Los Cuentos de Amistad

Esta semana la tema es la amistad.  Cuando los estudiantes trabajan en sus centros, ellos están pensando y creando cuentos sobre amistad.

Melangell

"Me and Brookelynn are best friends forever.  I am here anytime she needs me.  She is kind to me and that makes me happy as she is."

Shastalyne

"The animals live in a tank.  Burro esta jugando el pato.  Ellos están comiendo con la familia. 

My Storytellers.

As our year came to a close, we had a significant amount of students in the class choose to publish books. 

This was a desired result I had intended for all students, but I did not push those students that did not feel ready.  Some students needed a little help.  For example, their story began in the block área, and they may have needed some help documenting it. 

Other students were quite content on creating a new story every day, using different médiums to develop their story, in lieu of actually creating a book. 

I would like to thank the students for their hard work this year, their creativity, and their passion that engaged them through the last day of school! 





Here is a little collection of the authors in salón 120 after presenting their books to the class:

Congratulations and best of luck to you in second grade!

Crossing the Creek

Yesterday students traveled to the Burchfield Art and Nature Center.  What an incredibly lovely day we had!

After lunch, we explored the creek.  Wilberto and Shaytara mastered the art of skipping stones.  

Next, we began our hike.  We traveled for a while down the path, when it ended.  Soooooo......we decided to cross the creek. (Not my best responsible teacher moment but the students sure were having fun!)


I yelled at the students, "Be careful, don't fall in!" Well guess who was the first to fall in? Yup.  It was me!


On the other side of the creek we discovered an adventure wonderland!!!  Fueron colinas y mas colinas.  They were meant for dirtbikes, I believe.  Our students sure had fun climbing them!

We ended the day in the sun on a hill.  Some students took the opportunity to rest, some decided to roll down the hill, and others worked together to créate a fairy house.

A successful outing and a beautiful day.  Nature is a wonderful way to spark children's curiousity and créate wonder about their environment.

Los Tres Chivitos

In first grade, two of our standards are the following:

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Today, students heard the story for the second time, and then were asked to retell the story in a modality of their choice. 

Some students went to the computer, to watch it on video and study it further, and others went to the library to write a book report about it.

Some students chose to recreate the setting through blocks and were able to recount the details of the story in the order they occurred.

Johnomar used pattern blocks to créate the following scene:

Two of the cabras with ogre and bridge

 

Orfrelis, Aniel, and Emesiel created the pond, the bridge, and the ramp to go up the bridge.  They improvised the characters, as we do not have three goats and an ogre in the classroom.  As they acted out the story, they began to argue over the placement of the dinosaur (ogre). 

Orfrelis: No!  He wasn't on top of the bridge, he was under it!

Emesiel: Look he's peeking over the side.











Yarilys chose to draw her interpretation of the story.  She created three detailed pictures for the beginning, middle, and end.

 

 

Shaytara decided to rewrite the story.  Here are her pages:

 

 

The chivito mayor butting the ogro

Many of my students created an interpretation of the story through playdoh.  Each student narrated the events in sequence.  Here are some of their creations:

Tres chivitos y el grande peleando con el ogro

Tres cabritos con ogro debajo del puente

It was a sucessful and productive lesson.  Next week we are taking a break from story workshop to pursue....science!
 

Zoo Day!!!!

After months of studying animals, their hábitats, survival, and characteristics, our long-awaited visit to the zoo was upon us!

Students were very excited as
they braved the windy day.

 

 

During our studies in the classroom, the cheetah, was a very popular and interesting choice for many of the students.  The zoo doesn't have a cheetah...but we found a snow leopard. 

Story Workshop

We have officially began our story workshop.  For weeks, I have been reading fiction to the students, and we have been identifying the characters, setting, and the problem in the story.

La Casa de la Arana

Ever since we began studying animals, habitats have been popping up all over our classroom in the different centers.


Recently, a very excited Yadiel and Jangel came to me and insisted that I come see their creation in the block area.


I looked down to see a building they created out of blocks.  "Tell me about what you built."

Jangel: "The fly and the araña live in the house.

Yadiel: "Son amigos."

I look down and they had created a little door.  When I opened it, sure enough, there was a mosca and a spider inside. 

"I love that you made them friends.  Usually one of them is a predator, and the other is the prey."

Jangel:"They are going to come out when someone challenges them to a race."

"I wonder which one would win the race."

Yadiel: "La araña gana porque es rápido."

Next week, we are beginning story workshop.  I am very excited because my students have these stories with great ideas, that they create daily and need to be written down.