The Monster Returns by Peter McCarty

I just spotted The Monster Returns by Peter McCarty at the bookstore and was excited to see this second in the picture book series which began with Jeremy Draws a Monster.  Jeremy is a character that makes us think here in first grade. His second book helped us think more about predicting as the kids shared their thoughts about what Jeremy  might do when the Monster sends a note declaring he is back after being drawn away on a bus in the first book .  Jeremy delights us with a imaginative plan that pleases everyone.  This book is as good as the first!

McCarty has also written Henry in Love and I just pre-ordered his newest book titled Chloe which is out May 15.  I am a fan!

What is Not Covered by Common Core

In May I often walk into the classroom feeling overwhelmed by the number of activities, assessments and programs that we have scheduled. With 18 days left, I am living the adage...so much to do, so little time.  My friend Lauren and I have been reminding each other (and our students) to slow down. I think we have to slow down and take time for finishing projects or units of instruction in the midst of assessment. We have to slow down and show our kids how important it is to keep listening to each other even if we would just rather be done.

Beginning to explore common core has also presented some of the same overwhelming feelings at times. Not in the sense that the standards will be "hard" to teach or that some standards will be new, but overwhelming because there is quite a bit to read and absorb when slowing down to begin to understand the purpose and philosophy of the common core.  When visiting corestandards.org, you can read about college and career anchor standards, explore your grade level standards, read about the factors that make up text complexity and it's importance within cc, the process in which the standards were created, how to read the standards and more.  After really just skimming many of these pieces, I found my favorite part of common core.  It is titled "What is not covered by the standards" and found underneath the key considerations tab which is under the introduction.  There are a number of key points underneath this heading help us remember that while standards are important, we as teachers are able to make creative, caring and developmental decisions about the students we teach. Common core does tells us :

1. PLAY is important for all students.
"The Standards define what all students are expected to know and be able to do, not how teachers should teach. For instance, the use of play with young children is not specified by the Standards, but it is welcome as a valuable activity in its own right and as a way to help students meet the expectations in this document." 




2.  Be creative!!
"The aim of the Standards is to articulate the fundamentals, not to set out an exhaustive list or a set of restrictions that limits what can be taught beyond what is specified herein."


3. Think about the unique needs of students

• "No set of grade-specific standards can fully reflect the great variety in abilities, needs, learning rates, and achievement levels of students in any given classroom. However, the Standards do provide clear signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness for all students." 
• and
• "Each grade will include students who are still acquiring English. For those students, it is possible to meet the standards in reading, writing, speaking, and listening without displaying native-like control of conventions and vocabulary."

4.  Think about the whole child 

"Students require a wide-ranging, rigorous academic preparation and, particularly in the early grades, attention to such matters as social, emotional, and physical development and approaches to learning. "

 Even though there is and will likely be exhaustive sources and ideas for use with common core, I feel less overwhelmed by the fact that the writers of this initiative have asked us to consider what it doesn't cover.  Here we find some license to keep differentiating, listening, observing and making decisions about what is best for our students. 

What Makes You Smile?

Last weekend, my husband surprised me for our 15th year wedding anniversary.  He planned an evening away in Granville, Ohio. We stayed at the Granville Inn, enjoyed a carriage ride through town and walked up and down the streets of this beautiful college town.  We browsed the bakery and bought yummy cinnamon sticks for Easter breakfast, and shopped in a small store filled with scented candles, jewelry, where I found this book: What Makes You Smile?

I picked it up and thought how it would (1) be fun to share with even first graders and (2) has possibilities for opinion writing ( and we are immersed in thinking about it right now).  The book begins with an explanation of its purpose and how it is just the beginning of a list of things (list book too and I can use at the beginning of the year as a mentor) that make you smile. Then the writer invites us to start our own list.  We have read a handful of pages over the past two days and kids are loving it, agreeing and sometimes disagreeing with the ideas the author has written like puppies, homemade cookies, slumber parties, running through sprinklers and towels hot from the dryer.  Today, we decided to write our own (opinions) ideas about what makes each of us smile.  We jotted them in less than five minutes and then I read them aloud and the kids loved hearing each other's responses. It has inspired kids to create their own books about what makes them smile and tomorrow we talked about adding our reasons for each to build on supporting our opinions so that we can create a class book. Tonight I will leave you with with a few hoping you'll enjoy or even share what makes you smile. And yes, the 3rd post it on the right says: Chipotle:)

Book Loving Nieces

My sister texted me this message with picture included:

"The girls turned our room into a classroom- sorted all their books by author or genre. Thought u would enjoy."

Doesn't put a smile on your face when a four and six year old adore reading and organizing books as much as we do?

Happy Ending

Tonight I had 45 minutes in between the time I dropped my first son off at soccer and the time I needed to pick another one up.  I hate driving all the way home because by the time I get there, it is time to get back into the car.  I thought about shopping but quickly decided I really don't be needing to spending money so I did what I should have thought of first:  stopped by my sister's house to hang with my family.

My sister and brother -in-law live particularly close to us and to one of the soccer practices. I love to visit my nieces and nephew when my own kids aren't around because they are stuck having to talk and play with me instead my boys whom they adore. I sat and helped little Jilly (6) on the computer, Brody (almost 2) and I made faces at one another giggling and sticking out our tongues and then Audrey (5) came and lounged on my lap watching her favorite cartoon on tv.  And, I caught up with my sister, trading gossip and complaining about life stress. I love how sisters are always there to listen.

It was a gift to be able to end my day with their company. It helped turn my stale mood into one of appreciation.

2 Days into Opinion Writing

It has been two days of reading and talking about what opinions are and  how characters we know have opinions.  I have been trying to point out when we use opinions in the classroom and when I have an opinion about something.  Today, as we were voting about which play we enjoyed watching after another first grade in our building performed some fairy tale plays, one of my students shouted out, "We are telling our opinions!"  Yeah, I thought. This conversation about opinions is sticking.

So, the most natural thing happened after watching these plays.  I pulled out some larger (newer sized paper) pulled out the sharpies (for outlining their pictures and words) and let them write their thoughts about which fairy tale play they enjoyed.  With a quick conversation about how we could begin to tell Mrs. Wilkins' Class how we felt, we brainstormed some beginnings.  Then, I let them go to see what they could do.  All of their pieces are giving me ideas about what I need to teach next.  Some kids were excited to dive into this new genre while others wanted to finish writing they have in their folders.  About 1/2 were excited to share their opinions especially after they asked if we could share our writing with Mrs. Wilkins' performers.

I noticed that the kids who tried opinion writing were the risk takers today and have confidence for trying new things. The pieces that they attempted are pretty strong for a first try. I know that I can help build depth in their topic choices and details as our unit progresses for these kiddos.  I think the kids that tried today are also very auditory so talking and listening to each other then writing comes easier.  Some of my more visual learners will need the support of the mentors that come out of this first try at opinion writing as well as some other ideas that might interest them. They will also need the scaffold of shared/ interactive writing which I am sliding into my word study time. Today, we worked on a class letter in which we are writing our group opinion about our favorite play. Writing the beginning of this together was rich in conversation about everything: ideas for what to write, letter etiquette, accessing and adding high frequency words, punctuation, hearing then segmenting words and writing parts we are learning (hearing e sound in dear and identifying it as ea, cl as the blend in class, and the ed in loved).  But, the writing was lacking the discussion of the apostrophe used for ownership (whoops !). Save that for when we come back to this tomorrow.

Opinion Writing in First Grade

 The K and 1st teachers in my district have been spending quite a bit of time delving into understanding core standards this year.  We are beginning to practice some units that support these standards before we are officially responsible for implementing next year.  This week I am diving into a new writing standard for first grade based on opinion writing.  The standard for first grade states:

•  Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

 So, I feel like what my first graders first really need to understand about this standard at this point in the year is: what is an opinion and then later how can they support that.  We've explored a ton of text structures and noticed beginnings and endings in narratives and non-fiction texts so I am not as worried about them organizing their piece.  What I am needing them to be exposed to and understand is what opinions are, that it is ok to agree or disagree with someone's opinion and how to support their own opinion about ideas that are meaningful to them. 

I have taken time to read some professional development resources regarding units that I could follow for primary opinion writing but I feel like I need to step back and keep it simple.  So, as I began cleaning out my classroom this weekend, I started to collect books that have characters who have opinions (and support their opinions).  

I found the book Red Is Best and immediately thought it would work. In this book, little Kelly plays her opinion against her mother's practical advice. Kelly loves red and her belongings that are red.  She wants to wear the red mittens because they make better snowballs, and the red boots because they take bigger steps and in the red cup, she tells her mother, juice tastes better.  I think that this book will help my kids begin to identify with their opinion about the simplest things like their favorite color.   

I Don't Want to Be a Pea! ( I blogged about yesterday but I read today) helped me begin teaching my kids that characters have opinions (and these two have great voices). Sidenote:{ I wish I would have read it aloud before talking about opinions  because I did quite a bit of rereading as this short picture book had some understanding to tackle together about the character's relationship, which character is who, and which character was speaking in the text.}  Hugo and Bella are best buds but they can't agree on what to dress up as for the fairy tale fancy dress party. They both explain why he or she should dress as a certain character disagreeing about what to dress up all along.  It ends with a sweet compromise.

The last book I came across is Duck! Rabbit!  Each of the voices in this book states an opinion about what they see in the pictures as the book progresses. Sometimes the offstage speakers just state their opinion like: "Are you kidding me? It's totally a duck."  and "It's for sure a rabbit." Later the voices are supported by what they see in the pictures like:  "Now the duck is wading through the swamp."  and "No, the rabbit is hiding in the grass." This book will be another way to read and demonstrate that we have opinions and we can disagree. 

 I am hoping these texts can begin to support my student understand how important it is to have opinions. I am hoping my student begin to notice characters with opinions in their own reading and add some more to our basket of opinionated characters.