Winter Authors' Celebration

Today we invited parents in to celebrate the stories that the students published in the fall.   We started with some Christmas poems that the students have been practicing and really enjoy reading.  Then each student had the chance to read his or her story in front of our audience and into a microphone.  It is always very exciting for the students to use the microphone.  Afterwards the class had the chance to read favorite Christmas stories with their families.  Thanks to all who joined us today.  It is very special to the students to share their work and accomplishments with their family.  Merry Christmas!

Letter Writing Unit

Returning from Thanksgiving break we begin a letter writing unit in our classroom.  This is one of my favorite units because not only are the students able to work on their writing skills, but it also builds a sense of community in our classroom and in our school.  I begin by teaching the students about the different parts of a letter and modeling how to write letters.  The students start writing their own letters including the date, a greeting, at least 3 sentences in the body of their letters, a closing, and their signatures.  The class also learns how to address an envelope, and we use stickers as stamps. The students are free to write to anybody.  If they write to someone in the school, the letters go in our classroom mailbox, and the students take turns delivering mail all around the school.  We also receive mail in our mailbox from other classrooms and students who write back to us.  It is so very fun!

Presenting our Habitats

We have worked hard on creating our habitats.  The students were very creative and made the environment and animals out of paint, clay, straws, toothpicks, buttons, pipe cleaners and other art supplies.  The students completed the project by writing about the animals that live in the particular habitat they created and list facts about the habitat.  We invited kindergarten guests over to do a walk through and learn about the habitats.

Holiday Concert

This past Monday Lanesboro Schools hosted their annual holiday concert.  All the groups did a fantastic job, but I think the first and second graders were the hit of the night!  Their upbeat songs and fun dance moves had the crowd laughing the whole time.  The music teachers do such a good job preparing and directing the kids. Way to go!

Animal Habitats

We have been studying animal habitats in the last couple of weeks.  Our focus has been on the forest, ocean, wetlands, and desert habitats.  Our final project in the works is a habitat diorama.  Each student chose one of the habitats and is creating the scene in a shoe box.  Students broke off into groups today to discuss what their diorama plans are.  The first step was to paint the inside to create a background scene. Future posts will show our progress!

Giving Thanks

We took some time on Friday to get our hands messy and reflect on what we are thankful for.  We started by making handprint turkeys.  The kids thought that painting their hands was super fun!  After the art portion, they had to write a list of what they are thankful for in their lives.  We brainstormed some ideas, and a few of their thoughts included: family, friends, shelter, teachers, siblings, pets, Thanksgiving, and food.  Although these students are only in first and second grade, they definitely show gratitude for what they have in their lives!

Honoring Veterans

In honor of Veteran's Day, our class wrote letters to soldiers.  Through the website www.amillionthanks.org, I found an address to send our letters.  Before we started our writing, we discussed as a class what soldiers and veterans have done for us.  The class came up with a list of reasons they wanted to thank the soldiers....
Thank you for keeping the United States safe.
Thank you for protecting us.
Thank you for fighting for our freedom.
Thank you for giving up time with your family.
Thank you for filling our buckets.  (Refer to the post about The Bucket Book)

The class did an awesome job!  We want to give a big thank you for those who serve our country!

Publishing Our Writing

This week we started the publishing process in Writing Workshop.  Each student picked out his or her favorite piece of writing they have written so far.  After the story is chosen, we begin with revising.  I explain to the students that to revise means to make our writing even better.  The concept of revising can be a bit much for first and second graders so I break it down to 4 points:
*Do you have a clear topic?
*Did you add many details?
*Do your details stay on topic?
*Did you take out boring or overused words and replace with better words?

After modeling the above points and showing them many examples they begin to understand the purpose for revising.   Purple pens are handed out, and the students get to work on the 1 piece of writing that they want to make better.

Happy Halloween

The students had a blast yesterday celebrating Halloween.  They always enjoy the chance to dress up, parade around, and eat snacks with friends!

The Broken Broomstick Final Performance!

All the students came bouncing in today so excited to perform our play for an audience.  We did a quick practice this morning to work on everything we noticed from videotaping our dress rehearsal: speak loud and clear, stay in character the whole time on stage, and remember your lines.  Our first performance was for grades pre-k through 2nd grade.  Our final performance of the day was for our families.  There was an excellent turnout!  I don't think I've ever had so many family members in my classroom!  Thanks to all who attended!  The students did an excellent job!

Burro Buck Party

At the end of each day I hand out a Burro Buck.  Throughout the day I'm looking for a student who has been kind, or a hard worker, or helpful, or a good listener, or making good choices.  Before the students are dismissed at the end of the day, I call out the name of the student that will be recognized.  The student comes to the front of the room, and I share with the class how this student earned a Burro Buck.  Sometimes the whole class earns a Burro Buck for doing something that is above and beyond my expectations. These bucks go in our Burro Buck bank.  Once we have collected 30 Burro Bucks, we celebrate as a class.  On Wednesday we celebrated by having lunch in the classroom.  The students love eating in the classroom because it doesn't happen very often.  Here are a few pictures from our celebration:

Be a Bucket Filler!

Yesterday we read in class "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud.  This book provides students with an excellent visual of how our actions and words affect those around us.  When we use kind words and actions, we fill up the buckets of those around us and our own buckets.  When we make others feel good, we feel good as well.  This makes us bucket fillers.  When we use unkind words and actions, we are bucket dippers because we are taking out of others' buckets.  Since everyone in our class said that they of course want to be bucket fillers, we brainstormed a list of how we can be bucket fillers.  The students came up with a whole list of ideas which included saying nice things, helping others, using manners, giving compliments, being good listeners, inviting others to play with you, and sharing.  The list could go on and on.  Throughout the day, I heard many kind words and saw students go out of their way to help people.  This is a life lesson that we will be discussing often.  Remind your children at home about being bucket fillers, and let them know when they have filled your bucket!  It sure makes for a great place to be when we are all going out of our way to fill each others' buckets!

Fire Hall Tour

At the end of Fire Prevention Week we went on a tour of the Lanesboro Fire Hall.  It was a great tour, and we learned so much!  The students were able to learn more about the suits that firemen wear in a fire, look at different parts of the fire truck, get a close up look at tools that firemen use, and see how a fire extinguisher is used.  The firemen talked with the students about what to do in case of a fire.  Thanks so much to the Lanesboro firemen!

Small Group Reading

During our Daily 5 Reading block, we have 3 rounds where the students are either meeting with me, another teacher, or making a Daily 5 choice.  When I meet with students in a small group, we begin our time by working on a skill or strategy that will help that particular group of students in their reading.  It might be a word work skill that helps readers to decode words, it may be a comprehension strategy to help the students think deeper about their reading, or I may draw the students' attention to some new vocabulary words they will encounter in the story.

We begin a new book by taking a picture walk or making predictions.  This helps us to activate our "schema" and gets us thinking about what the book might be about.  Each group may read the selected books a little differently.  Some groups read their books chorally until they are ready to read it independently.  Other groups read independently on some days and other days with a partner.  This year we have mini-offices that the students may use while reading their book independently to help the students do their best reading and thinking.

While the students are reading, I go around and listen to each student.  During this time, I am listening for accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.  If a student gets stuck on a word, we solve it together by looking for patterns in the word that the student has learned.  I also will stop the students and discuss what is happening in the story or ask questions to focus on comprehension.  It is so fun to bring a small group together to read, discuss, and enjoy a story together!

The Broken Broomstick Costume and Prop List

The Broken Broomstick

Costume and Prop List

3 Witches Witch costume	4 Skeletons Black long sleeve shirt Black pants (feel free to wear Halloween skeleton shirt if you have one)	Jack-o-lanterns White or orange shirt Jeans Mrs. Howard will provide the jack-o-lantern part to go over your shirt.	Black Cat Black shirt Black pants Cat ears Cat tail We’ll add whiskers with face paint.
Ghosts White shirt Pants Mrs. Howard will provide the white sheet to go over your shirt.	Woman in Shoe Dress Broom	Children Normal clothes Trick-o-treat bag	Mr. Owl Brown shirt Brown pants
Mr. Green Goblin Green shirt Black pants We’ll add face paint in the classroom.			Additional props: Broken boom Leaves Background

**Parents: As a class we talk about the costume and prop list and try to gather the items as a class.  Please do not feel as though you need to go out and buy something new for your child’s costume.  Let me know if there is something on the list that you have for someone to borrow.

**We will perform for our families on October 28^th at 2:30.

Practice Makes Perfect

Today during our reading block I shared the story of a past student who had to work really hard at becoming a good reader.  I shared the secret of this student... practice!  Every time this student was doing "Read to Self" he was doing his very best reading and always tried his hardest when sounding out new words.  We discussed how no matter where a student is at in his or her reading, our valuable reading time must be well spent.  I compared it to playing your favorite sport.  You would never take the football to the backyard, set it down, and just look at it.  In order to become better you have to practice throwing it, kicking it, and running with it.  The same goes for first and second graders as they grow in their reading.  Moving from reading pictures to reading words to reading longer books requires dedication and practice!

Happy Pig Day!

As my students know, I am a huge fan of the author Mo Willems!  I love sharing his books with the class.   Not only are they so fun for the students to listen to, but they are at a level that new readers can read and experienced readers can reread for enjoyment. Today during our reading block we talked about having favorite books that we love to go back and reread just because we love them so much.  What's even more fun than watching the students' faces enjoy an old favorite, is presenting them with what is sure to be a new favorite!  I'm so excited that a new Piggie and Elephant book is out TODAY:  "Happy Pig Day!"  I can't wait to buy this book and share it with the class!

A Successful Homecoming!

Homecoming Day is always a fun day for the students!  Everyone arrived in their burro gear.  Some even had orange and black hair.  Face painting was also a highlight of the day. The students did a super job walking in the parade.  Enjoy the game everyone!

Homecoming Parade

Reminder to all families:  The Homecoming Parade begins at 1:30.  The pep rally will follow in the park, and students will be dismissed at 2:30.  Hope to see you there!

The Burros are Blasting Off to a Victory!

Homecoming is an exciting time at Lanesboro Public Schools.  Since we are a K-12 building, the elementary students have the chance to be very involved!  Each class walks in the Homecoming Parade in support of the Burros.  This year our theme is "Blasting Off to a Victory!"  Yesterday the students picked out a rocket to begin coloring.  The really fun part came today- streamers and glitter!  Elementary students would bathe in glitter if you let them:)  We're looking forward to a fun-filled day on Friday, and we look forward to seeing all of our families watching us march in support of our school!

Our Math Block

We run our math block similar to our Daily 5 Reading.  We begin with a brief math meeting which is a review of skills.  Then I meet with the first graders for their math lesson.  During this time, second graders make a math choice.  Unlike our reading choices, our math choices change on a weekly basis.  This week our choices are based on number operations.  The students can choose between several math games, missing number puzzles, hot dot pens, and addition and subtraction dominoes.

After the first grade math lesson is over, the first graders work on their assignment with our Title I teacher assisting them with questions.  I meet with the second graders for their math lesson, and while the second graders work on their assignment, the first graders make a math choice.  The students really enjoy all the different choices since they are very hands-on and usually involve working with a friend.

Listen to Reading

I want to give a big thanks to the Booster Club for donating funds to our classroom to allow us to buy 2 new personal CD players for Listen to Reading along with a new set of Listen to Reading books.  This is a favorite choice of the kids, but we only had 2 and so the students were not able to choose it often as they would like to.  Now with 4 total CD players, many students will be able to make this choice throughout our reading block.  Thank you Booster Club!  My students and I are very grateful!

Play Parts and Book Bags

Students were assigned their characters today!  They were very excited to hear who they would be playing the part of!  Everyone has been given 2 scripts so you should see the at home script in the take home folder today.  I recommended to the class to highlight their parts and begin practicing.  We will also begin practicing tomorrow in class.



I've also been thinking and thinking about how to manage reading at home this year.  It is so important for students to be spending time each evening doing some reading, and I want to structure something that is beneficial for your child and is manageable for you.  I've been brainstorming some ideas and will begin sending home a plastic book bag along with a book and a reading log with your child's evening reading assignment written on it.  Please look for a note to come home in your child's take home folder in the next couple days.

The Broken Broomstick

One of my favorite things to do with my class is plays!  Every fall and spring we perform a play for our families and other classes.  Today I read through the script of "The Broken Broomstick" with the students then each student wrote down their top 3 choices of characters.  Students will be given their assigned character tomorrow to begin practicing.  We spend most days of the week practicing, but additional practice at home is crucial!  The students will be given 2 scripts: 1 for home and 1 for school.  Lines for the play do need to be memorized.  Our parent performance will be on Friday, October 28th at 2:30.  I can't wait to get started!

Writing Workshop

Everyday the students are writers in our classroom.  Not only do they have the choice to work on writing during our Daily 5 Block, but we also write during Writing Workshop.  Our Writing Workshop starts out with a mini-lesson where I model writing for the students or introduce a skill for them to work on in their own writing.  The students then have quiet writing time to go back to an old story, begin a new story, or think about a new topic.  During this time I am able to go around and conference with writers about their individual stories.  We conference about a variety of things: what to write about, details to add, how to spell words, and other conventions of writing.  Last week each student received a little dictionary to keep in the writing binder.  The students are finding these the be very useful!  They are constantly flipping through them looking for words to use in their writing!  After the quiet writing time, there is the chance for writers to get together with a partner or small group to share their writing.  We end with Authors' Chair.  During this time individual students have the opportunity to share a story with the class and take questions and comments about it.

Classroom Expectations

In the first week of school we talked about how we want to act in our classroom and treat each other.  I had the class come up with a list of expectations they felt that we should all follow in order to have the best year ever.  Without my prompting they had several ideas of guidelines we should all follow.  The students came up with these awesome expectations:

I assured the students that if we all follow our classroom rules to the best of our abilities, we will surely have super days!  Each student signed his or her name to show that we will all work together to do this!

Picture Day

I just wanted to remind all families that picture day is tomorrow, September 16th.  Have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Introducing New Choices

As we have been getting more and more comfortable with Read to Self and Read to Someone, new choices in our Daily 5 block have been introduced.  Today Listen to Reading along with Word Work began.  The students are always very excited about these choices because they love listening to a story on the CD players, they also enjoy meeting up with a partner to practice spelling words and word wall words. The students are instructed how to carefully use the CD players and put all materials away when it is time to pick up.  For Word Work, small white boards were an option that could be used for practicing.  Each student added his or her spelling list to the reading binder today.  The goal of teaching the students to use these choices independently is so I am able to meet with small groups for reading instruction during our reading block.  I'm very anxious to begin meeting up with students in small groups!

Making a Quiet Choice

Today started out a little hectic due to a planned all school evacuation.  This morning we had to practice quickly leaving the building and going down to the Community Center for safety.  The students did a great job, but this kind of start to the day throws off our routine and routine is so important!  We spend a lot of time building up our routines for all aspects of our day.  One of our routines is "What do I do if I'm done?" If the students are working on an assignment and finish before it is time to move on to another subject or activity, they have learned to "make a quiet choice."  These include: read out of your book box, shop for books in our classroom library, write out of your binder, write or draw in your notebook, sharpen your pencils, or organize your desk.  With all of these choices, there is always something to do that won't take away from the work time of others.

After students finish their handwriting, I come around to each student to check it over.  Instead of just sitting and waiting for me, they are instructed to push their booklet to the corner of their desk and make a quiet choice.  As handwriting time was coming to an end today, I was so happy to look around the very quiet classroom to see that EVERYONE had made an excellent quiet choice without any reminders.  Many students were in the library shopping for books and quietly discussing their choices.  Others had taken their book box to a spot in the classroom to read.  A few more students were drawing in their notebooks and organizing their new reading binder pouches.  To look around and see everyone doing their job makes for such a peaceful and happy place to be!

Read to Someone

All last week the students built up stamina for Read to Self.  They learned how to choose books out of our classroom library, find a comfy place in the classroom, and stay focused on their reading.  While doing this you can see many of the kids so badly wanting to reach out to their neighbor and say "Hey, look at this cool picture!" or "You got to hear this awesome fact!"  This is why Read to Someone is so exciting to begin!  Today we learned how to choose a partner, agree on a spot, get started right away, and take turns reading a book with a partner.  We take a lot of time practicing good habits for these choices so once I start meeting with small groups for reading instruction, the rest of the class is able to make good choices independently.  What a great day we had today:)

Going on a Leaf Hunt

All week we have been working on bar graphs as a whole group before we break down into 1st and 2nd grade math groups.   Our bar graph today included going on a leaf hunt and then graphing the color of leaves we found.  Throughout the week I've been keeping my eyes on the trees thinking that it may be too early to find some colorful leaves, but we found a tree next to the basketball courts that had just turned a little and began to drop some beautiful leaves.  Our bar graph included the colors of green, yellow, brown, red, and orange.  The class found a nice variety of colors!  After completing our graphs, we've been discussing our observations of our findings.

Going Shopping!

In the first few weeks of school we are very busy launching our Daily 5 Reading.  The Daily 5 is a management system that we use in order to meet with small groups of readers.  The "Daily 5" comes from 5 choices that the students are able to make if not meeting with the teacher:

1. Read to Self
2. Read to Someone
3. Work on Writing
4. Listen to Reading
5. Word Work

We take a lot of time practicing what each of these choices looks like in the classroom in order for all students to be engaged and on task. One of the first steps is building reading stamina for Read to Self. After discussing the expectations, students model what it should and should not look like.  Another step is to teach students different ways to read a book: read the pictures, read the words, or retell a story that has been read to you.

For the first few days, the students are reading books that I have selected for them.  Today we discussed picking books that are "just right" in order to help us be the best readers we can be. This is a lesson that is continuously revisited as students grow in their reading throughout the year.  Then comes the fun part for the students, shopping for books!  All week they have been eyeing up the classroom library just waiting to get their hands on their favorites.  Today they finally had the chance!  After shopping, they all rushed back to their desks to dive into their new books!

A Special Place to Hold our Writing

Today the students had the opportunity to use their pictures and stickers and other items they brought in to decorate their writing binders and make them special and personal to each student.  This is always one of my favorite beginning of the year activities because I want the students to take ownership over their writing.  Making a personal binder helps this happen.  We use our writing binders just about every day and now the students have a special place to keep their special memories that we write about.  Tomorrow  we will begin our first writing lesson.  We begin by brainstorming topics.  What do I know about?  What am I an expert in?  What could I tell somebody?  The second graders are always ready to dive in and tell about something they did over the summer.  The first graders may begin more hesitant, but they soon see that we all have a story to tell, and we are all writers!  It is very fun to watch all of the students grow in their writing over the school year!

On a side note, I was so impressed to see several students share items they brought in today.  The kindness and willingness to share made me feel so happy to have a class filled with such nice students!

First Day Festivities

The first day of school is so exciting!  The kids are full of energy, ready to see their friends, and share lots of stories.  Of course the first day of school also brings with it a lot of listening of routines, procedures, and expectations.  I do my best to alternate all of the the listening with fun activities to get the kids using their new supplies and provide opportunities to visit and get to know new classmates.  Pictured below is an art activity to go along with the book "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss.  The book describes many different feelings that we can all relate to on different days.  The idea for this art project was found at: http://teachkidsart.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html.

Some of the other activities of the day included surveying our teachers about their eye colors and then making a bar graph of the results.  We found that 5 of our teachers surveyed have blue eyes!  We also started a social studies unit on maps by talking about the purpose of maps, what kinds of maps there are, and when we use maps.  We're off to a great start!

Back to School Night

It was great to see all of the new and returning faces tonight at Open House!  Thanks for taking the time to stop by and help your child get ready for the first day of school.  I'm looking forward to seeing all those smiling faces again on September 6th!  It is sure to be a great year!  Please continue to check back into our blog throughout the year.  It is my goal to update every couple days so you can see what we are up to!

How Does a Multi-Age Classroom Work?

I hear this question a lot from other teachers and parents.  This is a very valid question considering a combination classroom is not your traditional classroom.  My answer is that it works very well!  In fact, I love teaching the first/second grade!  Here is what I have learned from my students in a multi-age classroom over the last four years:


1) The classroom environment and social connections are enhanced!
As 1st graders, the students learn all of the expectations and routines of the classroom.  When they return with me as 2nd graders, they help teach all of these expectations to the new 1st graders without even realizing it.  They are already modeling exactly what we do in our classroom!  The 2nd graders really step up as leaders.  They take the 1st graders under their wing and help them in the classroom, lunchroom, and playground.  They form into a "class" and not two separate groups.  This helps the 2nd graders build responsibility and empathy!  Having a 2nd grade buddy helps the 1st graders build confidence.


Sometimes parents have concerns that their 1st grader is to young to be with a 2nd grade group.  I can understand this initial concern, but can absolutely reassure parents that students reach out to each other from both grade levels and strong friendships are built throughout the year.


2) Academically, every child will receive what he or she needs!
I often get the question, "How is it even possible to teach two different grades at one time?"  My response is that in ANY classroom there is a variety of needs.  Differentiation is the key to instruction in a regular classroom or a multi-age classroom.  Some may be concerned that just the 1st grade curriculum or just the 2nd grade curriculum will be taught and this is NOT the case.


We use the Daily 5 to manage our reading block.  Readers are matched up to their instructional level.  Whole group strategy lessons are taught through read alouds and shared readings.  Small group instruction is designed to meet the needs of the students in each group.  Typically 1st graders are working on phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension with some vocabulary and fluency practice as well.  2nd graders are transitioning more into deeper comprehension along with fluency and vocabulary instruction.


Through Writing Workshop, students are working on skills at their own level through their own self-selected writing topics.  Skills range from decoding and spelling words to writing in complete sentences to adding details to a story.  Writing is very important in our classroom because it goes hand-in-hand with reading development.


Math is run in stations.  Students are broken up into groups and rotate through three stations: teacher lesson, assignment, and math game.  Again, through the small group approach, I am able to differentiate to the needs of the students.


Science and Social Studies are taught as a whole group, and I pull resources from both grade level curriculums.


I hope this helps to answer some questions as your child enters a multi-age classroom this fall!

Gearing up for Back to School!

I hope that you all have had a terrific summer!  As you look ahead to the beginning of the school year here are the items that were on your school supply list:
backpack
1 spiral notebook
1 folder
#2 pencils
scissors
1 glue bottle
4 glue sticks
3 dry erase markers
two 1" white binders
crayons
colored pencils
markers
indoor and outdoor shoes
pencil box
watercolors
block erasers
sharpener with lid


I hope to see you at the Open House on September 1st from 6:00-8:00!