Open House 2017

Well this year's Open House was a success! My students proudly displayed all of their projects and shared their knowledge with their parents. We took part in 6 weeks of ocean research. We studied many ocean animals and wrote informational writing pieces in our ocean research journals. We also completed culminating art projects for each of the animals we learned about.

This was the bulletin board that is displayed in the hallway as you enter the classroom. Our octopus project welcomed the families into our ocean research center. To find out how we made our octopus art click here!

We made these adorable shell and pipe cleaner crabs. I ordered the shells online and the students painted them red. They then glued on the pipe cleaner legs and eyes. 

 The students wrote an informational piece on each ocean animal we studied. We compiled these pieces of writing in our Ocean Research Journals. The students had an impressive 10-page book for the event!

 We created divers and three-dimensional turtles. I attached the turtles on a sponge painted paper bulletin board with green butcher paper seaweed.

After reading The Rainbow Fish and discussing the story elements, the students created their own Rainbow Fish with glitter scales of course!

 These adorable clownfish were so much fun to make out of paper mache! We studied these amazing creatures then created the fish. The students put layers of paper dipped in paper mache paste all over a balloon. After a few days the fish were dry and ready to be painted. The students painted them using a shiny orange paint, then added white stripes. Then the orange foam fins and tail were added with hot glue. The mouth is made of model magic formed into a ring and the eyes are large google eyes. I hung the fish in the classroom with fishing line attached to the top fin of each fish.

 The students chose 6 of their favorite ocean animals and completed a research cube. These cubes were hung around the room using fishing line. Grab these Animal Research Report Cubes here!

 We also read Mister Seahorse and created watercolor seahorses to display on a bulletin board. First the students used the wet-on-wet method and painted all over a piece of watercolor paper. Then the students sprinkled a little salt to create a textured/bubble effect. Once the paintings were dry, the students traced using a pattern I created and cut out their seahorse. After the seahorse body was cut, the students cut little spikes to add to the back and drew on eyes.

We also created humpback whale diagrams to display the students' knowledge of the beautiful sea creatures as well as their knowledge of the diagram text feature. 

The students took part in collaborative diagrams. Together they used our informational text to create a diagram of a toothed whale or baleen whale. They completed these diagrams in groups of six and we proudly displayed them for the parents to see.

I am so proud of all of the hard work from my students this year. Open House was a great way to celebrate the end of the year! I will miss this group of kiddos so much!

Informational Anchor Charts

When conducting our ocean research this year, my students and I needed to find a way to record the information we were learning from informational text. I have used Have, Can, Are charts in the past and they worked wonders for this unit! Not only do the students have to recall important details from the text, but they need to decide which category is best for their fact. These charts are wonderful tools for students when writing informational text and compare and contrast writing. Check out our fun ocean anchor charts below!

I love to make the charts colorful and pretty so I like to draw the animal we are studying in the center. I then divide the poster in three parts for each section. If you are interested in learning how to draw these ocean animals or want to teach your students how to draw them, check out my How to Draw Ocean Animals Writing Center!

Happy Teaching!

Open House and Our Ocean Research Center

At my school Open House is a HUGE deal! Teachers and students go all out and completely transform their classrooms to celebrate the hard work and fun we have had all year long. In first grade we transformed our classroom into an Ocean Research Center. We have spent weeks learning all about the ocean and many ocean animals. We used our new knowledge and integrated art and writing in a variety of engaging projects. Check out our magical ocean wonderland below!

We called our room "Ocean Research Center" because we have spent weeks learning as much as we could about sea life. The children felt like research scientists and took our study very seriously!

This picture shows many of our "Have, Can, Are" charts. These charts are perfect for organizing information learned. The students can use the information to write informational pieces. The whale wonderings chart is another chart that helped us with our ocean research. At the beginning of our whale research, I asked each child to ask a question about whales that they would like answered during our study. We then read books, watched videos, and researched information on the internet. As we found answers to our questions, we recorded them on our whale chart. 

 This cute little crab project was inspired by this post. The students loved creating these little cuties out of actual shells.

We learned about sea turtles and created these adorable 3-dimensional sea turtles for our classroom. We also created divers, complete with student pictures attached.

After our study on whales the students created a diagram of a humpback whale. 

These cute little clownfish were a favorite project for my students. They were so interested in the little fish that are immune to sea anemone stings! We decided to hang the fish from the ceiling to complete the "Under the Sea" feel.

These pop-up aquariums were fun for the students to complete.

We couldn't leave all of the ocean fun to just informational stories. Our class read Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle and created these cute watercolor seahorses to celebrate the sweet story. We then compared the fictional elements with the events that occurred and compared them to the factual information we learned about seahorses.

Clownfish and Jellyfish

We have also completed a variety of writing pieces to go with our ocean study. Here is an example of a "How to Draw Ocean Animals" page my students completed. These activities have been great writing centers for my students. It not only teaches them how to draw the animal, but it provides them an opportunity to write about what they have learned. Each ocean animal comes with a fact page, word bank, and two versions of the draw and write page. Check them out here!

Check out the How to Draw  Humpback Whales Freebie here!

We had so much fun with our study and it made for a magical experience. It will be difficult to take down the ocean wonderland, but I know my students are excited to take their projects home to recreate the ocean in their own rooms! 

Happy Teaching!

Informational Writing

This week my students have shifted their writing from narrative to informational/Explanatory writing. They have been LOVING this change. We have been learning about polar bears and they were so excited to show off their knowledge in their writing. To get them started I made an informative writing anchor chart and used the image of a hand to help them with the structure of an informational writing piece. We hold up our hands and review the structure during our writers workshop time before we begin writing.

After my students understood the informational structure, we used our knowledge gained from our polar bear unit to create a Have, Can, Are anchor chart. This chart assisted the class in creating their polar bear informational writing piece. 

After the students finished their writing pieces, we shared them in partnerships and gave compliments and suggestions. Right now we are working on giving helpful feedback and avoiding the "I like your writing" comments. Some students grasped this idea very well and gave wonderful suggestions to others about word choice, punctuation, and addition of sentences.  After editing, we will publish the writing and present it on our bulletin board accompanied by our polar bear art! Here is the art project we are working on right now.

We have really enjoyed our polar bear unit and our informational writing has started out very well! More to come! If you are interested in the polar bear unit, check it out here. The art project is a part of the unit, but if you are interested in just the art project, you can get it separately here.

Happy teaching!

Informational Text Foldable Graphic Organizers!

For the past few weeks I have been using foldable graphic organizers with my students. They LOVE foldables! This main topic foldable can be found in my Foldable Graphic Organizers Pack. The students have worked hard on their folding and cutting skills and they are no longer producing foldables  that do not close, or foldables that have been cut in half! These foldables allow students to show their thinking through writing and drawing, while providing a hands-on component. Most of our foldables are completed whole class with clipboards on the carpet. My students are almost ready to try them independently!

Here are a few examples of student foldables with an informational story about nocturnal animals. 

 Be sure to check out the other foldables found in this pack at my TpT store! I have aligned all of the foldables with first grade Common Core standards for informational text  and literature.
Foldable Graphic Organizers for Informational text and Literature

Happy teaching!

Main Topic Key Details Anchor Charts

We have continued our practice of Main Topic and Key Details with various texts within our first grade  classroom. During our exploration we have completed a few interactive anchor charts that have helped the students internalize the concept of the main topic and key details. The first chart was created after a thorough discussion of main topic and key details. The second chart was created as a interactive graphic organizer to visualize our thinking after reading the MMH Treasures story Animal Moms and Dads. Representing our thinking with a chart assists learners of all kinds. I am a huge supporter of interactive writing. Not only do rich discussions occur before the composition begins, but students practice phonemic awareness and phonics skills, writing skills, comprehension skills, and feel a sense of ownership of the final product. Interactive writing also appeals to a vast array of learning styles. For this chart, the visual/spatial learners can refer back to the chart to remind themselves of the main topic and key details . It also appeals to the kinesthetic learners, who have a chance to assist with the writing. Linguistic learners benefit from the written word, and if the chart is posted, all learners can refer back to the content repeatedly.

My little first graders have also been using foldable graphic organizers to assist with their understanding of main topic and key details. My next post will explain these in detail! They have been wonderful and engaging for my students and I know we will use them for a variety of informational text discussions.

Check out my foldable graphic organizers in my TPT store! Foldable Graphic Organizers for Common Core