Have you seen what I've seen?

Encouraging Students to be Scientists and Wonder about the Natural World.

I am in the midst of an author/illustrator study of Steve Jenkins with my first graders.

I love this author study.  I always begin it the same way, I pass out the books and have the students do about 10 minutes of inquiry -- I tell them that they are researchers (They are coming fresh off their Animal Adaptations Research Unit).   I ask them the explore the books -- conduct a picture walk, look at the illustrations, read a few pages, etc.

Here they are during this phase: 

After the ten minutes, the students think-pair-share what they have observed and then we share as a whole group.

For this part of the unit, I use the Steve Jenkins' books that focus on animals, which is the majority of the books.  

I won't go into great detail, but we end up where the students talk about his books being about animals and  ask them what they think he liked to do when he was a young boy and they always come to the place where a students says, "He liked to watch animals and nature." I then ask, "What is the name for someone who observes nature?"  and they always answer, "A scientist!"  

Embedded in this lesson is a spine label/call number/Dewey Decimal Classification realization -- after having the students locate the spine label sticker and looking at the number, I call on a few students to share their call number.  The students quickly see the pattern and we go from the 500s and natural Sciences into the 590s and animals.  Fun stuff!

The author study goes on to explore this idea as well as explore his collage illustrations, which the students describe as "textured" or "realistic" along with other adjectives.  

During this part of the lesson we watch video clips on TeachingBooks or visit Steve Jenkins' Website to view the video clips.  The video of him making the illustration for Move! is wonderful.  I play it twice and stop it as often as needed to allow for student questions and clarification.

I then pull out Move! and we explore the illustration in the movie along with a few others.

This eventually brings us to Steve Jenkins' wish (and I am paraphrasing here),  he wants all children to be scientists and observe nature and ask those important questions, such as "Why do butterflies wings have cool patterns?" or "Why do some birds have long beaks while others have short ones?"

Steve Jenkins' books become a GREAT model for this discussion.  I gather the titles that pose a question and we talk about how research starts with a question. I then have students make up questions for the other books. I can't tell you how much fun this unit is!

After this part of the unit, I show Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest and Biggest, Strongest, Fastest. We have a discussion about scale and perspective and spend a raucous time looking at some of these very interesting and engaging places on the Earth and at some incredibly cool animals.

Yup. Next to Leo Lionni, whom I begin the year with, and Brian Lies, whom is next, and Cynthia Rylant, whom I introduce mid-year, and Denise Fleming and ....okay, you get the picture...but Steve Jenkins is one of the most fun authors to study in first grade!

Read. Reflect. Communicate. Connect.

I started a new student blog...Today!

Read. Reflect. Communicate. Connect.

I am trying out new ways for my students to connect with each other about the books they are reading (or have read).


The thing that tells me I am on the right (write!) track?  My phone buzzed at 7:45 to tell me a student had posted a comment.  


There are only five comments on the blog thus far, but for day one, I am pretty happy.  

I'd love other teacher's comments or feedback about their tools and experiences with student blogging. Please share!

"My Favorite Library Moment..."

"...was when I made my library card."

Sometimes it's the little things, right?  

As I shared in the last blog post, today, I revisited some technology tools with my students.  

There was a slight glitch in the embedding of the Wallwisher sites, so this one is a conglomeration of reflections on books and library lessons.

I love these comments.  

I realized today that it is too hard for my 5th grade students to recall lessons from their six years at the school.  I always reflect with each class at the end of the year, but in the future, I think I will share those reflections back with the students as a way of helping them realize and remember what they have learned and enjoyed. This though, was not a bad start.  They recalled lessons from 3rd and 4th grade!

"I can't wait to read more of the great books in life!"

I decided to revisit some technology tools, like Wallwisher, today.


What continues to make me smile is the fact that these students are rising to the challenge and not only using technology tools acceptably and appropriately, but are also re-engaged and excited to express themselves and communicate their understanding.  

How cool to read, "I can't wait to read more of the great books in life!"  

Why does this make me smile?  

Mainly because I feel like my students and I are developing a community of trust and from that great things are beginning to happen. I love playing the footage on my video camera (student interviews about books), listening to a VoiceThread discussion, or reading comments left by students on one of the other tools because my students are not just talking, they are thinking.  Wallwisher doesn't lend itself to as much depth, but I did have a great time looking back over their comments -- see the next post to read more of their work.  

Of crayons and students

For the past few years the art teacher and I have combined our efforts during the school raffle fundraiser and offered a joint teacher excursion.

Our "excursion" is usually spent moving about the art room creating books, making paper or engaging in some other book/art related project.

Tuesday was this year's excursion day and amongst other things we made crayons.

Here's the connection my brain wanted to make -- now, I know I am stating the obvious  -- homemade crayons are an incredible expression of individual identities or personalities. 

  So, wherein lies this obvious connection to their individual identities?

These crayons were not only unique - like each child - they were also different depending upon one's perspective!

...and herein lies another obvious point:  these crayons are a cool reminder that each of these students (and every student) is a rich conglomeration of thoughts, ideas and interests...
 

Maurice Sendak Rocks My Wordle...

I ran a Wordle for my blog...

What a wonderful surprise!

What a wonderful surprise to open my District Google Docs account and see a folder from a fifth grade student.

"What was in the folder?" You ask?

Why, something incredibly special.  Writing, but not just any writing, poetry.  Poetry inspired by Sharon Creech's Love That Dog and Hate That Cat.

Wow.


With his permission, I share them with you.

Wally The Cat
   By Jason
   (Inspired by Sharon Creech and Valerie Worth)

   On the heated warm lap on the couch
   My cat rests down
   Moves around
   his body,purrs,
   and licks and scratches himself
   Carefully
   as I stroke and pet him
   looks up,opens up eyes
   moves his head all around
   checking
   the fallen cushion
   closes his eyes,rests his head down
   purrs and meows
   and he sleeps,
   for the rest of
   the day
   in his furry  and warm coat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wally Shaped Poem

By Jason

(Inspired by Sharon Creech and S.C. Rigg)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cat’s Couch
By Jason
(Inspired by Sharon Creech and Robert Frost)

I’m going to sit on the couch with my cat
And I’ll brush and pet and rub his fur around
(And I’ll watch him move around and clothes his eyes and rest)
And I will not be gone long-just getting some kitty treats for you if you come too.

I’m going to fetch one of the small stuffed toy
Their lying by my cat’s main resting place
It’s is his favorite toy because when I throw it he catches it and licks it and plays
And I will not be gone long-just filling your bowl of food and water if you come too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love My Cat

By Jason

(Inspired by Sharon Creech and Walter Dean Myers)

Love my cat,

like he loves to play with toys and chase them

I said love my cat,

like he loves to to be on people's laps and get scratched and petted and loved.

I love my cat,

like he loves to be curious and see new things

I call him in the morning

to give him his treats and to be together

and say and call,

“Kitty treats,Wally!”

He walks on his front paws

in his orange and yellow colored

fur and brown stripes

and brown eyes and a pinkish nose

and whiskers

he purrs and meows when he is happy

and closes his eyes and rests to sleep

I said he walks on his front paws

in his orange and yellow colored

fur and brown stripes

purrs and meows when he is happy

and closes his eyes and rests to sleep.

I like to hold him and make him happy and good,

and feed him his special little flavored treats

I said I like to hold him and make him happy and good,

and feed him his special little flavored treats

My sister,mom,and dad now get to be with him,

They’ll help him by and be great to him

too,

just like me.

He’s got a long road to walk down

Before his setting sun.

And before he is gone,

from my life and world and everything in it.

I said He’s got a long road to walk down

Before his setting sun.

And before he is gone,

from my life and world and everything in it.

He’s a long paw walker

and a good cat before he’s done,

for good,

and goes away.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Cat Sounds
By Jason
(Inspired by Sharon Creech and Arnold Adoff)

T h i s   h o u s e :
T h e
a l w a y s
 p u r r s
u p   f r o m   t h e
l o v e d  a n d  r e s t e d  
f r o m  b e i n g
p e t t e d  a n d  s t r o k e d  a n d  s c r a t c h e d
a n d  b e i n g  
r e s t e d  w i t h :
being played with
and using toys or mini stuffed animals
and being moved all around closing
his eyes and twitching his whiskers
and are partly sleeping.

V o c a b u l a r i e s
                              of
meowing
purring
speaking
resting cat  l a n g u a g e
c o m b i n a t i o n s:

as  I
O v e r h e a r
        s n o r e s

a n
o r c h e s t r a
of cushions moving
and blankets ruffling
flying to
                   my ears
w i t h  
t h e
a l w a y s
  n o i s e  o f
t h i s  h o u s e:

cat sounds.