This week we are in FULL perpetual motion into our commotion in the ocean and my little cuties are loving it!! Each year, our music program puts on a Go Fish show for all of the firsties. They even get to dress up like a "school" of fish for their big performance... HA! The big show is quickly approaching and I must admit, I can't wait to watch them sing and dance their little hearts out.
We will also be going to the aquarium. YAY*silent cheer! :) I don't know about you but I have a serious THING for aquariums. I think you could consider going to them as one of my hobbies. I absolutely begged and pleated my family to go to Atlantis in the Bahamas because it is the largest aquarium in the world! I even got to ride with the dolphins. Anyways, enough about me. On to gearing up for all the fish fun...
This unit in reader's workshop we are "falling in love with books," which is a review of the most important reading skills and concepts this year. We practiced making some "I wonder..." predictions and followed it up with some recording of our "schema" and "new learning." This week we also focused on a review of comparing and contrasting fiction and nonfiction. We made this anchor chart and read aloud, "Swimmy" and "Fantastic Fish." The kiddos had to use accountable talk stems and "evidence" to determine whether a book was fiction or nonfiction. Then we sorted the remaining based on the title, illustrations and taking picture walk. They did such a good job!!! It is absolutely mind blowing to watch how much they grow and to hear the mature language they have become so accustom to using. It makes my teacher heart so happy!
I found this fabulous anchor chart from First Grade Wow! Such a great way to integrate the ocean unit into the chart. I added to it by having my kiddos be accountable for their thinking/response by having them post it on a post it and stick it to the chart. Now as for remembering to have time to share out their post-its is something were trying to work on. :) But in my defense, we do refer back to the chart and their responses a lot!
As the number of days left grow smaller and we get closer to summer....we are approaching some of my favorite holidays. Why of courseeee they aren't *just* because they remind me of summer. Haha! I do love me some red, white and blue with stripes all over. To celebrate I have posted a freebie in my TPT store. It includes an emergent reader, word search and themed writing pages. You can get them here.
We will doa shared writing activity to answer, "how we show honor and pride?," "how we celebrate memorial day" or "what the word 'hero means to me." I haven't decided yet. Well, maybe I'll take a class vote or let them make their own academic choice. :)
Next week in social studies we will also be studying our flag using the text, "What is the story of our flag?"- a scholastic kids reader. Then we will integrate some graphing using the data from our very own amaerican flag. This is a freebie from Julie and Teaching Idea Factory. Absolutely genius! And great for Flag Day in June too!
Happy learning everyone!!!
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