would truly appreciate it! Just click on the fairy to grant my wish.

Thank you so much!

I will be posting photos of out lessons over the weekend.