Garden 2015

If you find my post way back on September 16, 2013, which had time lapse photos of the garden surrounding my school, you can see the original photos of the overgrowth surrounding the school before I started the Garden Project.  Over the past couple of years,  I've had some donations of bulbs and plants that the students at my school have planted. 

I was in school this past weekend getting the paper work ready for parent teacher conferences and couldn't resist taking pictures of the Crocus chrysanthus that we planted last fall.  This is the variety that usually blooms first, sometimes through snow. 

Spring is finally here. 

Meet Rosie!

We have Box Top challenges at my school.  Families send in Box Tops and classrooms compete to collect the most Box Tops.  We won the second Box Top challenge of the school year and the prize was $50 to be used for materials for my classroom.  We had a class discussion which concluded with a vote and the outcome was that we would spend the prize money on a pet hamster for our classroom.

Because teachers need permission from their principals to have a class pet in our district, I asked our current principal if she would let us have a hamster, and she agreed.  If you would like to read about the many benefits of having a class pet, the Pet Care Trust has a website that discusses the benefits of children having a pet. 

Although $50 is a generous amount, I could not purchase all that is needed to keep a hamster for that amount, and so I invited the families of my students to donate.  Two days later, I had collected another $130.49 from the families of my students, which is a very generous donation.  So, I ordered the cage and extras needed from Amazon, and last weekend I visited the area pet stores to find the store that offered the greatest variety of dwarf hamsters.

Because I wanted to include my students in the process of picking out the hamster as much as possible, I sent a note home inviting families to meet me at a local Petco (who had eight dwarf hamsters in stock) on Wednesday, March 11, at 5 p.m.   The evidence of my students' engagement and investment in school became obvious because 50% of my class arrived at Petco at the designated date and time to help pick out our hamster.  Here are some pictures of my first graders (and their siblings!) viewing the cages and deciding which hamster they wanted.

This is Mardi, the wonderful salesperson at Petco who helped us pick out our hamster.  She was knowledgeable, patient, and kind to all of my students. 

Because the donations were so generous, I was able to purchase quite a souped-up cage for our hamster.  It has two levels including a balcony, three nesting places, two slides, a sand bath, and a wheel. 

Finally, this is a picture of Rosie, our hamster.  Rosie's name was selected by my students, and she is named after one of the main characters in the Bella and Rosie series of guided reading books published by Pioneer Valley books.  The Bella and Rosie series contains multiple books at multiple levels.  All of my students, no matter their current guided reading level, have independently read Bella and Rosie books.  Their choice of Rosie as a name is indicative of the high priority they place on reading in their lives, as well as their ability and desire to connect what they read to other parts of life. 

This is Rosie.  She is about 10 weeks old in this picture.

Thank you to all of the families of my students for your support throughout this process.  Please know that Rosie is happy at school in her new cage.  She has seventeen "owners" who think, as one of them so eloquently stated, she is, "just the best little critter there ever was." 

Fairy Godfathers and Fairy Godmothers

Through the years I have been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with the parents and grandparents of my students.  They have supported my class in uncountable ways; I have received donations of time, money, and materials.  This year, a Fairy Godfather (who wished to remain anonymous) donated Valentine's Day goodies to add to the Valentine's Day cards that my students exchanged. I took some pictures of my students during our Valentine's Day celebration.  As I look at their pictures, it is impossible to not recognize how much they are enjoying themselves!

Thank you to the the mom who came in on a Friday morning and decorated Valentine's Day bags with each student.  You can seem them in the background of the picture below. 

Thank you, also, to the parent who came in to help during the celebration.  You were a great help!

Science Information Books about Solids, Liquids, and Gases

Our district's first grade scope and sequence in writing offers an opportunity to teach a small unit of writing in February.  This February unit is sandwiched after the informational unit we are just completing and before the persuasive writing unit which will begin in March. 

We are going to create science information books about Solids, Liquids and Gases.  The books will be challenging to create because they will include the six steps in the scientific method:
1.  Research Question
2.  Hypothesis
3.  Materials
4.  Procedure
5.  Observations, Data, Results
6.  Conclusion

Throughout this month, students will cycle through repeated states of matter experiments. For example, we may boil water and observe it change into a gas, or we may melt snow and observe it turn into a liquid.  In the first week, they will write to learn about the world, experiment to answer questions, and use what they know about information writing to teach others.  The following week, they will collaborate with peers and record their experiments.  Finally, they will put all of their learning together and publish information books.  If this sounds challenging, just know that it is!

Matter and Mass in Science

We are learning about matter in science.  Today we completed a science lab in which we determined the mass of four different objects: a plastic spoon, tape measure, penny, and eraser.  We used pan balances to figure out the mass of each object, and then we put the objects in order from highest to lowest mass.  First graders worked in pairs and recorded their results in a lab report.

We learned that the tape measure had the highest mass, followed by the eraser, plastic spoon, and penny. 

The Boardroom

This morning I received my first issue of The Boardroom, which is the monthly electronic newsletter published by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  According to the congratulatory letter that I received from the CEO of the National Board when I certified,  an automatic subscription would be available in my in-box after I became Board certified.

 

I read the issue cover to cover but was particularly interested in several sections. There was a piece that reported the results of the first ever National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) census.  I participated in the census (it felt like 1000 questions!) the week after I became certified and the results are now being published. I am pretty humbled by the company I keep. Here are some of the results:

A second section that I know I am going to enjoy is "What we're reading." This month's recommendation is Professional Capital by Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan.  I have read some of Michael Fullan's books for a graduate class I had taken on school leadership so I am familiar with his work.  Professional Capital makes a case for investing in the the capability of teacher leaders such as NBCTs to advance the entire teaching profession.   I received a generous gift certificate to a book store from one of my students for Christmas, and this will be the book I buy!

Leisurely reading the issue was a great way to spend Saturday morning, and I'm looking forward to January's edition in my mailbox!

Holiday Celebration and Author's Tea

Every year just before the holidays I invite families in to our classroom for a Holiday Celebration and Author's Tea.  My students have been writing informational books.  The Tea provides a very specific audience for their writing which causes them to become motivated to write.  Families send in snacks and drinks, the children share their books, and parents provide feedback.  These are pictures of the children practicing reading their books before the tea.  You will notice how they have learned to become excellent listeners and speakers.

Here are some of the pictures from the actual Author's Tea and Celebration:

Parents then provided feedback to their children with this "Two Stars and a Wish" form.  Parents were able to write two great things their child had done in their writing.  Then they wrote a wish - something that their child could work on in their writing.  

Thank you to everyone for your support in making this event happen for your children!