That Which Shall Not Be Named...

Things change in First Grade.  Six year olds start noticing things that they didn't notice in kindergarten, such as what the children around them are doing, reading, writing, and learning.

In Kindergarten, children often parallel play.  They play next to children and do their own thing, rather than engaging in partner or group play.  

And as they approach the mid-year of First Grade the inevitable occurs.  And here's what it is.  

That which shall not be mentioned.  The experience that every First Grader longs for...

Chapter Books. 

                                                    

At first I begin reading them out loud to the whole crew,  as I am doing with Anna Hibiscus.

But now, some of the children are ready to read books like Frog and Toad,  Henry and Mudge, 

and Poppleton during Independent reading time.

Not all of us are ready for these books.  But some of us are.  I am SO SENSITIVE to all of my crew children's hearts.  So for now, I've asked the children who will be reading these books not to call them "chapter books". 

For now,  we will call them "longer books" until the day that we are all in what a First Grader thinks is a special club to belong to.  Those who are reading "chapter books".  

Crew Climbing / November 2012

Perseverance...
My heart soared when I heard that my crew showed this character trait while climbing this week. Each child challenged themselves to move to new heights. Personal growth.  Working together.  Cheering each other on.  How wonderful.

I was sad that meetings kept me out of the gym during our first climbing week, but thankfully Ms. Dana was able to be there to take pictures and be the cheerleader. (she is very good at this role!)  I will be there for them next time, but I was surely there in spirit.  I believe that my children can rise to the bar I have for them as learners, and I'm there to keep them from falling.

Halloween!

Ok. So if you do not know who Pete the Cat is, you will need to ask your children about this book character. We have read several books about this crazy cat.  Ms. Dana and I rocked Pete the Cat this year.  You can check out Pete at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2YwCgtvnNg.

The children had such fun...parading through the classrooms, munching on healthy food, and checking out each others costumes.  They were so cute!
THANK YOU's go out to our amazing crew mom who set up the party and to all who contributed food or paper goods.

Collaboration....We've Got it Going On!

Expert Text:  China

  Collaboration, Communication and Creativity!  In First Grade?  Yes! 

This week in Expedition, our crew worked in groups, reading texts about how Chinese children work and play.  After learning new information, each group negotiated how to share their learning with their crew mates in the form of a visual presentation. 

Wow...I was really impressed with the children's ability to work independently together!  They are so eager to learn about China.

We enjoyed comparing and contrasting the things we learned about the children in China and what we do here in the U.S.A.

You can view their finished products when you are in for Listening Conferences.  

Boot Camp 10/2012

We were wild for Boot Camp!  Woot-Woot!

We ALL showed perseverance throughout the morning of activities.  I was so proud of them!  Best part of it all...

We provided food for families.  That felt great.

Click below to see the Voice Thread with some of the pictures of our crew in action!

Silent Gallery Walk

We are ready to unveil our next Expedition.  In preparation, we looked at many artifacts today that gave us clues as to what we will be studying. The children rotated around the room and looked carefully at the items but were not allowed to talk about their thinking!  Tomorrow we will talk about our observations.  The children are excited!

Sorting...harder than it looks!

We've been sorting.
Classifying things into like groups is a helpful skill in life.

Here the children are sorting buttons from my mom's button box.  I brought in the tin of buttons that I played with when I was a little girl.  I read them the book The Button Box which is an amazing connection to this activity.  The buttons in the book look lots like mine.  There are gold ones, silver ones, shiny ones, some with two holes, some with four, and some with shanks.  This takes lots of negotiation within the group working on this.  Learning to work together and negotiate is hard work for first graders!

We've also worked on sorting dominoes.