Loving, Thoughtful Responses that Make My Heart Melt

     Today as I was grading, I found several papers that just made my heart melt. I thought I'd share them so that you can enjoy them and I can remember them. The first paper is a persuasive letter that is suppose to persuade the person to give you something specific for Christmas. I did an example as a letter to my class asking for chocolate for Christmas. Here is what one sweet boy asked for (after responding to my letter by bringing me some chocolate along with another Christmas present):

Dear Lord,
     For Christmas I would like you to make this the best Christmas ever, but not only for me but for everyone. I think everyone should know the real meaning of Christmas and have a happy Christmas this year. If this were to happen, people would maybe understand you and your love for us. Your love fills us up and you have the power to fill more lives up with your love. Lord your love lets me live, that's what I most desire for your beautiful Christmas creation.

Love,
Student's Name


     Isn't that awesome? The teacher asks for chocolate, and a student asks for everyone to know God's love. I was so amazed. Another thing I loved reading were their thanksgiving/praise journals. Back in November, I had students keep a journal as part of Bible class, saying one thing they were thankful for every day that we were in school. Some students had a hard time with this. Others couldn't stop writing! I just skimmed their responses, and here were some of my favorites:

-Thank you Lord for giving me self control when my friends hurt my feelings.
-I'm thankful that I got to paint my nails.
-Thank you for helping me come to school.
-Thank you for keeping my fish alive.
-Thank you Lord for giving me one true friend.
-Thank you for being with me when I was afraid.
-Thank you for healing me during the weekend.
-Thank you for makeing me move my clip up.

I love working at a Christian school!

Turkey Book Reports - Freebie

      Starting in November, I realized that many students in my class were reading their required twenty minutes at home, but they weren't reading an entire book or a book at their level. To keep them accountable for doing these things, I started giving a monthly book report. I keep it simple since my purpose isn't to test comprehension but to make sure that they are reading at least one whole book every month (not counting their literature circle) that is at or close to their level.
 
     For November, I made them do their book reports in the format of a turkey. My students enjoy projects, so many of them enjoyed making this turkey. Since we were learning about writing paragraphs, three of the five feathers required a complete paragraph. The report covered setting, problem and solution, favorite part, and characters. Overall, it went well, except for a few students who didn't read the directions or simply didn't do the project (yep, that was a big 0).

If you want a copy of the instructions, click the picture below.

Doodle 4 Google and Books

 

 

 

     I was just looking something up on Google, and I noticed that they are doing their annual Doodle 4 Google competition again. If you haven't heard of it, children in grades K-12 can submit a drawing that uses the word Google to this competition. If they win, their drawing will be featured on Google one day. Google even provides an educator's guide with some ideas for how to use it in the classroom.

 

      Personally, I would love to use this as part of a short writing assignment to mix things up a bit. I learned from my first grade experience that learning to draw a story was a skill that my students needed to learn. As I am not currently in a classroom, I thought I would just share the idea.

 

     While I am sharing things from other websites, a friend recently told me about a great website called We Give Books. There are many books online that you can read with your class or use as a computers station. They also give books to others. My friend used this to read books to her class while she was student teaching overseas and did not have access to the books otherwise.

 

Have a great week!

Columbus Day Writings and Bulletin Board

     On Columbus Day, my teacher wanted me to do a lesson about Christopher Columbus. Usually she has the students complete a writing, which goes in the hallway. I was fine with doing something for the hallways, but I wanted it to be something the students would enjoy too. Looking for ideas I came across a pin like this one. I thought that doing a picture like this would be fun for the kids because they rarely have the chance to use paint (my teacher did not even have any). Since this was the only lesson I was teaching, I knew that I could pull them out earlier in the day for their handprint.

 

     First in the lesson, I talked about Christopher Columbus, showing them where he was from, wanted to go, and actually landed on the globe. Then, I made a story web with key details they remembered from what I had said. Next, the students completed their writing. I required them to have two well-written, complete sentences in their neatest handwriting. I used the pictures as an incentive. They needed to do their best work on the writing before they would receive their handprint to complete the picture. The boats were their handprints, and they colored water and other things with their crayons or markers. Finally, we added three paper sails that I had cut out. I love that this illustration uses a variety of mediums. The projects turned out very well! Here are a few of my favorites:

 



 

     When I hung the writings in the hallway, my teacher asked me to use our bulletin board as well. I titled it "Sailing with Columbus" in white like a cloud and wrote the objective "We can write in complete sentences" in blue for the water. Then, I added a big ship as the Santa Maria and two smaller ones for the Pinta and Nina. I also put the work of three different students on the board.

 

 

     Overall, this was a very fun project. My students loved the pictures, and I did too! Let me know what you think. This project could also work for learning about the Mayflower or other ships.

Band-Aid Stories

      During Writers' Workshop, I have allowed my students to free write, except the first month always had to be a small moment from your life (district wide for first grade). Sometimes, I would suggest things they could write about such as a recently lost tooth, but ultimately, it is up to them.

     One idea I gave them was to write a Band-Aid story. This was someting we did in my early childhood education class a few years ago. The students write a story about a time when they got hurt. When it is all done and well illustrated, they can put an actual Band-Aid on their picture. This is great because a Band-Aid is a wonderful motivator. I only let my students receive one if they did their best work. Also, it can be done with almost any grade level. In preschool, the teacher could write a dictated sentence. My first graders could have only written one page, but many of them wrote much more! Older students can continue writing more but they may like it just the same.

Here are some examples of my students' work:

 my ElreShic bick acksdit (My Electric Bike Accident)
I wet on my elreshrick bick I... wet in the grass then i wett in the shret. i fel on the shret i got a blodey ney it hrtid naw i am hrst it hrsts. MoMy im bling. dot it Look LiKe it hrst!!- i know seid MoMy i no i what to frow up iuy it is naste yoce pee you.














 My Bandad Story

 Me and my 1 sister and my 1 BFF wint roler skating! We scrapt ar ne!

 My BFF fel of ov the monci bars she seid!

My sister fel of the trampin!

 

the day I fell of my bike

 One time a go I was riading my biek with my Dad. I fell of my bikc. I criad a lot owch!

 

 

     Now for the last story. If you read the whole thing, it is very well-written for a first grader, and I'll continue writing it so that you can actually see. If you don't care to read the more than ten page story, I don't blame you. I just can't help to show off my students' work though and prove how much first graders can write at the BEGINNING of the year. I will fix the capital letters when I am typing it though because I need to for the sanity in typing it.



The Terabll Fall

Didcattit to Peyton

 

One time I whattid to go to the play grownd. Mom can I go!

One time I was playing on the slid. I got tiadd of playing on the slid. So I wint somewrelese.  

 

I watted to play on the mokey bari's and...

That's is what i did

 
















I fell off the mokey baris and I hret my leg it was bad! I ask't my grandma can I have a banddade?

I fiunly fond her.
 

 

She said yes


She gave a banddade.

 

 













My leg fellt bettr. Now I have a banddade to ramind me mot to evre hang upsied down on the mokey baris agein.

Now I do not play on the mokey bri's aney mroe!

 

I hop it is not my brother's tane (turn)!

It is!

 

 

 

Now my brother has to get a banddade. The end!



Editing, Lowercase Letters, and Punctuation

     During Writers' Workshop, we have worked on writing up lowercase letters, capital letters at the beginning of our sentences, and punctuation. After working on lowercase and capital letters, we spent a day editing this story for our mini-lesson. They had to write the each work with the correct upper or lowercase letters. There was enough words so that each student had the chance to complete one word. This ended up being a little long for my first graders, but they did enjoy it.

 

     Then, we spent a week focusing on different types of sentences/ punctuation. My favorite activity was when we read Mo Willem's We Are in a Book! from his Elephant and Piggie series. I had the students raise their hands into a point if it was an exclamation, make a W with their arms if it was a questions, and cross their arms across their chest if it was a statement. They loved this book and remembered the motions. Sometimes, they were so into the book, I had to remind them of their job. Later that week, they continue to use those motions throughout the day to let me know if the sentence they spoke or read was a question, statement, or exclamation.

     Finally, we did another editing paper. This time, I wrote one sentence and gave each student a copy. Together, we found the letter and punctuation mistakes. Then, I had them rewrite the sentence on the line below. I knew rewriting it would be hard for them, and I can see that this is an area that they need more practice in. Unfortunately, this was one of the last Writers' Workshop lessons I will teach, so I will not have the chance to do this more. I am sad to stop this subject as it has definitely been my favorite to teach. I have seen so much improvement in my students since the start of the year!

     Last weekend, I was home for my mom's birthday, and we went to Dutch Fest with my cousin, who is in first grade, and aunt. While we were waiting, my little cousin pulled out a small bag with a pencil and paper, saying that she needed to write down what she saw so that she could remember it. My aunt looked at me and asked, "Is this normal for first graders? She just started wanting to take paper with her to write." I smiled.

     When encouraged, first graders love to write, especially about their own lives and ideas. I might just buy my students little notebooks for a good-bye present, so they can write about their adventures at home.

Teaching Writing with Library Mouse - 1st Grade Ed.

     Last week, I started teaching Writing Workshop. When asked who liked writing a few weeks ago, most students responded saying that they did not like writing. I knew this was the first thing we needed to work on if we were going to get anywhere in Writing Workshop. They cannot all hate writing, so I decided my first week needed to be spent motivating them to write.

    When I was in a second grade classroom, I used the book Library Mouse to inspire a writing project, and I thought that this may also work with my first graders. On Monday, we read the book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. I had them listen to find out what the library mouse liked to do and how he started it. In this book, Sam the library mouse loves to read and decides that he will write books too. He begins by remember what he read in a book about writing: "Write what you know." He writes his first book about the life of a mouse. This fits perfectly with what I need to be teaching in Writing Workshop, since the first unit is about small moments from their own lives.

     I sent my first graders off to write a book about themselves. I let them know that if they needed more paper they could get more since stories about yourself can get long. I also told them that if they wrote a story that was at least two pages, then they could receive a cover later in the week. They immediately got to work. It was hard to get them to stop writing so that we could go to specials! They were so focused it worked like magic.

     On Tuesday, I told them that when I came in, I found a book that Sam the library mouse had left for us. I downloaded it from Daniel Kirk's website. They could not believe that Sam wrote them a book. We read it and talked about what Sam had starting writing first in Library Mouse, and they started writing.

     On Wednesday, Sam left another special gift. It was the Meet the Author box! When they looked inside, they saw a mirror, just like in the book. Some students were so surprised. One girl squealed, "It's me! I'm the author!" I also introduced "When I'm done, I've just begun" on this day, since some students were beginning to stop writing during Writing Workshop.

    I was amazed to see the difference in my writers from where they were at the beginning of school to where they are now. Most did not like writing, and on Monday, everyone could not wait to start writing. My teacher said that she even had students coming up asking when Writing Workshop is. A little motivation goes a long way. I'm thinking Sam will need to bring everyone erasers when we start working on editing skills.

    What do you do to motivate your writers and help them to view themselves as authors?