Friday, January 14, 2011

The Crayon Box That Talked


To teach about diversity and honor Martin Luther King Jr., I read the poem, The Crayon Box That Talked. Before reading, I had the students draw a scene with a brown crayon.  Then I told them to draw the same picture using a variety of colors.  During circle time, I told the students to hold up their favorite picture.  All students held up the colorful picture, except two.  When I asked why they choose their pictures, the students with the colorful pictures said, "There are more colors.", etc.  The two students who choose the brown picture, didn't know why they choose that picture (just like the poem).  I'm sorry that I didn't think to take pictures of the illustrations. 

As I read the poem, I stopped and asked questions.  I also told the students to imagine they are crayons.  In the poem, some crayons did not like some of the other crayons, but they didn't know why.  After seeing the colors being used to make a beautiful picture, they decided they did like each other.  We talked about how we're all different, but together, we can make the world a better place.  We watched Martin's Big Words.  Then the students wrote the definition for diversity for our Word Wall. 

Today was the first day the students have been at school this week, due to snow and ice.  We had a 2 hour delay, so I wasn't able to do everything I planned.  We will watch Our Friend Martin next week, revisit diversity, and write about our Dream to make the world a better place.  We are saving the Martin Luther King biography for Black History Month.  These snow days have put us behind schedule.

http://www.christysclipart.com/wwwroot/Crayon_Poem.html

Friday, January 7, 2011

New Year's Writing & Snowman Glyphs

This was our first week back to school. We talked about resolutions, being promises that we make to ourselves.  Then the students wrote on these fun templates.  I would love to find the original copy and find out how the party blower is supposed to be placed on the mouth.
First grade decided to do 3 different Snowman Glyphs.  After looking at the third one, we decided it was too difficult.  We did two different Snowman Glyphs instead.  The Snowmen and keys are displayed in the hall. 
As soon as I can figure out how to post documents, I will post the key and questionnaire.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Candy Land: Sight-Words

Sarah (http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/) posted her altered version of Candy Land.  I just had to copy her idea.  Our 1st grade team was able to use fundraising money, to buy Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders for our students for Christmas.  We bought extra, in the event we got more students.  We had a few games left, so I was able to make one for us to share. 
I need to cover the part that reads, "No Reading Required to Play."

Printing the words on Avery labels made it easier than cutting and pasting.  Our Dolch Sight-Words are color-coded, so I coordinated the words and cards to match our lists.  There were only 10 cards per color, so I choose the most difficult words.  For the purple cards and picture cards, I choose the most frequently used words. 

The students will play the game just like Candy Land, except they must say the sight-word before moving toward the castle.  The students love playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladder.  This version just helps reinforce word recognition skills. 
(Sorry, it's fuzzy.)


Sarah has started something.  Now I'm looking at "Dollar Store" games in a different way too.  I know I can do this with Chutes and Ladders.  What else can I do?