Come meet the Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss makes me smile!  How can you not when his words are

so silly, the pictures are of creatures that I have never seen, and 

each and every one of his books are full of wisdom and lessons to

learn in the best of ways....through stories.

I loved when I. learned that the publisher and Dr. Seuss had a bet

that Dr. Seuss could not write a book for children (that they would

want to read) with only 50 words.

He did it and Green Eggs and Ham was born!  We checked

and there are only 50 words.  Each and every one of my students

should be able to read this book.  We practised with partners in the

classroom.  Reading such as 'long' book made them very proud of

their learning so far this year!

What else do you think of with Dr. Seuss books?

You probably remember that he liked to 'play' with words and

that many of the nonsense words that he made up rhyme with

words in the English language.  These couple of weeks with

Seuss, we are focusing on reading and then spelling rhyming words.

We made our own fish bowls gull of handprint fish.

The most famous cat in the world was created by Dr. Seuss.

That was the little movie that the class watched for their dollar 

donations to Valeda House.  We then talked about how the book

and the movie were similar and different.  Great observations were

made by the students!

We then were asked the question "Would you like the Cat in the Hat

to come to your house?" and created little people that might or

might not resemble the students in the classroom.

"I would not like the cat in the hat to come to my house because 

He would make a big mess."

"I would like the Cat in the Hat to come to my house because he would 

play with me."

"I would like the cat in the hat to come to my house because my house is 

not fun os the cat in the hat is fun."

Now I bet you are wondering which Dr. Seuss books will be featured this

coming week!

Busy little hands!

The thing about Grade One is that almost everything is new learning.

It seems like the students are always learning....new ideas, new ways to accomplish

things, new words....

The word that they learned last week was OPINION.

Each student got to have a Hersey Kiss and a Hersey Hug.

We thought about the five senses (another tie in to science)

and wrote what we could see, smell, taste, and feel.

Each student used a graphic organizer and wrote an opening sentence

that shared their opinion, wrote three reasons for that opinion, and

ended with a conclusion.

It was all very 'one step at a time' with lots and lots of help,

but they worked through the process and had a lovely finished

piece of writing.

Sometimes the 'added extra' seems like child's play

BUT really...

it is a way for the students to work (very hard in some cases)

on their fine motor skills.

The students were given a piece of aluminum foil and

then asked to cover their cardboard cut out so that it looked

like a Hersey Kiss.

For us as adults, sometimes we just want to do it for the kiddos.

It's easier, it's quicker and it's often less messy.

Truth is, we don't need the practice or the experience.

Their little hands do!  Think of the things that they might

be able to do for you at home that work those fingers and wrists.

It pays off in the end!

The games that the students do in the morning again, looks like a 

lot of fun!  They are but they are always given to help the students 

practice their new learning.

They were using these cool dice (one inside another).

They rolled it and added the pips on the two dice and then

coloured the matching number on the page.  Looks like a game,

but they are really practicing their addition skills (Shh! Don't tell

them....they just think they are having fun!!)

This activity was today.  I could have made it easier, and the final

product would have looked a whole lot neater, but at this time of

year, I like to be a bit less prescriptive.  I wonder who is able to

handle the 'hard work'!

The students cut out two card stock mittens.  They were to put 

one on top of the other and then, using a hole punch, put holes

around the mitten shape.  The bottom needed to stay open.

Once done, I tied on a piece of yarn and then the students were to go

up and over, pushing the string through the top to the bottom,

then continuing, so that the sides of the mittens were 'sewn' up.

It showed me a whole lot:

-able to make the holes match in both mittens (some did one mitten at a time- OOPS)

-able to go from the first hole to the second to the third

-able to go to the top and down

-able to persevere

There were a few who just wanted to give up, telling me "This is too hard!"

My answer of "Oh well, keep trying" might sound like I am not willing to help,

but really, it's their opportunity to be proud of being able to do their best.

It may not look as neat and nice as if I had helped, but I could not take away

their pride when they finally finished and exclaimed "I DID IT!"

It's like that little train going up the hill....."I think I can, I think I can!"

(and me thinking "I know you can...I know you can!)

The students are really working on absolutely knowing the double facts.

Lots of games to play and practise, because they are going to be working

on another math strategy soon.

That is "doubles plus one or doubles minus one"

It goes like this:  3+4.....I know 3+3 is 6 so 4 is one more, that means it will be 7!

Students are using those strategies to KNOW their facts, which is a requirement of 

the Grade One curriculum.  Knowing the facts will really pay off in the end!

They work so well together!  

Learning, learning, learning

Poor Sneezy!  He is freezing, but every time he tries to get warm, he melts!

The different projects that we do are just plain fun and the students

love to make them, but they are always helping with learning.

This set of three circles placed one on top of the other, helped the students

experience 'perspective'.....they are looking down on Sneezy as he melts,

and he is looking up at them!

The projects are also allowing the students to work on their fine motor

skills.  This time, the students were asked to make small back and forth movements

with their crayons as they went around each circle.  From the three examples

that I am showing, you can see that this was not easily accomplished by all.

That just means that their little wrists are in need of more work to

strengthen them.  We will continue to find ways to work those muscles!

They loved the project!  They loved Sneezy!

Every morning since the students came back from Christmas holidays

they are met with a task at their tabletops.  This one was interesting

because it was meant to worked on as a small group.  Each table had a set of snowmen.

Each snowman had a word and when the words were moved about

they made a sentence.  It was a challenge for some.  Fun and learning

go hand in hand.  Challenges make little brains grow!

Another reading strategy was introduced this week.

The students are being introduced to the many ways that vowels

make the long sound (that is to say...they say their own name in the word)

The strategy is that if one vowel sound (usually the short one) does not

sound right, flip it to the other sound that the vowel can make.

Some of the practise that was done for the 'Magic' E!

Our last student sharing the 'group' he belongs to.

As each student shared, I took a picture of them and those

photos are now on a GROUPS bulletin board.

The majority of the students brought something that

showed that they belonged to a sports group, but

there were collector, music and Catholic groups as well.

We recognized that we all belong to a class in a school,

and that we all are born in Canada so we belong to a country group as well.

This ties in so well to our next unit of in Social Studies.

Thank you so much parents for helping your littles bring in something to share.

They were so proud!

The way we embrace technology and other ways to learn

Ginger loved watching the students as they worked

within the classroom using various types of technology.

They were intrigued by OSMO, which is an interactive

device that can be set up with my iPAD.  The little red

part at the top 'knows' what the students put in front of it.

Here the student is making an amount that equals the amount on

the bubble on the screen so that the bubble pops and gives points

to the player.

Some of my iPADs have stories downloaded onto them, so that 

students can 'listen to reading'.

The SMARTBoard in the classroom is interactive, which means

that the students can answer questions and the board can

give them a positive sound when they are correct.  Very positive

reinforcement!

Not everything great is high tech!  Good fun is being had with

cookie sheets and magnetic alphabet letters as these kiddos

spell words.

Stretching words is still a new skill and here a little car

is the motivator.  The students 'drive' along the letters, saying the

sounds (see the digraph /sh/ we have recently learned?) and then...

they lift up the flap to see if their decoding skills helped them read 

the word correctly.

This activity is called 'Read Around the Room'.

There are are cards set up around the class, and the

students, armed with a pencil and clipboard, walk around,

find the card and then write....sometimes words, sometimes numbers...

it's just a way to get students up and moving.

They are still learning but it seems a whole lot more fun than

staying in a chair.  In this activity, they were looking for

important parts of the 'Gingerbread Man' story.

I think Ginger is very excited about making gingerbread houses

tomorrow with our Grade 3 buddies!