Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: Strategy 7

Hi, Friends! This strategy is all about using manipulatives, experiments, labs, and models. We’re teaching at a time when assessment has been placed at the forefront of well, just about….everything. Often times, we rush too quickly to abstract paper and pencil tasks without allowing students adequate time to enjoy concrete experiences. By using hands-on objects that students can touch, manipulate, change, pull apart, put together to create…we help them to build a deeper understanding of concepts that will be easily remembered in order to apply the learning to real world situations.

How many students do you have that get frustrated or misbehave when a piece of paper is put in front of them or even flat out refuse to complete work? The frustration may not be with the work itself, but in being rushed to show it in a way that is uncomfortable…too soon. In the real world, no one takes away our support. No one insists that we “figure it out” and solve problems based on memory alone. We have calculators , fingers….tools and apps that we use to solve problems….all.the.time. So, why do we as teachers take away support from students because we feel they’ve grown dependent on it or have used it for too long?



Students understanding of mathematical ideas is broadened when they’re allowed to use concrete representations. In our classroom, when students visit work stations, manipulatives are provided as support. If students need them, they have assess to them. If they don’t, they’re not required to use them.



Before beginning independent work, examples of expected outcomes are projected to provide clarity…



…and a quick reference {example}. Using manipulatives can also provide game-like opportunities for learning.



In order to display our understanding of edges and vertices, students constructed models of 3-Dimensional figures using toothpicks and marshmallows. (I’m sure there were a few missing vertices, by the time this lesson was done!)



We could have read lots of books, colored pictures, looked at video clips....and we did, BUT none of those things could replace getting our hands dirty to plant real seeds.  Planting in our classroom is definitely an experiment because growing dendrites might be a talent, but growing plants is NOT! Ha!



When we compared living organisms to non-living objects last year, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on worms! Real…icky, slimy…wet, muddy worms! Yuck! Now, while I enjoyed watching them enjoying themselves….the gummy worms were more my speed! Lol! =)



Concrete experiences like this and labs also help ELLs when focusing on new vocabulary and concepts at the same time! There’s no doubt, every student in the room knew the difference between the living worm and the non-living gummy worm…not to mention, which one tasted better!



So, the next time you’re planning….think of  tactile ways to engage students in learning! Kids remember what they experience and DO!



I love my big take away or “aha” from this chapter. Provide students with the support they need for as long as THEY need it. It’s not up to me to decide it’s time to force them away from it. When a student is ready to show what they know independently, they’ll tell me they no longer need the aid or simply stop using it. Let them guide the learning. Let them touch, manipulate, feel, and experience as much learning as possible with their whole bodies. Paper and pencil tasks should be the very last step in learning….learning IS in the doing.

Allow students to use manipulatives, conduct experiments, build models and watch them flourish! Hands-on learning is FUN!

Stop by Mrs. Jump's Class to hop through the other posts about this chapter. Enjoy!

Five for Friday~A Whole Lotta Random

Hi, Friends! How are ya? I’m dropping in to share a whole lotta randomness from this past week. I’ve got to blog quickly because my daughter is giving me the side eye for missing part of yet another Avengers movie! We’re watching Captain America and I think…..I think, now I can finally put all the pieces to all of the avengers back stories together….I think. I KNOW she can! Can you say obsessed?

One of the most exciting things about this week was releasing our butterflies! 5 of our 6 little friends made it safely from caterpillar to butterfly in our care. Unfortunately, we had to have a conversation about life and death because one of them did not make it. The kids handled it really well and celebrated by releasing the little ones that survived. As each one left the net, they squealed with excitement!

After releasing our new little painted ladies, it was time to begin a new round of station activities! {I’ll be back to share a little more about those later!} 

Do you use poetry journals in your classroom? One way, we use poetry throughout the year is by keeping a poetry journal at word work. We use lots of different poetry resources for sight words, phonics, and seasonal themes. Poems change about every 2 weeks-ish. How do I keep track of who has added a poem to their journal and who hasn’t? See the little number in the top corner? Those are students’ classroom numbers. Every time a new poem is put into stations, I number them. Students are only allowed to get the one with their number on it. Soooooooo, the numbers that are left…..{naughty, naughty} tell me exactly who has not added a new poem to their journal!

Most of my students enjoy working with their poetry journal because when they do, they also get to share it from the author’s chair as part of our transition for the next mini-lesson! Only 2 students are allowed at any 1 activity in stations so it doesn't take long at all.

Our first attempt at planting was an epic FAIL! We grew butterflies, like bosses….BUT bean plants….not so much! As we continued with non-standard measurement, we incorporated a little writing in math with our own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. Students wrote to retell the story and make comparisons to different things that the beanstalk could grow to be bigger than. We squeezed in one more attempt at growing our own little beanstalks while students wrote their stories. Can you please bow your head now and say a quick word of prayer for our plants? We NEED all the help we can get! 

Whew! Thanks! =)

We also explored choosing appropriate units of measurement with a little measurement stations activity. This is what we doodled to use as our recording sheet. Yep! We doodle a lot! {LOVE!}  After listening and following directions to create our recording sheets, student groups were given 10 minutes at each station to choose a classroom item to measure and record the number of units used, the name of the unit and illustrate. 4 tables, 4 units of measurement, 4 windows on our foldable. Students ONLY opened the window for the specific station they were visiting in order to record their work. For example, while at Table 4, they measured using pencils as their unit and only flap 4 was open to write and draw inside of. 

Telling students how much time they have is a great motivator to keep it movin’ without a lot of lag time. Displaying the timer helps them to see the time winding down and monitor their own progress without hounding them too much. Self management…yep, I can get with that!

What’s that they're measuring, you say? Oh, just one of the best transition tools on the planet! That’s our rain stick. Not being one to actually measure much in real life, I ordered it thinking it would be much smaller. Boy was I surprised!! Care to guess how many unifix cubes it took to measure its length? Yeah, they could’ve used a bigger unit of measurement, but where would the fun in that be? Stay tuned….

….more measurement mania to come!

Five for Friday~Pen pals, Pets and PLANTS

Hey, ya’ll! How are ya? It’s time for another Five for Friday with Kacey at Doodlebugs Teaching! It’s been a looooong week. Life happened; we’ve been busy with a capital B! I think this might actually be the very first night since last Friday we’ve had nothing to do, so this weekend is welcomed with open arms!

I came home ready to tackle a post and got tackled instead, by my old computer that got stuck on stupid and my new one that I’m having trouble downloading new programs to. Tag teamed by technology! I’ve gotten some of the bits and pieces up and running, but need to get Microsoft Office installed to get cracka lackin’ on some ideas floating around in my head. I’m sure after I walk away from it for awhile, I’ll get it going and get busy creating. Wish me luck…cause ya girl is feeling just a bit uh-nnoyed!

Anywho…..here’s a peek at this past week!


April ushers in testing season for our upper grade friends. When you’re not the grade level testing, it can be pretty darn tough to work as quiet as a church mouse. To help our 3rd grade buddies out, we welcomed them to join us for some “get up and wiggle” time.

I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or Mrs. Patterson and I, but it was a hoot having them visit! We used to work together. Having her back on the 1st grade hallway brought back lots of happy memories. The 3rd graders were grateful to be able to move about and my firsties couldn’t believe the “big kids” were stickin’ around to play and work with them! We had just gotten letters from our pen pals and were preparing to write them back, so having some extra hands on deck for ideas and editing was a total score!!! Win-win!!


From writing letters to pen pals and hosting fun friends….we wrapped up our week with smart art to finish off our author study of Ezra Jack Keats. We read several different stories by him online at his official website and from our library. If you click the link, it’ll take you to 4 animated stories read aloud and other resources.  The kiddos were SUPER attentive and did a really good job of making comparisons between each of the stories to Whistle for Willie. Can you see him shaping up?



After reading a different story each day, students became very familiar with Keats’ style and created collages of their favorite part of the story. There’s Willie running to Peter! Do you see him hiding under the carton?


It’s beginning to look a LOT like spring! Pets, plants, pen pals….oh my! This little chart took us 3 daysish to create. We read the book Grow Flower, Grow! After reading it, we discussed the 3 things that plants need to grow and added them to the chart. The next day, I shared the pen with friends to have them label the parts of the plant. On the 3rd day, we created a booklet from Mailbox magazine and then…..


….our plant POPPED right off the page! I LOVE prepping surprises for my kiddos to find when they enter the room! Their oohs and ahhhhs spike the level of excitement and interest in what we’re going to do next. When they came back from specials today, I thought I was gonna have to throw my body over the table to keep them from attacking our real life examples of parts of a plant! Can you say best teacher ever? LOL! *Wink*….well, at least that’s what they thought once they knew they’d get to eat them! =)

Have a great weekend! Now that I’ve got one of these two crazy computers functioning for a few…I’m working on finishing morning work for April. Sorry for the delay….it may just end up working out in your favor though! Stay tuned…

Chicks, caterpillars, plants…oh, my!!!

Hi, Friends! How are ya?

What a day! There is a LOT growing on in our room and we wouldn’t have it any other way! We started the day with one little chick hatched out of its egg….one very feisty little chick….



…affectionately named, Mr. T! After he made his debut, he was not content to be on his own, so he spent the better part of the morning waking up his peeps and calling them out of their shells!  Next came Blaze and then…….a whole heap of peeps! By the end of the day, we had 6 live chicks and a classroom full of friends that couldn’t pull themselves away from the incubator!

 

Blaze got his nickname because he hatched in a flash! Once he made up his mind it was time to hatch, he was out of there FAST! Our school is not only generous enough to provide all the supplies we need to hatch eggs each spring, but also has a live feed set up online for all classrooms to observe. Kids from all over the school were excited and jumping up and down to inform their teachers that an egg had hatched right before their very eyes! Can you say, thrilled?!

 

What an understatement! We had a blast…..ALL.DAY.LONG!

 

To say the very least, we’re really GROWING in first grade! Growing chicks, growing tiny caterpillars into big fat ones, growing plants, and growing firsties who are benefiting from all that’s going on around them! After meeting the first chick, my students quickly noticed that our caterpillars are heading north signaling time for a change! Will tomorrow morning bring a chrysalis too?



Praise the Lord! We’ve also got sprouts! I’m so happy for my kiddos to see something, anything grow out of these cups! 

With all that was going on around us with the chicks, there was no need to fight for the kid’s attention. We turned our focus to the chicks by observing them on the live feed for most of the day. After recess, we completed a little directed drawing and writing to record our observations.



After school, the REAL fun began, lol! We had lots of sweet friends come by to meet the chicks and help them along their hatching journey. Getting out of that egg must’ve been a lot of work! After a long hard day of breaking shells, drying, fluffing and meeting new friends, our little peeps ended the day cuddled up to take nap!



How sweet!

It’s beginning to look a lot like SPRING!

Hi~ya, friends! It’s beginning to look a lot like spring has sprung in our classroom! I absolutely love all the fun science that spring brings! One of the reasons I love it is because its so easy to make connections across different subjects.
 
This week, we’ve begun studying plants and used it to explore differentiating between facts and opinions too.  After reading a nonfiction text {pictured} about the largest plant of all, we read and sorted facts and opinions.

{Click the pic to grab the sorting cards!}

We’re also completing our yearly reading inventories, so the whole group sort trickled over into an independent project to keep my firsties busy while I listened to students read one at a time. They referenced the chart in order to write the examples of facts and opinions and then illustrated the parts of a tree using torn construction paper. Can you say, time intensive, lol? Just what the doctor ordered for a lonnnnnnnng, quiet session and a happily testing teacher in the corner {wink, wink}!



Yesterday, reading….today, math. We got this chart idea from the fab Cara Caroll and used her freebie to interpret the data from our chart. It started out as a picture graph, but took a bit of a turn when most of the class chose the same type of plant! Ha! Can you tell that we’re not a group that eats our veggies! Yuck!
 
Looking at this…kinda makes it look like a have huge class too! How many firsties are in your bunch? I love my 22!



You can’t learn about plants without trying to grow a few….emphasis on the word TRY! Please take a moment to include our little plants in your prayers. This teacher has no signs of a green thumb AT.ALL and is calling on divine intervention to help these littles grow! (PL-UEEESE!!!=)

Our chicks are on day 18 and the excitement is mounting! ANNNNND last but not least, on one of the coldest days of April so far, look what came in the mail….



……YAY!!! They look a little still here, but after having a little time to warm up they’re climbing and crawling all over the place. Can’t wait to introduce them to the kiddos in the morning! So, we’ve got plants, chicks, and now….caterpillars!

What else can we grow, lol? What do you enjoy growing in your classroom this time of year? Have a great rest of the week!

Let it grow, let it grow…

….you can’t reap what you don’t sow! Oh, excuse me….did you hear me break out in song? We have plants, actual plants! They’re growing and we couldn’t be more excited about it!  Look at those roots! I am seriously lacking a green thumb and am so excited that our lima bean plants have sprouted so well and so quickly!  We just planted them last Thursday….talk about super soil!  We say…..let it grow {oh, I’m sorry, started singing again}….and send them home quickly before Mrs. Dwyer kills them, ha!

                                  

We’ve just begun fractions and the kids are having fun with the concept of “equal parts”. We used an adorable project as an introduction to halves today. The class was divided into pairs with one precut carrot to share. One friend was instructed to draw a line down the middle to divide it in half. They then had to give the carrot to their partner to actually cut and each friend labeled their carrot with the fraction and completed a simple sentence starter.  It began as what we call a “listen and do” activity with fractions that flowed into an accompanying art project to help bring in spring! They were loads of fun!

                           

We were completely inspired by Cara Caroll’s PROBLEM SOLVING WABBITS, so if you haven’t seen them, head over and check them out! She’s the best!  Happy teaching all and if you and your firsties are keeping quiet for testing…..GOOD LUCK! Having spent the day quietly cooped up in our classroom has this girlie ready to hit the sack early tonight!

 

I LOVE SPRING!

My crazy computer is taking its break tonight so this post comes via the handy dandy iPhone. We've had an amazing first two days back at school this week! I've found some really great things over spring break that I'd love to share with you guys once old faithful decides to kick into high gear again!

We started the day with this story...This Is the Sunflower by Lola M. Shaefer. We carried the flower theme {gotta get those cross-curricula connections in as often as possible:-)} over to math while working with fact families....cutting and pasting petals 'til our little hearts were content. I walked around and differentiated their work by writing number groups on their desks with a dry erase marker. It comes right off with a magic eraser (I PROMISE)...they wrote the numbers on the flower and the four matching number sentences on the leaves. It took a while, but they had a blast and it was fun to see them help each other to make sure their number sentences were correct.

Later in the day, we continued with plants in science...we read One Bean by Anne Rockwell and began our own little experiment. I adore this little book because it basically tells you how to do the experiment step by step! I absolutely DO NOT have a green thumb so please wish my little firsties luck with growing their plants!

As we were taking turns planting our beans in soil and making observations in our journals, the kiddos also had an opportunity to explore the inside of the seed and identify its parts.  They were super excited to find that there actually IS a little plant in there just waiting to be nourished and GROW! We had so much fun, I almost wanted to break out in song...let it grow, let it grow!!! I'll have to download the Lorax's soundtrack before we make our next observation! :-)

 My back feels 1000 times better...thank you for the well wishes! I was so glad it felt better today because I had a chance to do the happy dance! One of my favorite people in the universe returned from a much deserved break!  She's an amazing parent~helper~buddy that prepares all of our work station materials each week and had been out of town for a few weeks.  I missed her sooooo much and was glad to see her smiling face walk into my room today! I could've  just squeezed her to pieces!

Well, bloggy buddies, have a wonderful Wednesday and blessings to YOU!

Suesstastical Celebration!

Wow! That about sums up our Friday! We had a blast reading, rhyming and creating the day away!

This weekend just wouldn't have been complete without going to see the movie! I LOVED every minute of it! My own little firstie and his big sis giggled through most of it too!

We did a "listen and do" activity to complete directed drawings of The Lorax, then extended to writing. Each student responded to the story making a text to self connection.  Their prompt was....YOU are responsible for the very last truffala seed!  Write to tell what you will do to make sure it grows.  The day ended before we were able to complete them, so I'll post pics of a few a little later. We'll be extending our discussion of The Lorax as we begin plants in science this week. If only there were real truffala seeds to plant! That would be perfect! Grab a copy of the flap book we'll be using below because before we plant we must know what each of those little parts will do to help our plants grow!  There is a full color version and a black & white option that your firsties can color to their liking.

A big thanks to all of my new followers. It gives me such a happy feeling to see my new blog on the block growing.  Please, share with a friend! I really appreciate the time you've taken to stop by AND join in the fun. It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I haven't added as much as I would like to yet, so there will be MUCH more to come! That darn clock just keeps on ticking away and I've got this little day job that summons each morning. :-) Thanks again! Happy teaching and blessings to you!