Monday, March 21, 2011

NEED HELP!!! Question for ALL those game makers

I told myself that my goal was to make a game this month (when--I will have to stop blog stalking-hahaha and get to it), but I need ALOT of help. Where is your favorite site for clip art and how do you decide an easy template? I need some starter tips. I have made so many games over the years that require glue and paper (no-I am not that old, but old school ways from the beginning days---NOW to get TECHNO!)
Thanks--

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Harriett Tubman

People in history are hard to teach first graders, but I believe this is the best lesson yet on people in history. Yesterday, I read a book about Harriet Tubman. We discussed her perserverance, bravery, and courage as she was a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad. Students wrote 3 facts about her. Today, I read Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. Then, we made text to text connections. The students responded to this literature by using colored pencils and chalk on black paper. WOW! They were outstanding! When I asked the students about their drawings they were amazing and factual.

Seuss and Measurement Pics as Promised




The Foot Book was a great introduction to measuring using feet. Students used non-standard units to measure their feet. First, they traced and cut out their own foot. Then, they measured.








The Cat in the Hat Comes Back was read. The students discussed the silly things the cat did. Then, we made a T-chart toinclude Places te Cat Could Go and Silly Things He Could Do. The students then completed a sentence starter (in Seuss Unit by Mrs. Larremore) and illustrated. 







Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Seuss, Measurement, NO Camera-Oh my!

Today, we continued our Seuss Adventure. We read Horton Hatches An Egg. Before reading, I used prior knowledge to begin our discussion and t-chart about what hatches from eggs. It ws amzing what the students said. One student even said that tadpoles come from eggs. (True.) Then, the students created a new animal. They had to be a combination between an elephant and some other animal. These turned out cute. Students then wrote and shared stories about an adventure their animal might take, describing their animal, or creating a story similar to the Seuss book. On the other side of the t-chart, we listed our new animal names. Tomorrow, I will take my camera to post pictures.

This afternoon during Math we continued our study on measurement. We measured things in our room with feet that we use for a sight word game. The students had to measure the length of their desk from top to bottom and left to right. They had to measure the desks height and their height. Then, the students could measure other things in our room. This included measuring my height too. SOOOO fun!
Horton Hatches the Egg

Monday, March 7, 2011

Dr. Seuss is on the Loose!

Last week, we started our Seuss Celebration on Wednesday. (Well, this day turned out to be W.acky Wednesday because my school had to be evacuated due to a gas leak. We had to go to the middle school next door. Everyone was safe, but no Seuss Celebration on his birthday.) Anyway, we started our Seuss Adventures last week. Our grade level took turns switching classes, my lesson included reading My Many Colored Days. We discussed feelings and how wearing colors made us feel.  I used Mrs. Larremore's idea and had the students write about their colored day. I added a because in the writing. When my students shared their writing, they had to use drama or dance to show their feeling. Some classes used colored pencils to illustrate. My class did a crayon resist. Here are some examples:

On Friday, we read If I Ran the Zoo. We made a t-chart as we discussed real zoo animals and Dr. Seuss's (McGrew's Zoo Animals) . Students then used art supplies and cut outs (as an option) to create a McGrew Zoo Animal. We have been discussing Who? What? When? Where? and Why? during our last author study. Therefore, students wrote a story about their zoo animal answering these questions. I will post pics tomorrow of their animals.


Today, we read The Foot Book. We reviewed antonyms by making a list of opposites. Then, the students traced their feet. They had to choose a set of opposites to illustrate and use in a sentence.


Fingers---toes

slow-fast


Then, the students used nonstandard units to measure from toe to heel and from side to side.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Valentine Snowmen-Too Cute to Pass Up

These are too cute to pass up. So even though Valentine's Day has come and gone, I am sharing. We made Valentine snowmen. This was so fun. We also read and used our best handwriting to copy the poem:
Snoman's Valentine
_________________  made a snowman,
fat and fine,
And, oh how his wiggly eyes
did shine.
When little ____________________
gave him today
A big red heart for a
Valentine.
author-Kay  Dee

I have students write their name where the blank is on the poem. Of course, they LOVE it!