My First Grade Classroom

Moving schools is a lot like moving into a new home. It involves a lot of unpacking and a lot of time and effort goes into making your new space a home. I would argue, though, that moving schools is even harder because it's like moving into a new place and in that place there is a whole new family that you barely even know and who barely know you.  I love my new school and my new school family but I would lie if I said that I'm completely adjusted to my new digs. Teaching a new grade level is a challenge because everything is different than what I did last year; however, it is a welcome challenge. I'm busy but it's a good busy. Just like our home these days, my classroom is still a work in progress. I actually prefer it that way so that the students can take ownership over their environment. They help me decide what to put on display, what charts we need, etc. We are still in the process of making those decisions. I had some time to snap a few pics of our work in progress before our Curriculum Night last week that I thought I would share with you. So come on in and take a look around...

Near the entry we have a shelf that holds the students' coloring tools and name tags. They are able to move these things to the tables, as needed.

Also, near the entry are the students' mailboxes. We got crafty last week and made some paint chip mosaics to decorate this area. The children love doing these!

This leaning bookshelf displays some of our favorite read alouds since the start of school. I made the black and white  hanging frame by hot gluing some sticks together that I got at Ikea. I don't have a lot of wall space in this room so I had to be creative with where I hang the students' work.

 

Tucked behind the bookshelf is our writing station. The students visit this area every day during writing workshop and a lot of them choose to come here during our choice time.

Tucked back in the far left corner is our coveted light table. I'm so glad I added the mirror this year. It adds a little something to the whole experience.

Probably my favorite area of the room is our art studio. We have our painter's work area. The artists hang their creations from the tree branch which always makes me smile to look at.

 

On the back counter we have even more art supplies in baskets.

 

To the right of the counter is this little inspiration station where the students are proudly displaying some of the artwork they have done this year.

 

On the other side of the classroom is our classroom library.

The focal point of this area is our display of self-portraits and Kandinsky circles. It is certainly a nice view as the students cozy up on the couch with a good book.

 

During Open House, the students made bead creations that we added to our beading tree. It has been at home in our library ever since.

 

Here is another view of the library.

Even more books are tucked behind the couch. The students use the arrival stones on top of the bookshelf to make a lunch choice each day.

Our discovery station is also tucked back in our library area. The students have filled it with their treasures from home that make them wonder.

 

Another favorite for the students is our building cart. They make the coolest things in this station. I need to remember to take more pictures of their structures.

Behind the discovery station is our math station that holds all of our manipulatives and some recent games that we have played during math time.

 

Here is our meeting area.

 

And, that my friends is our classroom as it looks today. It will be fun to watch it evolve throughout the year. Thanks for taking the tour with me.

 

 

Pin It

Sew Fun

 

What is your favorite thing to do on a snowy day? Is it curling up with a good book? Sipping on a latte or hot cup of tea? Getting outside for some wintry fun? Or, all of the above?

 

My students are enjoying the winter months curling up under our counter for a little sewing. It always amazes me how the simplest things can have such a huge impact with my Kindergartners. I introduced this activity in our art station a couple of weeks ago and it has become a fast favorite. The students cut a piece of yarn, string it through a plastic needle, and get their sew on using a plastic mesh canvas. You can see some of their handiwork below.

 

 

My daughter, Audrey, also has her own little sewing nook at our house. I love watching her work evolve over time with each little stitch that she makes.

 

 

If all goes well, I'll be dusting off the old sewing machine myself this week and will be back to share the details. Is it wrong of me to wish for snow day? 

 

 

Pin It

Water Xylophone Discovery Station

I find myself giving my classroom a lot more attention these days. There is something about the midyear mark of a school year that makes me get ants in my pants. Basically, I crave change and making things fresh and new. I find that even little things can keep me excited and inspired in what I'm doing and I think the same goes for my students. So, I plan to share some recent changes that I've made to my classroom here and there. I'm not quite ready for a big reveal as there are still some tweaks I want to make. Right now, I will focus on our new Discovery Station. This station changes frequently throughout the year to reflect different things we are studying or exploring. I've shared this space a couple of times in previous posts.

Here, it is at the beginning of the year completely untouched...

 

And, here it is a few weeks later filled with nature items that my students brought in.

 

These days, our station is not only sporting a whole new concept; it is sporting a whole new look. I traded out the pentagon table for this bench that used to hang out in our meeting area. As you can see from the "before" picture below, I used to have a black bookshelf across from the station. It held all of our non-fiction books. Well, I put that shelf somewhere else and put the books under the bench. I love how instantly it opened up the space and made the books more visible. The students are exploring those baskets like it is nobody's business now! 

 

Now on to our latest exploration. Once again, I owe all of the credit for this fun activity to my friend and "neighbor" Ashley. It's so nice to have somebody right next door to share and swap ideas. She is always up to something super cool and I get to share in the wealth. Lucky me!

 

We are studying sound right now and using a water xylophone to create songs. These are simple mason jars filled with colored water at varying levels. The students use the little metal wand to tap each jar to make music.

 

To help them channel their inner-Mozart, they use this sheet to compose their own songs. They color in the circles with the color that corresponds with the jar to be played. They are having a blast coming up with different ways to make music. There is space on the back of these sheet, also, for them to compose up to eight songs.

 

This incredibly simple station has become a fast favorite in our classroom. Have a Happy Friday!

Pin It

A Van Gogh Community Art Project

This amazing idea was the brain-child of my sweet friend and colleague, Ashley. She is always my go-to person when it comes to great art projects for my students. With art class being non-existent for Kindergartners in our district, we find it our responsibility to support students in their artistic development. This is our Van Gogh project and how it all went down...

We first chose four Van Gogh pieces to use. I chose "Starry Night Over the Rhone" and "The Mulberry Tree" and Ashley's class did "Starry Night" and "Sunflowers".

First, we printed out the artwork and drew equal lines to form a grid on the back. We added a letter/number code to each square.

We then, cut white paper into 4x4 squares and put the same letter/number code on the back of them. Each child was responsible for recreating a small square piece of the overall painting using oil pastels. The code allowed us to put the piece back together in the correct order.

Are you ready for the final product? We are very excited about how they turned out and our students are very proud of the work that they did.  

"Sunflowers"

"Starry Night"

"The Mulberry Tree"

"Starry Night Over the Rhone"

Pin It

A Little Thanksgiving Play

I strongly believe that imaginative play is an important part of every child's development and that early childhood students like my Kindergartners should be given opportunities to engage in imaginative play. That is why, I have a theater station in my classroom. Unfortunately, lately, our theater station looks and sounds more like ensuing chaos rather than productive play. So...I knew I needed to make some changes. I try to remember that if something in my classroom is driving me crazy, then there is probably something that I need to teach or reteach my students. With our upcoming holiday just a week away, I decided to provide my kids with some props so that they could act out and retell the story of the first Thanksgiving.

 

I fashioned our Mayflower out of a basket, ruler, yarn, and a piece of card stock. I'm all about using what you have on hand and I found all of these items in my closet at school. As for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, I purchased some inexpensive peg dolls (around $3 for 30 of them).

 

In this basket, I have placed blocks to create the villages for both the Pilgrims and the Indians, play food to act out the actual feast, and Thanksgiving books.

 

Finally, to give the area an authentic feel; I added this little campfire made from rocks, twigs, and construction paper.

 

My students are loving it and I'm loving that our theater station has been more "playful" and less "crazy".   : )

Pin It

Class Collections

 

 

I am always looking for things to do in my classroom that makes the learning that my students do meaningful to them. Basically, I want them to feel like there is a purpose behind what they are doing and I want that purpose to originate from them and not me. I began a conversation with my students about collections earlier this year. They were so excited to share the different types of things that they collect at home There was definitely a buzz in the air when we were discussing it. Eventually, we came to the idea of starting a collection in our classroom. Several suggestions were made and a vote was taken. The morning class first decided to collect acorns. We were dropping them in  a mason jar as they brought them in. Unfortunately, the acorns had worms living in them...YUCK! We decided that we would just feed them to the squirrels and we switched to collecting leaves (another popular suggestion). The afternoon class decided to collect rocks. I love that rocks even includes a hunk of concrete that one of my students found. Haha!

 

 

We have used our collections in several ways. We have counted them by 1's and 10's, we have sorted them, measured them, and observed them. We have also practiced recording what we have counted in several different ways. Who knows what we will do next. I love that it's open-ended and that the students are taking the lead in deciding how we use our collections.

 

This is the first time that I have done this in my classroom and it's been a great experience. It's a great motivator for learning how to count so whether you are a teacher or a parent perhaps you can try it with your own kiddos.

 

Oh, and in case you were wondering...our latest count was 101 leaves and 81 rocks!

Pin It

Homemade Applesauce

I've discovered this truly simple and delicious way of making applesauce that I have to pass along to you. It tastes more like baked apples than the applesauce I'm used to (the jar variety). My students made this last week in honor of Johnny Appleseed's birthday. They began by observing an apple and recording their thinking in a composition notebook a.k.a "Thinking Notebooks". Next, it was time to peel and slice our apples. Thank goodness I borrowed this nifty contraption from my mother-in-law. If haven't used one of these things, you have to get one. It peels, cores, and slices the apples all at once.  Check it out! So fun!

 

 

 

Once every child had a chance to slice their apples, we added them to an electric skillet with the following ingredients:

 

1 1/2 cups of water

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

 

We let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the apples were soft enough to mash.

 

 

Here is our yummy treat cooling on the counter. My students really enjoyed the process of making something from scratch. We all learned or tried something new that day.

 

 

Personally, I couldn't get enough of this stuff so that evening Audrey and I whipped together our own batch at home. We enjoyed ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delicious, simple, and the perfect treat for fall! 

 

Pin It