Throwback Thursday, First Grade Winter Art

We wrote about snow.

We read Snowmen at Night

and made cute snowmen.





We read The Snowglobe Family
and made pastel/watercolor resists...

and wrote about "If I lived in a snowglobe..."

 

Christmas Present

A winter poetry unit from me to anyone interested.  It is the season of giving, after all!  Click here for rough draft and final copy papers of winter cinquain, acrostic, alliteration, and haiku poetry.

 

Happy Holidays!

Feeling Grateful

Our new Reading Street Curriculum offers us Persuasive Speech in Writing this week.  So, in an effort to continue to teach across the curriculum (for Historical Fiction, we made a Mayflower Journal, writing as someone who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower, arriving in America, surviving the long, bleak winter, and celebrating by giving thanks), I decided to make a graphic organizer for a persuasive speech on NOT eating turkey for Thanksgiving.  I will read Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey by Joy Cowley, and then we will write speeches from the turkey's point of view.  Enjoy!

 Oh yeah, sheepish admission:  I will be having turkey this Thanksgiving!  Sorry, Gracias!

Tales of an Unlikely Comicon Attendee

Or What Did I Do on My Summer Vacation, Part 2

Well, I never imagined that I would be attending Comic Con.  Not in a MILLION years!  But for the last two summers, that's exactly where I've been!

Confession:  My husband is... a comic book geek.  Yes, I admit it.  I have a basement full of superhero pictures, statues, action figures, and - of course - comic books.  These items often trickle upstairs, much to my dismay.  We see *almost* every superhero movie (luckily his son agrees to see some of them with him), and he owns all of the ones that have been released (deliberately not mentioning all of the animated ones he owns!).  He has been to the last two or three Kansas City Comic Cons, but that's a busy time at school for me. ;)

But I digress.  When I found out about the Denver Comic Con, I was less than enthused.  But then I found out three things.  First, the Comic Con itself is a way to raise money for a program called Comic Book Classroom.  There were panels about using pop culture, such as comic books, as a way to engage reluctant readers and writers.  Very cool.  They also gave out some super (yeah, I said it!) lesson plans for a nominal donation.  Twenty bucks well spent, good cause + lesson plans = happy teacher.

 

Next, Max Brooks was a panelist.  You know, author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft...  He wasn't at all what I expected, funny and self-deprecating, by far the best panel I attended!  I would go see him again in a heartbeat.

And finally, there was a Walking Dead panel with Merle (Michael Rooker) and two featured "walkers."  Chad Coleman, hammer-wielding Tyreese, unfortunately canceled.  And Chandler Riggs (of the "Get in the house, Carl!" fame) was also a no-show at the panel.  Rumor had it that he chose to go to a local amusement park instead (but then, I don't want to spread any rumors!) (still love you, Carl!).  Still, it's my favorite show so I didn't mind the long lines to get in, and it was still pretty entertaining.  Next year, Daryl, next year...

 

Frogs in Trees?

Last week's reading story was "Frog and Toad All Year," by Arnold Lobel.  There is a nonfiction selection directly following the story, called "Frogs in Trees?"  After reading the story, the students imagine they have discovered a frog that no one has ever seen before.  They cut frogs from cardstock and use brightly colored markers to design their frogs.  We then use the "Step Up to Writing" system to write about their frogs.   I give them a topic sentence suggestion, such as "I discovered a new frog!"   They must then add at least two details about their frogs, and then end with a wrap up sentence, such as "Clearly, my frog is amazing!"  Their paragraphs show hints of Spring Fever, unfortunately, but their frogs are colorful and creative!