Fun-O-Ween!

Today was a super day! I'm SO happy that our hurricane was so tame and we had power and school today! This afternoon everyone dressed up and we had our very entertaining Fun-O-Ween! We rotated through 9 stations. Bean bag toss, Ghosts In the Graveyard, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, freeze dance, limbo, coloring, bowling and musical chairs! Well...I thought there were 9, but I guess it was only 8! Maybe it felt like 9! We had a great time and the sixth graders who traveled with us were so helpful! Happy Halloween!

Writing Share October

Here are some pictures from the sharing practice in our classroom. We practiced before visiting our kindergarten buddies! Look carefully at their faces...they are engaged and excited about sharing their work! They are actually listening to each other and asking questions and giving comments.

 

These are our kindergarten buddies listening to first grade authors! I'm not sure they are as excited but they get cookies at the end...maybe that's motivation enough! Most did seem to enjoy hearing the "big kids" read their books!

Writing Sharing!

Last week every child in our class chose a "best piece" of writing to share. We spent some time practicing how to share. The first step was to have a circle share where each student chose one line from his/her story to tempt the listeners into wanting to hear more. It was a lot of fun! I suggested that they could "pass" their turn by looking at the next friend in the circle. In the first video clip you'll hear me whisper, "Pass your turn" after almost every child! They were each so pleased to have successfully read a sentence and were abuzz with excitement! They seemed to forget someone else was waiting to go next! Later we went to Mrs. Johnson's kindergarten room to share with kindergarten buddies. Our class sat in an inner circle while Mrs. Johnson's class sat around our class. They were so quiet while reading that you can barely hear some of them on camera! I also didn't do a very good job recording...I was trying not to step on those cute little kindergarteners! Afterward, Mrs. Johnson chose buddy partners and each first grader read their entire story to a kindergartener. Then we shared Tang orange drink and Nilla wafers to celebrate!  I have pictures of most, if not all, partnerships reading and listening that I'll share in a later post! I think the first video is the most fun because you get a sense of how proud they are while sharing! The second video was taken with an "audience" of other teachers and students so they are quiet and shy...still proud, just less "showy" about it!