Biography Reports

Wow, I am so impressed with the biography reports that the class gave last week! The kids did a great job learning their information about a famous person, I can tell that they practiced a lot.  Thank you parents for your support on this project. 

Class Auction Project Tee-Pee

We made a tee-pee for our class auction project this year! The kids tie-dyed fabric using sharpies and rubbing alcohol.  I sewed their tie-dye into bunting flags to hang around the tee-pee.  I sewed a stripe of polka dot fabric to the bottom to add some more pattern! 

Food Packaging

Here are the first part of pictures from our food packaging for Children of the Nations.  The class gathered coins, sorted and counted the coins and now we got to package meals to send to countries in need from the money that we raised! The kids loved getting to package the food.  Once I get the pictures from Mrs. Wick I will have the rest of the pictures up from the other half of the class!

March Bulletin Board

For this month's character education theme of honesty, I made a bulletin board of all the teachers wearing a "Honest Abe" costume. People called Abraham Lincoln 'Honest Abe” because he was so honest. For example, once while working as a store clerk, he mistakenly took six cents too much from a customer. That night after the store closed, he walked three miles to return the customer's money. The kids should be on the lookout for more "Honest Abes" on the playground and in their classrooms! 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We had so much fun practicing our retelling skills with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears this week.  Here are some pictures from our retelling props and reader's theater. 

March Character Development: Honesty

Here are the books that we will be using to explain the concept and importance of honesty in our classroom!

The Weird! Series

Three stories told from the perspectives of three different children: one who is bullied (Weird!), a bystander (Dare!), and the bully herself (Tough!). Each title shows readers, through the texts and the expressive ink illustrations, what each child feels. 

The Empty Pot (An Owlet Book)

When the Chinese emperor proclaims that his successor will be the child who grows the most beautiful flowers from the seeds the emperor distributes, Ping is overjoyed. Like the emperor, he loves flowers and anything he plants bursts into bloom. But the emperor's seed will not grow, despite months of loving care, and Ping goes before the emperor carrying only his empty pot. The emperor ignores the beautiful blossoms brought by the other children and chooses Ping, revealing that the seeds he handed out had been cooked and could not grow.

Princess K.I.M. and the Lie That Grew

Kim wants the kids at her new school to like her, so she tells a teeny, tiny, bitty lie. She says her name is really "K.I.M."--for "Katherine Isabella Marguerite"--and that she comes from a royal family!  Pretty soon all the students know there is a princess in the school.  Kim wears her golden tiara from dance class and a big fancy ring she won at the arcade.  Her little lie grows and grows. When a classmate invites her to a birthday party, Kim says she can't go because her grandmother is coming to visit. But she had told the kids her grandmother was a queen. Now they all want to meet the queen. Kim is in a real bind; her lie has grown too big and it's about ready to explode!

Don't Worry, Douglas!

Douglas the big, brown, lovable bear is back! His dad gives him a special gift, a new woolly hat! But then something terrible happens. Douglas's hat gets caught on a tree and turns into one long string of spaghetti! How will he ever tell his dad?

Being Frank

Frank follows the motto, "Honesty is the best policy." He tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Frank never lies to his schoolmates, he always tells the truth to adults, and he’s always honest with police officers. The balancing act of finding tact, that fine line between telling the truth and telling too much truth, is the main theme of this story, and it's very funny—although not necessarily to his friend Dotti whose freckles remind Frank of the Big Dipper, or to the teacher who hears that her breath smells like onions, or to the principal who is told that his toupee looks like a weasel. No one is quite as impressed with Frank’s honesty as he thinks they should be. He is sweet and straightforward, and, well, very frank, but with everyone annoyed at him, Frank is now honestly unhappy. He decides to visit his confidante and pal, Grandpa Ernest, who has a history of frankness himself. With a few lessons from Grandpa, Frank begins to understand that the truth is important, but so is not being hurtful.

Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big

Fannie Fudwupper's big brother, Edwurd, spends his time cooking up big fibs full of phooey and letting them rip. But one day, Edwurd tells such a whopping lie that the army, the air force, and the dogcatcher are called to reverse the damage.

Sticky Notes During Reading

 We've started adding sticky notes to our reading time to help us remember what we want to share with a partner.  I use the Reader's Workshop bundle from Kim Adist and Michelle Scannel found here .