Monday, March 19, 2012

Writing Window-Postcards Included

So this Writing Window Wall was inspired by two things. Pinterest and my sister. I found the set up from a Pin, but the postcards are the "Real Deal".  My sister and her husband spent several months traveling to exotic places all around the world.  She sent, my family postcards from her various destinations:  Istanbul, Turkey, South Africa, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Sydney, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and finally Hawaii.  You can read about her travels at: www.kimwagnerdesigns.blogspot.com  
I read the cards to my students and showed them the different types of illustrations they could try out. I provided a template from a Lakeshore, Writing Center, and my students are able to write Postcards about places they have visited or would like to go. In addition to postcards there are samples of various other types of writing they can do during Daily 5: Writing.  

The window shows choices and examples on both sides. When the students are sitting at the table outside of the window, they can see these ideas as well as when they are inside.  Here is a list of the examples:  
  • Poem 
  • list 
  • story 
  • card (birthday, thank-you, etc..) 
  • recipe, tree-map and sentences 
  • book or book cover 
  • friendly letter
  • postcard.                                  
 It has been a great success, and has really gotten my students writing and thinking in different ways.I'd love to hear what you think. What other ideas could be included?
Thanks for reading,
Jessica j

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Stone Soup

So many things are happening this month it is hard to keep up.  Before Spring Break my class performed a reader's theater of Stone Soup.  My very good friend shared this idea with me a few years back.  Amazingly enough, when I was in 2nd Grade with Mrs. Fierstone, she did this activity/story with us too!  (We are talking about 29 years ago)  So what did we do? It all started when, we read a few different versions of the folktale Stone Soup. Then, we wrote, wrote, wrote!  We retold the story, wrote our own recipes and compared the different versions of this book.  Next, we did a "craftivity" and made a pot of soup, showing which vegetables we would put in our soup. Finally, I sent home a note to all of my parents, asking them each to send in a different ingredient.  I had some very helpful parents help chop up the abundance of vegetables.  Friday Morning, I brought in my crock pot, 3 round smooth stones and began to cook Stone Soup. That afternoon, my classroom was filled with the aroma of soup, families and working together.    
   My students performed their readers theater beautifully.  You can't imagine how hard they worked.  We all shared in a great feast of Stone Soup.  It brought back my memories of this project and I truly hope I made some lasting memories for my students as well.    
What are you memories from Elementary school?  I would love to hear what GOOD memories you have of your school days!
Thanks for reading,
Jessica j

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Seasons

The Seasons Bulletin Board
     The Seasons Bulletin Board ended up being a big success.  My class had read a story in our Basal about the 4 Seasons.  They worked in teams-each group became an expert on 1 season.  First they were given circle maps to describe their season using adjectives and pictures they found in magazines. Each group presented their circle maps to the rest of the class.
     The next day I gave them a bare tree and the materials to design their tree for their season.  Winter was given cotton balls and glue.  Spring was given light green construction paper and pink tissue paper (for blossoms). The Summer team was given green construction paper as well as blue to make birds in a nest.  Finally, the Fall team was given multiple colors to make the colorful leaves of fall.  
     We added red arrows to show the cycle of The 4 Seasons and I mounted it on green and blue bulletin board paper to make it look like it was really outside.
     My kids had a lot of fun making it and I had a lot of fun teaching it!

Jessica j

Friday, March 9, 2012

Spring Break

Spring Break is supposed to be the time to relax, right?  Well for some reason I couldn't take my mind off school.  I kept thinking, what is wrong with me?  I should be relaxing and enjoying my week off.  Needless to say, I found great things on blogs and websites that I never would have had time to do had I been at work.  Amazingly enough I also found time to relax and have fun with my kids.  Which is evident in the sunburned I now have, from two days at the pool.
I know this is short, but it is my first time and I am just learning.

More to come....
 Jessica j
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