Writing/Poetry

Writing poems with our friends!  

Poems about things we love...

What Do You See?  This is a fun writing activity that is easy and fun.  

Petoskey Stones!  WoOoOoT!  These will stay in the classroom and kids will have the chance to polish them during QUIET TIME throughout the year.  

We write EVERY SINGLE DAY in room 306!  Writing is hard.  I say it every day.  It can be frustrating for some kids and I work really hard to help them feel more confident in their writing.  This week, we wrote about PETOSKEY STONES!  These are stones I collected from our beach on Lake Huron over the summer.  Next week, we will spend time learning more about these cool stones and some kids will spend more time writing if they are interested in them.  The started a great conversation about things that interest us, and what to do if you want to know more about things. 

We started writing POEMS today!  WoooOOOoOoT!  What fun!  They had a ball.  I read some fun poems before we got started and then we talked about things we LOVED.  That was the inspiration for their first poem.  The buzz around the room was fabulous.  They were so excited to write!  “Can we do this after recess!?”  “How about tomorrow?”  “When are we doing poetry again!?”

While we will spend a lot of time learning how to write various types of poetry, I really hope to ignite a love of poetry for each of them! 

The Marshmallow Challenge

This is such a fun challenge!  Kids worked with a partner to create the TALLEST tower they could, using only the ingredients given to them.  The kids worked together, tried ideas, had things collapse, and some found success.  I love watching them work with one another and it’s fun to see their faces as they discover how something WILL work and how it WON’T work.  Failure doesn’t exist.  Who cares if your marshmallow falls down?  Learn from it!  Try something new!  Change your ideas around.  Explore.  At some point, we will do this challenge again.  It’s a great way for them to try ideas that they may not have tried the first time and are able to find more success the second time around.

Anchor Charts and Labels

Where we will store our anchor charts this year!

Thoughts about The Marshmallow Challenge!

Our thoughts about The Wild Robot so far!

This is what a label looks like!  They are added to our Reader's Notebooks every week.

We keep track of our thoughts using anchor charts.  These aren’t fancy, and they are often quite messy.  They keep track of our questions, thoughts, and ideas.  We will keep these charts and they are always available to use if someone needs to see them.  Anchor charts are often interactive and kids will use them across all subject matters.  We will do a lot of writing about the books we read too.  I use labels to keep track of what kids are writing and they keep these labels in their Reader’s Notebooks.  I love reading their thoughts and questions about the books we read.  They will write about books I read out loud, along with the books they read on their own, and in reading groups. 

BOOKS!

I’m a book freak.  I love books.  I love reading to your kids.  We started exploring our classroom library this week and your kids are digging the reading choices we have.  I am always in search of good books to recommend or read out loud.  I spend my summer saying “I’m going to read a book written for an adult!” and then I immediately start reading books I want to check out for school.  Watching their faces as I read out loud is FABULOUS.  It gives me such joy to see them hanging on my every word, eager to see what happens next.  The Wild Robot is the first book I’m reading out loud.  This is a wonderful book and your kids LOVE it.  Ask them about the book! 

Who is Roz?  How did she get onto the island?  What has happened in the book so far?  Why don’t the animals trust her?  What did she learn from the opossum?  Why did the bears attack her?  What do you think will happen next?  Will she be a good mom to Brightbill?  Why or why not? 

I highly recommend this book!  It’s a short read and I promise you, you will enjoy it!  Reading the books we are reading is a great way to make connections with your kids about reading. 

Happy First Week!

First day of school!

What an incredible four days!  I had a great time getting to know your kids and am looking forward to spending my days with them.  I feel so lucky to have a job I love so very much.  I’m exhausted!  At the end of the day I told them the only thing harder than the FIRST week of school was the SECOND week!  It’s FIVE days long!  J

Our classroom is coming together and I love it!  The reading corner has blossomed and I found a wonderful rug (it’s SO soft!) and cool bean bags to create a cozy place to chill and read.  We are always looking for cool seating, so check out our AMAZON WISH LIST!  Being able to move around the room is an important part of learning these days.  We will have new furniture after the new year, and I am excited that seating will be SO much more flexible.