“See you Later” not “Goodbye”

Today was my last day in Mrs. Ambrosino’s first grade class. It was a bittersweet day as we celebrated the time we spent together. Thank you for sharing your child with me and helping me grow as an educator. I look forwarding to taking the lessons I have learned this year  along with the memoires of a wonderful year in 1^st grade. Today in their backpacks, folders, or pockets you will find a small card like the one below. I gave each child 3 sunflower seeds to plant and take care of this summer. Sunflowers are extremely easy to take care of and so much fun to watch grown during the summer months! I also told the class that this is a see you later not a goodbye as Mrs. Ambrosino has already invited me back to come be a guest teacher a few times before the school year ends. I look forward to coming back to Ann Arbor to spend some quality time at Burns Park.

The Bad Beginning

Being that Friday is my last day the class has been suggesting every extra moment we have as a time that they could listen to me read. I love how attached to the story they have become, and highly suggest you take up the rest of the series at home. I can’t wait to finish the book with the class on Friday and talk about how they felt about the book. Below I have attached the list of the entire series for you and your families if you are looking for some good reads.

 

The Bad Beginning
The Reptile Room
The Wide Window
The Miserable Mill
The Austere Academy
The Ersatz Elevator
The Vile Village
The Hostile Hospital
The Carnivorous Carnival
The Slippery Slope
The Grim Grotto
The Penultimate Peril
The End

 

Transitions

Today marks the end of my time as lead teacher.  Mrs. Ambrosino and I have decided to slowly transition back to her being in charge of the class to make it easier for the class. It is refreshing and also sad to not have the responsibilities of teaching the entire day. I continued today teaching social studies as I have been the past few weeks. We are studying families and writing all about books to tell why our families are special. Today one of our first grade friends suggest these books become presents for a special day coming up in May. Since we deemed these books as presents that kids have been feverishly working on them in order to show you their best work!

A7 Poetry Café

I was so happy with the amazing turn out we had tonight for our poetry open house. Thank you to all the parents who came and listened to our poetry. It was a nice surprise to have students who wanted to share more than one of their poems. I hope this means they enjoyed the unit. I took a fun panorama of the whole experience for those of you who missed it.

 

Next week we will be starting All About… books. On Monday in Social Studies we began studying families, and we will write our first All About… book about our families.

Sneak Peak

Here is a small sneak peak for our open house tomorrow. Watching this video makes me so proud, and I know you will feel an even bigger rush of pride when you see your child up on stage tomorrow. From 6-6:15 will have the stage closed for mingling about the classroom. Your child will be allowed to show you all their poetry and anything else in our room. At 6:15 we will be starting our performances. Your child will sign up for a slot when you walk in if they feel like sharing.

 6 Word Memoir Video
(For privacy reasons, this is an unlisted video. Only people with the link can see it.)

In other news…

We have been working away on money and counting change in math. On Friday we will have our Unit 8 assessment and pick up next week on Unit 9.

Thursday this week will be participating in Washtenaw Community College’s Math Carnival in the afternoon. The kids love all the activities they bring, so make sure to ask them about it when they get home!

Friday will be the 5^th grade Market Day. Our class will be visiting the market after art in the afternoon. I’ve never experienced a Burns Park Market Day, but from what I hear it is incredible. Students will actually get the opportunity to purchase items from the market! I will make sure to take photos to share.

 

 

Setting the Stage

All week the class has enjoyed creating new and powerful six word memoirs. Today they all chose one memoir and recorded their voice reading it. This weekend I will put together the video in preparation for our open house. In addition we wanted to decorate our room for the open house. I hung a plastic table cloth as a curtain and each student created a light for our stage. We have already begun using our stage to practice presenting out poetry.

 

 

Dissecting Fruit

As we continue our study of living things, we dissected fruit today in order to find the stem, skin, and seeds. Everyone loved getting some hands on experience with the fruit and their scientific drawings turned out great!

 A7 Open House

Today in your child’s folder we sent home an invitation to our poetry open house. Next Wednesday, April 17^th, we will be hosting our families to celebrate our study of poetry. The first few minutes will be a time to mingle and view our 6 word memoir video. Starting at 6:15 students can sign up for a stage slot to read their poetry to our audience. We would also like to invite family members to bring any poetry they would also like to share. Apple juice will be served and feel free to bring a small bite to add to our celebration!

Rain Rain Go Away

With more rain today our students stayed inside AGAIN for recess. Indoor recess makes for a long day in first grade. This afternoon we played a brain break game to get our “sillies” out. Buzz is a game where you pick a number and then how you will count to that number. For example today we counted to 20 by 2’s, round and round the circle we counted and each time we reached 20 that person called out buzz. This means they are out of the game and then we start again counting at 2. It gets pretty excited and the students who get buzzed out still love watching the game continue. Here is a picture of the final round of buzz.

6 Word Memoirs

Today we began our 6 word memoir project and I couldn't have been happier with the work the students produced! After I showed a few examples it was as if a fire ignited. One student shared a 6 word memoir he created right on the rug. Counting the words on his fingers as he spoke, the other students took this structure and used it to support their thinking. Instantly the class began counting out their 6 word memoirs. Before I knew it students were rushing to their seats to get their thoughts on paper. Below are a few examples of the AMAZING work the students created today. Later this week we will begin recording our voices in preparation to create our 6 word video.  

A7  Time Capsule

After a rainy start to our day we had a very productive afternoon. Because the playground was still wet we had to have indoor recess in the afternoon. I love hearing the buzz of our busy first graders during indoor recess. From working on their number scroll to making cards for their friends and family everyone manages to keep themselves busy. I took a fun panorama of what indoor recess in our room looks like.

After recess we created our class time capsule. We’ve been study classrooms from the past, and I thought a nice way to end the unit would be to create something that will help classrooms in the future learn from us. Each student filled in an information sheet so everyone felt that they had contributed.

I gathered materials from around the room and several students also brought in items to add. After we filled our time capsule (an old chlorine buck from my parent’s garage) we discussed when the time capsule should be opened. After MANY suggestions we decided to wait until 2024, the year this class will graduate high school. While I didn't end up burying the time capsule, hopefully someday someone will learn something about what 1^st graders were like in 2013.

Back to School, Back to Poetry

I am excited to get back to school tomorrow after a relaxing week. Tomorrow in poetry we will be starting our 6 word memoir project. I can’t wait to see the poems our class creates tomorrow. Over break I did some research on other elementary classes who did this project and found some great examples to show the class, here are a few examples.

6 Word Memoir Examples

While some of the above examples are little advanced for 1st grade I think it will be a fine place to start. Specifically we are going to start by writing 6 word memoirs about spring. I think once the students gain confidence in the structure of the poem they will run with this project.

Spring Break Fun Day #8

Jack Perlutsky is another one of my favorite poets. Read his poem “Beezer’s Ice Cream” and make up your own silly ice cream flavor! Feel free to share your flavor in the comment section so we can all see what crazy flavors you have come up with!

Bleezer's Ice Cream

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
there are flavors in my freezer
you have never seen before,
twenty-eight divine creations
too delicious to resist,
why not do yourself a favor,
try the flavors on my list:

COCOA MOCHA MACARONI
TAPIOCA SMOKED BALONEY
CHECKERBERRY CHEDDAR CHEW
CHICKEN CHERRY HONEYDEW
TUTTI-FRUTTI STEWED TOMATO
TUNA TACO BAKED POTATO
LOBSTER LITCHI LIMA BEAN
MOZZARELLA MANGOSTEEN
ALMOND HAM MERINGUE SALAMI
YAM ANCHOVY PRUNE PASTRAMI
SASSAFRAS SOUVLAKI HASH
SUKIYAKI SUCCOTASH
BUTTER BRICKLE PEPPER PICKLE
POMEGRANATE PUMPERNICKEL
PEACH PIMENTO PIZZA PLUM
PEANUT PUMPKIN BUBBLEGUM
BROCCOLI BANANA BLUSTER
CHOCOLATE CHOP SUEY CLUSTER
AVOCADO BRUSSELS SPROUT
PERIWINKLE SAUERKRAUT
COTTON CANDY CARROT CUSTARD
CAULIFLOWER COLA MUSTARD
ONION DUMPLING DOUBLE DIP
TURNIP TRUFFLE TRIPLE FLIP
GARLIC GUMBO GRAVY GUAVA
LENTIL LEMON LIVER LAVA
ORANGE OLIVE BAGEL BEET
WATERMELON WAFFLE WHEAT

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
taste a flavor from my freezer,
you will surely ask for more.

Feel free to share your peom below in the comments section so I can see what great work you're doing!

 

 

Spring Break Fun Day #7

Color poems are another fun easy way to create poetry. Here are few different templates you can use to create your own color poem.

Brown

Brown is a chocolate cake and a chocolate Labrador
Brown is a chocolate milkshake.
Boxes are Brown
Brown is a feeling on a winter day,
It's mud, it's a turkey
a cow, Cocoa Puffs and a dirty pig.

Color Poem Templates:

Have you heard the sound of (color)?
(List three things that your color reminds you of)
-
-
-
That's the sound of (your color).

----------OR-----------
Have you heard the sound of (color)?
If not, then,
Can you hear the (something your color reminds you of)?
Can you hear the (something your color reminds you of)?
Can you hear the (something your color reminds you of)?
If you can,
You have heard the sound of (your color).


Feel free to share your peom below in the comments section so I can see what great work you're doing!

Spring Break Fun Day #6

Sometimes just listening to a good poetry reading can really brighten your day. I have a few poems that are personal favorites of mine that I think anyone could fall in love with after listening to them read by the poet who wrote it. When we return from break we will continue writing poetry but also start learning about performing poetry. Watch and enjoy!

On this site, Kenn Nesbitt has several poems preformed via podcasts.

http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/category/podcast/

Spring Break Fun Day #5

This is one poem everyone can write. Why? Because it's so easy and so much fun. All you have to do is to make a list of your favorite excuses/complaints you make every time you’re ask to “____________”

Children

-Clean your room

 -Do your homework

-Eat your dinner

Parents list might look like this…

-Clean up the house

-Pay the bills

-Make the dinner

Whatever poses a constant battle in your house can magically turn into poetry, add just the right title and ending and voila! You've written a terrific list poem.

Here's how it might turn out:

I Can't Write a Poem

Forget it.
You must be kidding.
I'm still half asleep.
My eyes keep closing.
My brain isn't working.
I don't have a pencil.
I don't have any paper.
My desk is wobbly.
I don't know what to write about.
And besides, I don't even know how to write a poem.
I've got a headache. I need to see the nurse.
Time's up? Uh oh!
All I have is this dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

Feel free to share your poem below in the comments section so I can see what great work you're doing!

Spring Break Fun Day #4

April is Poetry Month! Today I thought we would celebrate with acrostic poems. They are often explained by using a person's name. Try writing an acrostic poem using a different noun like the examples below or even a verb!

Candy

Charleston Chew
Almond Roca
Nestle's Crunch
Dots from Mason
Yummy

By: Bruce Lansky

Garbage

Grounds (coffee)
Apple (core)
Rinds (mellon)
Banana (peel)
Anchovies (from a pizza I wouldn't eat)
Grapes (too ripe to eat)
Emptying the stinking bag (my job)

By: Bruce Lansky


Feel free to share your poem below in the comments section so I can see what great work you're doing!

Spring Break Fun Day #3

Kenn Nesbitt is a poet whose poetry we have read and loved! He has an amazing website with games, poems, activities and more.

http://www.poetry4kids.com/

Spring Break Fun Day #2

Sometimes poetry can twist your tongue. Practice reading this poem together and time how long it takes you to read it through without any mistakes!

Betty Botter

Betty Botter
bought some butter.
"But," she said,
"the butter's bitter.
If I put it
in my batter,
it will make
my batter bitter.
But a bit
of better butter--
that would make
my batter better."

So she bought
a bit of butter,
better than
her bitter butter.
And she put it
in her batter,
and the batter
was not bitter.
So 'twas better
Betty Botter
bought a bit
of better butter!

--By Anonymous

Spring Break Fun Day #1

The class has gotten so excited about poetry these last two weeks it seems like a shame we had to take this break just as our creative juices were really starting to flow. I decided for those students who may be hungry for some poetry over break I would post an activity each day. I don’t want it to feel like extra homework or that it is a requirement to check in everyday, but if you’re looking for some productive activities over break you’re in the right place!

To start here’s an easy way for you and your child to practice being a poet. Each of these Newfangled Yankee Doodle Poems is missing a word or two. For a hint, look at the second line of each poem. The missing word or words must rhyme with the last word in the second line. Good luck!

Yankee Doodle went to town
riding on a chicken.
He went into a restaurant
and came out finger .

Yankee Doodle went to town
riding on a monkey.
He had to take a shower quick,
because he smelled so .

Yankee Doodle went to town
riding on a rooster.
His saddle wasn't high enough,
so now he's got a .

Yankee Doodle flew through space
riding on a rocket.
He landed on the moon and brought
some cheese home in his .

Yankee Doodle went to town
with his favorite blankey.
Every time he had to sneeze
he used it as a .

Yankee Doodle went to France
with his golden Visa.
But he could not afford to buy
Da Vinci's Mona .

Mrs. Doodle went to town
riding on a 'gator.
She didn't feed the 'gator
so the hungry 'gator .

Feel free to share your poem below in the comments section so I can see what great work you're doing!

READ TO FEED

Aside from today being Pajama Day at school we had some awesome March is reading month activities taking place. Today was Burns Park Read-A-Thon, and all afternoon we traveled through the school stopping in different locations to have a story read to us. We listened to Big Chickens Fly the Coop By: Lesie HelaKolski, Scaredy Squirrel By: Melanie Watt, Where is the Green Sheep By: Mem Fox, and This is Not My Hat By: Jon Klassen before coming back to our class and having yet another story read to us by a special guest, Ms. Conn.

 

Ms. Conn was our student teacher in the fall and came back for a surprise visit! The kids were ecstatic seeing her back in our room. The rest of the afternoon we lounged in our pj’s and enjoyed silent reading time. Mrs. Ambrosino and myself were so proud of how long or class stayed engaged reading to themselves. As teachers it was wonderful to see how much they have all grown in their love of reading since the fall.






 

Spring Break Fun Day #9

Jack Perlutsky is another one of my favorite poets. Read his poem “Bleezer’s Ice Cream” and make up your own silly ice cream flavor. Feel free to share your flavor in the comment section so we can all see what crazy flavors you have come up with!

Bleezer's Ice Cream

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
there are flavors in my freezer
you have never seen before,
twenty-eight divine creations
too delicious to resist,
why not do yourself a favor,
try the flavors on my list:

COCOA MOCHA MACARONI
TAPIOCA SMOKED BALONEY
CHECKERBERRY CHEDDAR CHEW
CHICKEN CHERRY HONEYDEW
TUTTI-FRUTTI STEWED TOMATO
TUNA TACO BAKED POTATO
LOBSTER LITCHI LIMA BEAN
MOZZARELLA MANGOSTEEN
ALMOND HAM MERINGUE SALAMI
YAM ANCHOVY PRUNE PASTRAMI
SASSAFRAS SOUVLAKI HASH
SUKIYAKI SUCCOTASH
BUTTER BRICKLE PEPPER PICKLE
POMEGRANATE PUMPERNICKEL
PEACH PIMENTO PIZZA PLUM
PEANUT PUMPKIN BUBBLEGUM
BROCCOLI BANANA BLUSTER
CHOCOLATE CHOP SUEY CLUSTER
AVOCADO BRUSSELS SPROUT
PERIWINKLE SAUERKRAUT
COTTON CANDY CARROT CUSTARD
CAULIFLOWER COLA MUSTARD
ONION DUMPLING DOUBLE DIP
TURNIP TRUFFLE TRIPLE FLIP
GARLIC GUMBO GRAVY GUAVA
LENTIL LEMON LIVER LAVA
ORANGE OLIVE BAGEL BEET
WATERMELON WAFFLE WHEAT

I am Ebenezer Bleezer,
I run BLEEZER'S ICE CREAM STORE,
taste a flavor from my freezer,
you will surely ask for more.

By: Jack Prelutsky

 

Wednesday Highlights

When I grow up…

This morning I shared with the class a photo of myself in 1^st grade. We next went around the circle and shared what we want to be when we grow up. It was so interesting listening to all the hopes and dreams they have, what a driven bunch we have!

 

March is Reading Month-Guest Readers

Today we had our last guest reader to celebrate March is reading month. It’s so exciting to be able to listen to so many great new stories. Thank you to all the parents, grandparents, and godparents who came to read to the class!

 

Walk n’ Talk

With the warmer weather this week came Walk n’ Talk. The playground and the field are still very muddy so please keep sending boots with your child to school!

 

As we continue to study poetry, each day we learn something new about what poets do. Today we learned that good poets show us what they are feeling, they don’t just tell us. As a teacher I love teaching this lesson because it is rather higher level thinking for first grade and it is amazing how easily students perceive this when given examples. We read an example poem (shown below) and talked about what feelings she was trying to explain in her poem. She really likes this crab, and one student suggested that they became friends. We also discussed the actions she was showing us and how that showed feeling. We then decided that we really liked the way she told us because it didn’t sound like ordinary writing, it sounded like poetry! Right then it was decided we need to add to our chart. Today you can see we added “Poets…Show don’t just tell”

Found a Little Crab

By: Sabrina

 

Digging, digging through

the sand.

Then I see something

crawling, crawling, crawling. I pick

it up with my hands

it tickles me.

 

In math today we finished our unit on geometry with a Unit 7 test. Everyone did a great job remembering what they have learned about shapes! Unit 8 is about money and fractions. Remember to play the Coin Counting Game after your child finishes his or her home link each night instead of a number story.This quick practice in the evening will really help support the material being presented each day in school.

The Coin Counting Game:
Grab a handful of change (50-90 cents made with a variety of coins)
Have your child guess the amount of change in your hand then count the coins

*As a challenge activity take away a few coins, have your child count again  and determine how much money is in your other hand.

We have begun our study of plants in science and today we compared plants and animals. The class made collages from old magazines and really enjoyed hunting through the pages looking for pictures to add to their table's collage. Mrs. Ambrosino and I agree, if you're ever looking for something to do on a rainy day make a collage!!! The class would have spent hours on this if we had let them...

 

 

A Visit From Bubba!

Each day of March we have been challenged to answer a Read to Feed trivia question during our morning announcements. On Friday our class correctly answered the trivia question and as a prize had a special visitor spend the afternoon in our class.

Bubba happily listened as Mrs. Ambrosino read the final pages of The Indian in the Cupboard, and while the class was at music I caught Bubba browsing the poetry books in our library.

 

Ms. Malaney Takes Over

This morning marked the beginning of my three week experience as our classroom’s lead teacher. We started our Monday morning in a similar fashion with reading and writing. I was so delighted to see how many students brought in strong feelings to write in their tiny idea books. In poetry we worked on comparing things we love to real world objects. Again we turned to our mentor Zoe Ryder White and read her poem “Inside my Heart.”  It’s amazing to see how the class is beginning to grasp the concept of emulating a poet’s work. This week I will work to remove the highly structured poems we have been working with and allow each student to explore creating poetry.

In social studies today we studied time capsules and decided to make our very own A-7 time capsule. Below is a copy of the note that was sent home with your student. We won’t be creating the time capsule until after spring break so no rush on collecting things. In addition to the artifacts we collect, each student will be submitting a note to the time capsule about their year in first grade at Burns Park School.

 

Mrs. Ambrosino has been reading The Indian in the Cupboard to our class for several weeks. Now that I will be leading the class for the next few weeks I decided to choose a new chapter book to read to the class. Today I began reading Lemon Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events-The Bad Beginning. It is a great 13 book series I couldn't help but introduce them to.

 

Tiny Idea Books

Now that our class has officially become poets, (even after a week of studying and writing we are already feeling quite confident) we are also learning about how poets collect inspiration. We now know that we need somewhere to store all this inspiration we have been finding. Yesterday in class we created tiny idea books.

 

In first grade it helps to write about something that gives you a big strong feeling. When you have big strong feelings about something their is usually an object, detail, or moment associated with the feeling that can create amazing poetry.These small 3x4 inch books are the perfect place to jot down a quick note about the beautiful tree they saw on the playground during recess, or the interesting experience they had at the drinking fountain . This will be helpful when it comes time for writing workshop, because each poet will now have a quick place to reference some of their big strong feelings which can help them start writing. Encourage your poet to jot down something that gives them a big strong feeling this weekend. They can bring it to school to add to their tiny idea book on Monday.

Poetry Comes in Many Forms

Today in writing workshop we talked about how we can use poets as mentors. In class we listened to Jack Prelutsky’s Louder Than a Clap of Thunder to see if we could hear what it was in his poem that made it so enjoyable to both read and listen to. We then created our own Louder Than... poems. They had a great time choosing noises to write their poem about.

The class also really enjoyed listening to poetry being preformed. As a teacher, I am excited for later in our study of poetry when they will be able to record their voice reading a piece of their own poetry. Their words become so much more powerful when you get to hear the small but smart little voice that created the poem. Here is a link to what we listened to in class, enjoy!

 

Louder Than a Clap of Thunder

Inspiration from within....

Today, as we contiuned our journey, we had the pleasure of studying poetry created by our very own classmate D.S. A few months ago he wrote a poem about a particular hallway in our school while walking back to class with Mrs. Roderique. Today in class we studied how he took an ordinary, everyday place, and found a new beautiful way to describe it. As we continue we will all be working to see the world in this new interesting way. Below is a photo of the poem our friend wrote which is displayed in the very hallway that inspired him.

(Although I would love to give credit where credit is due, for privacy reasons students names have been removed from their work.)

Poetry Glasses

 

 

 

Today to start out our unit, I decided we needed to become poets. We did so by slipping on what Lucy Calkins calls our poetry glasses and seeing the world in a new, fresh way. We walked around the classroom looking at everyday objects and saw them in a new light. We had help from a great mentor Zoe Ryder White, who wrote the two poems below. We studied her poems to see what she saw when she put on her poetry glasses and gained inspiration to see things in a new way when we put on our poetry glasses.

 

Pencil Sharpener

By Zoe Ryder White

 

I think there are a hundred bees

inside the pencil sharpener

and they buzz

and buzz

and buzz

until my point is sharp!

 

Ceiling

By Zoe Ryder White

 

The ceiling

is the sky

for the classroom

 

 

 

 

1^st Day 1^st Poem

Each week this year during Reading Workshop we have read a poem and put it in our poetry journals with an illustration to match. This week I got to choose our first Reading Workshop poem during our poetry unit. Tomorrow we will be learning about poetry glasses, and Valerie Worth is an amazing poet who uses her poetry glasses to write all her poems. We will be studying her poem all week!

 

Safety Pin

By: Valerie Worth

Closed it sleeps

On its side

Quietly,

The silver

Image

Of some

Small fish;

 

Opened, it snaps

Its tail out

Like a thin

Shrimp, and looks

At the sharp

Point with a

Surprised eye.

Welcome!

 

This letter went home with your student today, and I'm so glad you got logged on. Feel free to look around. I've posted some other materials used in my planning for you to check out if you're interested to see what our unit will consist of.

Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages

In preparation to plan this unit, I had to choose an essential question to guide my teaching. I ended up choosing two: What does it mean to be a poet? And How can I tell the difference between a poem and a story? Working together with my university instructors and Mrs. Ambrosino, I chose nine goals to give the unit structure as we work to answer the questions together. The name "Poetry: Powerful Thought in Tiny Packages" is a poetry unit written by Lucy Calkins from which my unit it loosely structured after.

 

Next I created an end of unit task that would mark our growth as poets. Together our class will publish our own poetry collection showcasing the poets we have become. In addition we will be working on our own 6 word memoir video. It is a project started by SMITH magazine and made famous by NPR. The students will work to summarize their lives in 6 words, it is amazing to see the powerful messages they can convey in just six words.

 

I think throughout this entire unit you will be proud to see what amazing poets you have raised. If you have any questions about the unit, or have a love of poetry and would like to get involved, please let me know.

 

-Ms. Malaney

Malaney@umich.edu