Out of the mouths of babes...

I got a kick out of this the other day. One of my grade one students wrote this in his journal. 

Truer words were never spoken. 

Which is not to say that some of the work isn't fun but, still, he's got the right of it. 

Now, if only I could keep them working until the end of this last week of school! I'm not holding my breath!!!!

Cheers!

Olwyn

Lest We Forget

We spent a lot of time this past week talking about peace and Remembrance Day. I wanted to share with you today, on Remembrance Day, some of the wonderful ideas our class came up with.

First, here are some examples of the PEACE acrostic poem that we wrote with our big buddies.

I love the last one where A stands for active helping. Now wouldn't this world become 150% better if every single person became an active helper?!?!

And here are the poppies we made in Community Arts & Crafts...

We did some activities before making these poppies. It was a two day process with all 92 students in our community. 

On day one, we read Todd Parr's book called The Peace Book ( I got smart about reading a book to 92 students at once and photographed all the images so that I could put the book on the smartboard!) and then we brainstormed all the many things that peace can be before doing our own writing. We made the poppies on day two and added our writing to them. I am hoping that they are gracing front doors and refrigerators all through our school neighbourhood!

Here's the book we read. If you haven't read it, you need to. In fact, you can't really go wrong reading any of Todd Parr's books. He is awesome!!! You can check out his website here. And to find out more about the book you can click on the picture of it below...

I am always humbled by the ideas that children can come up with for these types of activities. Sometimes I think that if all the adults in the world would follow the advice of children, we would have a much happier and peaceful world!

Here are some of their thoughts...

Peace is...

• being kind
• having food
• wishing on a sun
• helping people
• having toys
• skating
• having fun with friends
• sleeping
• school
• wonderful
• recycling
• having dreams
• planting trees
• reading to myself
• watching birds fly in the sky
• playing with my dog
• sharing
• hugging
• spreading love
• having a house
• learning
• being me

And I have to share one of the Peace is... pieces in its entirety. This kid gets it big time!!!!

Can you read them all?

It says Peace is...

• giving love to someone you love
• saying something nice to someone
• being free
• having a family
• being a kind person
• being a nice expecter
• having a home
• being a great friend
• taking good care
• giving a present to someone
• a grateful world
• giving cards
• eating food

My favourite one? Being a nice expecter. When I asked her what she meant she said it meant expecting nice things all the time. As in, having a positive attitude, looking at the bright side, having a half full glass etc. I just love how she put it. Be a nice expecter. That's something I can totally get behind!

I hope that you find some inspiration in the words of these young people. Their wisdom far exceeds the amount of credit given to them. 

Wishing you a peaceful and gratitude filled day.

Cheers!

Olwyn 

Letter To A Person Younger Than Me

On Friday we watched this video from Kid President...

Then each of my lovelies had to write five things that they thought a person that is younger than them needs to know about this world. 

Here are some of their ideas....

…school is where you learn things

…treats are really yummy

…you will like when you get a big boy bed

…when you walk, you fall off and you cry but you need to stand back up

…you get cake on your birthday

…sometimes you have a good time and sometimes you don’t

…never be hard on yourself

…always be healthy

…sometimes when you fall you will cry. Sometimes you won’t

…sometimes there are 2 rainbows, sometimes there aren’t

…when you ride your bike, you need to wear a helmet

…when you’re not happy try to be happy

…when you’re sick get lots of rest

…the world can be scary

…pedal when you ride a bike

….stir the ice cream when you eat it

…don’t give up

…you can make new friends, just ask

…if someone is bullied, stand up

…sometimes you can control yourself

…meeting other people is okay even if they don’t smile

…don’t ever forget to use your manners

…always be kind even if someone does something wrong

…don’t judge someone by their look because we all have a loving heart

…don’t give up, stand up and work harder

…take turns

…be a good sport

…do not be a bully

…do not eat Rice Krispies until you are 3

…sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn’t

…if you fall down, pick yourself up

…try your best

…be awesome

…do work

…some people don’t smile but they are still friendly

…sometimes the night is scary but it is okay

…always share

…be brave

…never hit your Dad

…learn not to cry for nothing

…learn to not touch other people’s stuff without asking

…learn to not bite others

…sometimes you just get nothing

.…some days you are feeling bad but remember tomorrow is another day

Do I have a wise bunch of lovelies or what?!?!

I especially loved the letters that were written with a certain young person in mind. One or two lovelies wrote to younger siblings. Others to younger cousins. Gave me a picture of things that the younger sibling or cousin does (like bite!) But, really, all of the letters were really sweet and some just made my heart ache they were so filled with good advice. Sigh...

I forgot to send the Gratitude Journals home but this gives an idea of our last entry. Think we'll be taking a bit of a break from them in third term (can you believe it will be third term after Spring Break? Only 12 weeks of school left!!! CRAZY!!!!!) and do some literature responses instead.

Hope it isn't raining on your Sunday!

Olwyn

Gratitude is an Awesome Attitude

Well, we watched Kid President again last week for our Gratitude Journals. We re-watched the one I showed the previous week (check it out here) and then watched the viewers response video. 

As always, the class loved it. There is just something infectious about Kid President! 

The Gratitude Journal response was to the last part of the video where he talks about saying "I Love You" more often. A lot of viewers thought we should say this more often and he agreed. But he pointed out that there are a lot of ways to say it that don't involve using the words. 

So, for their journals, the class had to come up with five ways that they say "I Love You" without using words. Some really got the concept. Some not so much. 

Most of the class said things like doing chores, listening to their parents, playing a game etc. The typical, expected responses to the question. Pretty much what I was expecting and looking for from the bunch. I mean they are only 6 and 7 years old and it was the first time we had discussed something as deep as ways we show our love without words. 

However, my heart melted just a little when I read the one from a student that said one of the ways he showed his love without words was by running and jumping up into his Dad's arms.

This kid is my "out of the box" thinker and he always has a way of seeing things that shows that he gets it but not always in the way that I thought he would get it. Sometimes his thinking is way deeper than I anticipated. He is so unique and I love that about him. 

(The day before I watched this same little guy as he just grooved quietly at the edge of the room to some music I had on as kids came in for Theme Studies . He was so in the moment and it was awesome to see. Did he care if no one else was really dancing to the music I had on? Nope. He was doing his thing and loving it. Hence the reason I love him so much!

What a lucky kid to be able to follow his own drum and know that it is okay. What a lucky kid to be able to show his love in his own way. And what a lucky Dad to have a kid like that.

How do you say I love you without using words?

Ms. Hughes

Family Literacy...Dr. Seuss Style!

I have finally gotten around to starting my Family Literacy bags again. I used these ALL the time at my old school and haven't used them once since moving to this school (8 years ago!!!!)

I was inspired this summer when I found some Dr. Seuss pencils and erasers at Target and then found a Dr. Seuss backpack at the Goodwill. (I know, I know, I was in Florida on vacation! What can I say? You can take the teacher out of the school but you can never really take the school out of the teacher!!!!)

So, I put together the Dr. Seuss bag and started it with one of the students last week. He was soooo excited to take it home (I have to be honest here, I chose him first because I knew he loved Dr. Seuss!)

When it came back to school and before I sent it off again, I took some photos. Check it out!

The bag...it cost me a whopping 99 cents!!!!!

The contents...3 stories, a pencil, an eraser, a journal and a stuffie.

The Cat in the Hat stuffie up close. I've had it for years. I also have Thing 1 and Thing 2 that I can add later to spice the bag up a little for its second go around!

Here is the journal.

And the letter that is glued in the front explaining the bag.

And here are the two pages written by the first student to take it home. He did exactly what I was hoping he would do! And, I also love that his parents didn't help with the writing. This is grade 1 kid writing at its best. And I love his illustrations. Aren't they great?!?!

The class is so excited about these bags that I have promised to get more bags ready. I have the makings of a Paddington Bear bag, a Biscuit the dog bag, a Curious George bag and a Frog and Toad bag. Now to find all the bits to go with them and I'll be all set. Stay tuned!

Cheers!

Ms. Hughes

A Few Words About the Word Wall

I finally got my word wall all put up. Still need to add a few more words but it is up and ready for use during writing time.

The majority of the words on the Word Wall come from the Dolch Word list. This is a list that shows the 220 words seen most often in books. Now, when these word lists were created, these 220 words made up something like 50% of all books. I am not sure if that is still the case but I do know that beginning readers run into these words A LOT in books.

The idea with the word wall words is that students will become used to seeing them and be able to read them on sight. No sounding out. No trying to figure out the word. Just automaticity in reading these words.

This allows them to spend their brain power figuring out words that truly are tricky. When students have to spend a lot of time figuring out the words, they tend to forget what they have read by the time they get to the end of the sentence! This does not help with comprehension! 

So, if you are one of those parents who loves to have work to do at home, I would highly suggest going over the Dolch words until your child can read them automatically in any order. It will help their writing and their reading tremendously. My favourite place to download Dolch word is from Mrs. Perkins site or you can get simple lists from the sidebar on this blog. Look for the page named Popcorn (or Dolch) Words.

Happy Reading!

Ms. Hughes

The stars aligned....

We have started the official "COUNTDOWN TO GRADE 2!" Each day, during our calendar time on the Smartboard,  we take away a one block, regrouping where necessary as the countdown continues. We hit 51 days left the other day! How time flies!

With the countdown comes the push to work extra hard to be ready for grade 2. I am like a broken record these days, constantly telling the kids that there are only ___ days left and they have to be working harder.

The other thing I find myself saying a lot right now is along the lines of, "If I sent you to one of the grade 2 teachers would they think this is almost in grade 2 work?" Clearly, the answer I'm looking for is NOOOOOO! And this is followed by the student to whom I am saying it, returning to their desk to do more work.

That said, you have to know that in every class there is always one student who can't help but be a smart aleck when asked the question. They will look me straight in the eye and tell me that it is almost in grade 2 work (that it is practically illegible and clearly isn't even meeting the minimum expectations for grade 1 is immaterial!). When this happens I send that student to a grade 2 teacher who, of course, tells them that they'd better go work on it some more because they aren't quite ready. (I've got it all arranged ahead of time with the grade 2 teachers in question. Aren't I sneaky?!?)

But then....

Then there are the moments when the stars all align and a student who usually puts in a so-so effort, suddenly writes like it is September of grade 2 already. When I can send that student to a grade 2 teacher to get a ton of praise and enthusiasm for their effort! And often an extra sticker to boot!

This happened in class on Friday. Can I get a hallelujah?

The printing is neat. The spelling is almost all correct. There is punctuation. There are 5 sentences. And...it was done completely independently. Check it out!

 

I am not sure that anyone who is not a teacher can really appreciate the feeling that I get when the light finally, finally, finally goes off and a student performs in a whole different stratosphere from before. Day after day after day, I slog away teaching basic skills and, for the most part, the progress I see in the students is slow and incremental.

 

But, every once in awhile, there is a jump in ability that is so apparent, so noticeable when compared to the week before that it warms my heart and helps me to remember that I am making a difference (even when it doesn't seem like my efforts are ever going to help them to read, write, understand addition, etc. etc. etc. You get the idea!) in the lives of my students.

 

I can hardly wait to find out who is going to take off this week!

 

Ms. Hughes

 

So, I have been incommunicado on the blog lately.

It is report card time.

Enough said.

I handed my reports in yesterday and so am now crawling out from under the report card rock to share class happenings again.

Lately in class we have been doing a lot of reader's response writing. This class does much better at writing when given a topic. Doing free writes is not their forte!

The class has also been doing a lot of thinking and talking and writing using describing words. We are trying to make our writing juicier and more interesting. I am happy to say that some juicier words are starting to pop up in their writing. Yay!

Since I haven't shown any student work for a little bit,  I thought I would share a few samples of the students writing tonight.

Last week, we read a book called A Quiet Place by Douglas Wood and then

the students had to write a response telling me about their quiet places. Here are just a few...

The beach is my quiet place because I like the sound of the waves splashing and relaxing.

My quiet place is on my Mom's lap. It is cozy and my comfy, too. I always sit on my Mom's lap before school and I snuggle on her lap with her and I love her as much as I love you.



Hawaii is my quiet place. It is peaceful and important to my life.

My quiet place is my bedroom because it is cozy. It is quiet.

In the library because it is a good strategy and I like it. It is calm.

My quiet place is when the sun shines in the sky. When I lie on the picnic mat on a big green hill dreaming.

My quiet place is Yosemite Park because it is beautiful and nice.

My quiet place is my bed. When I snuggle up with Bridget and I fall asleep and dream.

 

Ms. Hughes


An Independent Moment

Since September I have consistently had 6 students who are not confident enough to write without having some one-to-one support.

As you can imagine, this is pretty difficult to do as there is only one of me! And six of them!!!!!

Since the beginning of this month, I have been pushing the whole class to focus on improving their writing as we move towards the half way mark in our school year. We've reviewed expectations: Letter size. Spacing. Punctuation. Neatness. etc. etc. etc.

We've looked at examples of good writing. A couple of us who showed marked improvement shared our writing with other teachers (who gave out stickers and certificates for great progress.)And we've tried to write as often as possible. Non-fiction writing. Poetry. Fiction. Writing. Writing. Writing.

We have been talking about publishing some of our best pieces before the end of the year. Our school librarian has agreed to barcode and shelve any book we write. How cool is that?!?!

After many, many, many conversations, I have been pleasantly surprised to see some of the students really get into their writing this week and rise to the challenge of producing a better product than before.

But, my consistent 6 students, have stayed consistent. Not writing much without one-to-one support. Some not writing anything at all!

Then, this week...a break through!

One of the students who has never, ever, ever written anything without adult support in sounding out wrote this. All. By. Himself. (Yep, you heard me. All by himself):



Dear Mom and Dad. It is almost Pajama Day. I am going to wear my spider pajamas.

Yay! (insert visual of me doing my happy dance!!!!!)

Two times this week, this little one wrote on his own. (Today he needed a bit of help. But, really, how often does one write the word router (as in the electronic kind) in daily grade 1 activities?) I am over the moon!!!

Does it meet expectations for this time of year? Not quite.

Is it awesome anyways? You bet!!!!!

Now to use this writing as an example for the other reluctant writers to see and, maybe, just maybe, it will give them the confidence to do something similar on their own.

Fingers are crossed!

Some Thoughts on a Saturday Evening

This past week was a very, very long one.

I have never quite figured it out but short weeks always seem twice as long as regular weeks.

Always.

You would think that they would fly by.

I mean, they are only 4 days long.

But, no.

Sadly not.

Picture lots of excess energy. Boys jumping on each other (regardless of being told not to). Girls crying. Friendship issues. Computer issues. 3 meetings (I hate, hate, hate meetings!!!! Especially when they are during class time and I have to be away from my class.) And, me, feeling sad all week because (for some unknown reason) I kept thinking of my dad and how much I wish he was still around so I could talk to him.

So, all in all, a week I am happy to forget.

Not much more that I can say about the week (except how glad I was when it ended) but I do want to share a couple of things.

We opened our Arts & Crafts centre this week and look what a few of the girls created on Friday!

How cute is that! A wee little house for the wee little raccoon! I love how kids can look at a pile of what adults would consider garbage or clutter and create such awesome things. Now I just wish that they would learn to clean up all the bits and bobs when they are done!!!!

And, I can't log off without sharing this wonderful Friday letter with you. It gave me the best laugh I had all week.

Just a little background...our new school has toilets and no urinals. Apparently some boys are having trouble aiming and, as a result, are making a big mess in the bathrooms. (Funny. I bet they know how to aim in their home toilets. Or, maybe not?) We had a school assembly regarding school rules etc and the boys had to stay behind to have a special "boys only" bathroom etiquette assembly with our male VP. Of course, kids being kids, the girls quickly found out what the "boys only" assembly was about. And this is what one of mine had to say about it to her parents yesterday!

Dear Mom and Dad, This week the boys learned how to pee at school!! I'm guessing because they don't know how. I hope you had fun at work. Love, ______

OMG! Too cute for words. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall in that house on Friday night when her parents read the Friday Letter!

 

I am working on a post about writing expectations for this time of year. Believe it or not, I am only about 4 weeks away from starting report cards again! (Didn't I just do those?!?!?) So, stay tuned for some writing samples and info on grade 1 writing!

 

 

Ms. Hughes

Long time, No write

 

As per usual, I have been composing blog posts on the bus, while walking the dog, during my workouts, in my sleep (you get the idea!) and never in front of the computer!

So, here goes...

I am so happy to be back at work and to have the parent/ student/teacher goal setting conferences behind me. To have two VERY long days in the first week back was very, very tiring! I was so pleased that, for the most part, the students have a good understanding of what they want to improve in both their academic performance and behavioural choices. And, I am glad, too, that the class is starting to work together more and help each other to work on turning their goals into reality.

I love this time of year. It is when I do book studies on winter and snow. (Even though the snow seems to have disappeared, thank goodness!!!!) We started our week making folders to store all of the work we will be doing. They turned out great!

 

They were based on a picture I found (where else?) on pinterest! The site that had the original is Artsonia.

 

We watched the video of the classic book The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and then wrote a reader's response about our favourite part.

I love this story. I love that it is a wordless book and makes the reader infer and make connections about the events happening. And, bonus, the beginning is introduced by a young David Bowie which gave me great memories of my childhood (His was the first concert I ever attended. It was also the very first concert at BC Place. If you know when that was, you have an idea of how old I am!)

Then we started studying Jan Brett's book The Mitten.

 

 

We have read it and re-read it and re-read it some more. We did sequencing activities, retelling activities and learned some mitten poems as well.

 

This coming week we will read a different version of The Mitten and compare/contrast the two. (More on that to come...)

 

Then it will be on to Snowmen at Night and some art activities to go with it. This is one of my favourite stories and we will be doing some art kind of like this...

 

from here

We will also start working on some non-fiction activities to compliment the science unit the class has started on whales with Mrs. V. I headed off to the library today to borrow a bunch of books because the non-fiction in our library is still packed! Wish those shelving units would get here already!!!!

 

Anywho, I promise to try to write these posts more often at the computer (and not everywhere else!)

 

Ms. Hughes

 

 



Starting to feel the magic....

It is that time of year when we all want to believe in a little magic.

This week in writing, I saw magic in action.

One of the things I love the most about teaching grade 1 is when the light bulb goes off and a student's learning just takes off.

It is like magic.

One day it is as if they can hardly write a sentence and then, magically, they are writing a half a page and it makes sense!

Of course, it is not magic. It is teach, practice, teach, practice, teach, practice over and over again day after day. 

But, even though I know all the effort that went in to learning the skill, it still feels like it just happened. Like magic dust!

I have to do a shout out to one of the students (you know who you are!) who has recently been sprinkled with some of that magic dust.

In September, this student's writing looked like this...

It says:

This is my house.

I like my house.

This is my house.

It has a (something!)

 

 

And, this week, the same student wrote this...



 

It says:

Finally,the gingerbread girl passed a cow. The cow said "I was going to eat grass but I think I will eat you instead." But the gingerbread girl said, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread girl.

 

 

Without any help from me! I am so, so proud of how hard this particular student has worked this term.

I can hardly wait for the whole class to feel the magic!!!!!

 

 

 

 









Pinterest Wish List

One of my biggest failings (or perhaps it is a blessing in disguise, I really don't know) is that I have a gazillion ideas that will not get done in a day, a week, a month or even a year. Probably not in a lifetime! This is evidenced by my pinterest board which at last count had 50 boards and 6,464 pins!!!!

I have a ton of home ideas and an equal (or higher) number of school pins. I tend to get more of the school ideas accomplished since I spend most of my waking hours there but I haven't given up hope of accomplishing some of the decorating ideas for home!

That said, with the move to the new school and Halloween fast approaching and I have pulled a few pins that I really, really, really want to get done. Some are about organizing the new space and some are lessons I'd like to do in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed that I manage to do them!

from dandee-designs

 

Aren't these great? Simple to do and will let me colour coordinate. Oh, I do love me some colour coordination!!!!


from deliciously organized

Having my office area looking something like this - although I know that I do not have anywhere near this amount of shelving. I still want to create an organized, calm working space for myself.





from Rowdy in First Grade

I really like the visual for this lesson on adjectives. I will definitely be making time to do this lesson in the next week. And them maybe a poem can come out of it?

 



from Saylorslog

 

This lesson is just truly awesome. It is a lesson on differentiation. A lesson that is meant to show students that teachers do not give students what they might perceive as "fair" (the same for all) but what they need (meeting the needs of the individual). The teacher has each student imagine a pretend "owee" and then proceeds to put a band aid on the same spot on each student regardless of where they say their pretend owee is. The lesson is about giving everyone the same thing (putting the band aids on the same spots regardless) versus giving each student what they NEED (putting the band aid on the spot that is "hurt"). It is a great visual lesson and I think it will really bring home the reasons why not all students have the same work, same expectations etc. I'll be doing this one!

 

from kindergarten lifestyle

 

I want to do this to my rollie cart. Now that we don't have teacher desks in our rooms, I have created a rolling desk in a cart like this. Doesn't it look cheerful all dolled up? This one is on my do soon list!

 

 

 

from etsy.com

 

This is the first art lesson I want to do in the DaVinci studio. I am so thrilled to have a real, honest to goodness art room. You may not know this but art is my favourite, favourite, favourite subject. Expect to see a lot of art integrated into my lessons now that I have an art studio at my fingertips!!!!

 

another Halloween idea from here

 

How cute are these!!!! I think that with all the wonderfully unique personalities in our class that these will be a sight to behold! Love them!

 



Christmas countdown from here

 

Love this idea! Used it last year, too. It was a fun lesson to teach and a great way for the kids to countdown to the big day!

 

from a teacher's treasure

 

I like the idea of this. Put it in the front of their Daily 5 notebook and add reading strategies as we learn them. 

 



 from peace love learning

 

I really like this. It promotes independence in the children, puts a stop to the "When's lunch, Ms. Hughes?" and teaches math skills. What's more is there to say?

 

 

This anchor chart from here

I started talking about schema the other day. I love this anchor chart. We will definitely be having something like this hanging up in our new space.

So, that is the current pinterest wish list. Doable, you think?