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!