First Graders Group the Members of their Households in Thoughtful and Creative Ways

My first graders and I read Five Creatures by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Tomek Bogacki.

In it, a young girl groups the five creatures (three humans and two cats) living in her household in thoughtful and creative ways. The students loved this book. They were actively engaged in exploring the ways the girl grouped her family and thinking of others. 

I created a template for my students to write a new page of the book using their own households. We are a diverse population of learners, so with that in mind, the term "household" was used broadly. I wanted to make sure the project supported students with more than one household as well as those who have nontraditional family structures. Here's the template:

The project was not only successful, but also much fun. The students were on task and the room was buzzing with conversations about their work. Check out some of their new pages for Five Creatures:

Introducing Ozobots and Listening to the Productive Buzz that Accompanies Student Engagement

I purchased three Ozobots for our Library and introduced the fourth graders to them last week. 

I could only buy three at this point and our average class size is about twenty-four students, so that's a pretty big ratio. The students in my school are generally good at collaborating and cooperating, but I admit to being a bit nervous about introducing such a cool learning tool with an 8:1 ratio. I did not need to worry. There was not one disagreement over the intervening three hours as the four classes came through. The library was a buzz of activity, that incredibly wonderful productive buzz that accompanies the deep thinking of exploration and experimentation.

Have a look and listen:

I started with the pens for programming, but have downloaded the app onto the iPads and will include those for programming as well. For this introduction, I wanted the students to fully understand how to use the codes and reproduce them. The trial and error that occurred was just the kind of learning experience I wanted to the students to have. The were problem solving on the go! They drew and redrew lines and codes. They fixed errors. They talked through ideas. It was brilliant. I can't wait to see how these tools continue to help them learn.

The Year in Books that Grew Minds and Hearts

Looking back over the last twelve months of books that my students and I have read together, there are those stories which stand out for the conversations they inspired -- conversations that grow hearts and minds. These are the books that my students still talk about and still ask for, books that get referenced in conversations. These are the books whose influence can be seen in how the students look at and think about the world around them and their place in it.

Here are the top fifteen from this year:

15. It Takes a Village




14. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya*

13. A Poem for Peter

12. Smoot


11. Give Me Back My Book!

10. Each Kindness


9. The Only Fish in the Sea


8. Little Fox in the Forest

7. We're All Wonders


6. Come With Me


5. Why Am I Me?


4. Book of Mistakes

3. Her Right Foot


2. Wolf in the Snow*

1. After the Fall


There are many books that the students and I read each year that I don't have the time to blog about. These books would rise to the top regardless because of the conversations they engendered.

*Some blog posts never got posted, but will soon!