Tag Archives: first grade

Kindness: A Recipe

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When I woke up this morning I discovered that today is World Kindness Day. I don’t teach on Thursdays, so I didn’t have any plans to engage students today–and to be honest, I didn’t even know it was World Kindness Day until I saw it pop up on social media.

The irony is that we have been celebrating kindness in our classroom–both last week and this week. Last week, after reading Brett Vogelsinger’s blog post on Moving Writers titled Poetry Pauses for Peace Day 2 I couldn’t wait to share the mentor poem, Peace: A Recipe, with my young students. My students have a sense of recipe–they make cookies and muffins with their parents–but making a recipe for something abstract like peace was new for them.

Even before reading Anna Grossnickle Hines’ poem, I had asked my students what ingredients they might include if they were making a recipe for kindness (Brett had suggested having students write a recipe for hope, but kindness felt like a concept my first grade students would have more ideas for). There was no hesitation as hands began to raise. Honesty was the first ingredient mentioned. How much would you include, I asked? A pound was the answer. Then students contributed other ideas: caring, sharing, and including others. Every time I asked for an amount, the response came back in pounds! Even when I suggested maybe a teaspoon or a pinch–the answer was no, 5 pounds or 3 pounds or some other number of pounds. Clearly students thought we needed a extra large batch of kindness!

Studying Hines’ poem, we noticed words that were about cooking, expanding their understanding of recipe components. We underlined those words and drew illustrations for the poem before heading out for lunch. Time got away before we had time to write–but I kept my plan for writing in the back of my head to come back to when I had time.

Monday was a strange day this week. We had school followed by a holiday on Tuesday (Veterans Day)–my students had two special classes on Monday, so my time with them was limited. But…I did have time to come back to the idea of writing a recipe for kindness. Before we began we brainstormed a variety of cooking words and then students got to the writing. They started with ingredients (that expanded past the ideas we had last week)…and they wanted to be done. But, I reminded them, you have to say what to do with the ingredients. And they did.

There was so much success, even from my more reluctant writers. In celebration of World Kindness Day, here’s one example:

Kindness: A Recipe

To make kindness 

you put a pinch of honesty

And a spoonful of helping 

And a handful of respect

And you mix it

And you spread it around the world

And that’s it.

Thanks Brett for the nudge and Anna for the inspiration. And to all the first graders in my class, I’m excited that you are the ones cooking up kindness to spread around the world!

One Day This Tree Will Fall: A mini #writeout book review

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I love children’s picture books. I might even fancy myself a connoisseur of sorts. I have old favorites, but I am always on the look out for new titles. Apparently I have a “type” when it comes to books. Our school librarian can pick a book for me…and most of the time, it is a perfect book for me.

One Day This Tree Will Fall by Leslie Barnard Booth appeared in my book bag a week or so ago…and before I even opened the cover, I was pretty sure it was a book for me. When I opened it and read through it, I nodded to myself. Yes, I’ll be reading this to my students, I said to myself. But of course, the true test is reading it aloud to kids.

Ah…the language flowed. Rhymes mingled with repetition, questions jumped in creating a refrain like a long lost friend. And wrapped in this gorgeous package was an appreciation of nature and an acknowledgement of the resilience and fragility of this ecosystem along with the introduction of important concepts like drought and decomposition (we had quite a discussion about drought–something we deal with regularly in our Southern California community).

Honoring the value of scars and hardship is a river that runs along the story of the tree. It’s a story of ecology and of acceptance and inclusion. When I finished reading it I told my students I knew I would read it again.

And I did. Later that same day, before we headed into some writing under the influence of acorns, I read the book to my students again. They didn’t complain. They noticed more…and so did I. I’ll be reading this one again…probably even buying my own copy. If you love great non-fiction for children, written with attention to the beauty and purposefulness of language…you’ll love this book. I’ll probably read this book to my students again before the school year ends! It really is that good.

Seashells and Seeing: #WriteOut in the Classroom

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In my first grade classroom, we started #writeout way back in August. Our school garden is a perfect place for observation and writing. By the second week of school we were out in the garden with our clipboards looking closely, sketching carefully, and adding captions as well as considering what the object they were examining (a passion fruit, a ladybug, a yellow cherry tomato) reminded them of. (I start planting that seed of figurative language very early in the school year!). We continue to venture outside, at least monthly, with our sketchbooks in hand, sometimes on a color walk, sometimes in search of questions… You can check out a variety of past explorations through this year’s #WriteOut choice board. Let’s Take a Wonder Walk is my offering.

While sharing information about #WriteOut at a recent San Diego Area Writing Project conference, I overheard someone mention the book, Through Georgia’s Eyes, which reminded me of the powerful connection of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art and close observation in nature. I returned to my classroom, pulled that old favorite picture book out along with another Georgia O’Keeffe picture book, Georgia’s Bones and created a plan for introducing my students to this incredible artist, encouraging close observation, carefully enlarged sketching, and descriptive writing.

We’d been on a Wonder Walk the previous week, using nature collectors to pay attention to small natural items around our schoolyard. Students picked one and sketched it. They were small drawings, nicely done, and the perfect prelude to this introduction to Georgia O’Keeffe and her attention to detail. Knowing I had a bin of seashells stashed in a cabinet in my classroom, I pulled them out and picked out a selection of some of the most interesting–enough that every student would have variety to choose from and varied enough that the shells were mostly different from one another.

After reading Through Georgia’s Eyes, we talked about the way that O’Keeffe loved to make her paintings large, bringing attention to things others might otherwise miss. Students each picked a shell from my collection and studied it carefully. We took out our sketchpads. Students were encouraged to sketch the shell, filling the page with every detail they could. Drawing big is hard for young students, so practicing this technique is important. Then I gave them a larger piece of watercolor paper and a sharpie marker and asked them to draw their shell again, even larger!

The following day, after reading the second picture book about Georgia O’Keeffe, we pulled out the trusty trays of crayola watercolor paints, mixing colors in the lids to capture the details of the shells. They looked carefully again, noticing nuance in coloring and shading, figuring out how to best capture the beauty of their shell. They also painted a background color to help their shell stand out. The results were stunning! (I decided to photograph them with the shell to show how much their study of the shell influenced the paintings.)

I was already excited about the work students were doing. These 6-year-olds were impressive with their attention to detail and care using watercolor paint–which can be unforgiving! My next request of them was something they initially found perplexing. I told them now we were going to paint our shells with words. What?!? I explained that our words were going to be the paint that helped others “see” the shell through our eyes. As is typical, I pulled my writer’s notebook out, took a close look at my teeny tiny shell, and started to think aloud about my shell. I wrote a few sentences, continuing to talk through my decisions. And then it was their turn.

You know that magic is happening when that hush falls over the room. First graders are not quiet writers so I get glimpses of their thinking as they work through words, help each other with spelling, ask questions about sounds, and speak the words they are putting on the page. I also knew something special was happening when no one was “done,” even when we had to stop for our reading groups and lunch. While my students were out of the classroom I walked around the room reading their words. Every single student was truly painting with words!

After lunch I gave students a few minutes to read through their writing and finish what they were working on. Then I pulled out the highlighters (first time this year!). I explained how I wanted them to use the highlighter–but first they had to pick a “golden line,” their favorite idea they had written about their shell. After highlighting we had a whip around where every student read their golden line out loud. My heart was full.

T wrote seriously, using all the time available to describe the shell.

My shell has a swirl in its window.  Beige is the color that is the starting color but then white takes over.  It has a pattern it goes purple to white.  My shell has lines that curve to the end.  My shell is very flat.  In the inside there is white.  If you touch its tip you would get poked on the finger. My shell has some green.  It reminds me of a whale tail flaming in the ocean.  My shell’s window is by the tip.  It reminds me of a bucket of water filled.  It’s my favorite shell.

M is an emergent reader and writer, working hard to capture sounds in words. This took effort and great perseverence to produce independently.

My shell has a triangle. My shell has a spiral inside. My shell has a window.  My shell has pink.

Possibilities and Pen Pals

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Today marked 7 more school days until the end of year. It’s a bittersweet time of year. I can’t wait for summer, the way my schedule changes, spaces for some travel, time for family, warmer weather… And I will be saying good-bye to my students after 180 days of learning and growing together. We’ve become like family: getting on each other nerves, supporting one another when someone is feeling down, and depending on that comfortable atmosphere that comes from being home. My students have become confident almost-second-graders full of year-end bravado–nothing feels out of their reach!

I’ve written in the past about the power of pen pals and the reasons why I love it when the opportunity to exchange correspondence with another class presents itself. Again this year, the first graders in my class became pen pals with 5th graders in one of my colleague’s classes. After exchanging letters throughout the school year, today was our day to meet one another in person.

This year my colleague and I decided to have the first graders teach the fifth graders something when they met. Throughout the school year, my students have made zines–small books folded from a single sheet of paper. So today I reminded my students about the zines they have made (and many reminded me that they make zines at home since learning about them in class this year) and that they would be teaching their pen pal how to fold and write a zine of their own.

It was such fun to watch my suddenly shy seven-year-old students walk their much older pen pals through the folding and assembly of the zine and the older students coax their young teachers into choosing a topic. Some pairs wrote their zines about the same topics, collaborating on ideas while others chose to focus on an individual approach.

The classroom hummed with the 50+ bodies in the room, writing and chatting. Everyone was successful in the folding and writing, although there was no end product expected. Our gathering ended with a shared snack time and recess. For most of the fifth graders, it was a walk back in time reconnecting them with the school they attended when they were first graders. For the first graders, it was the excitement of hanging out with their new buddies–throwing basketballs with big kids, kicking soccer balls with big kids, reminding those big kids of the fun of just playing at recess.

Later, after the fifth graders returned to their school, I had the time to walk around the classroom, picking up and perusing some of the zines my students had created. I read the zine about playing hockey (step 3: wait for the zamboni to leave before getting on the ice), the one about mythical animals (clearly there are 7-year-olds who know way more about mythical beasts than I do!), and fell in love with the unexpected Poetry Is… zine written by a student who I would have expected to have written about sports!

I’m reminding myself not to waste these last 7 school days. This is the time when students revel in the possibility of choices, in exploring options, in exercising their creativity, in trying things that felt too scary just a few months ago. I’m also reminding myself to breathe through the hard parts of all that independence, to take a step back and enjoy this family the school year built.

Poetry Play: NPM25 Day 9

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During the pandemic I accidentally discovered the power of poetry dice.  Not the pre-made ones that you purchase.  Those are great, but when my students weren’t in my classroom, I figured out a way they could make their own dice at home.  At the time, I saw those homemade dice as a replacement for the ones I had used in the classroom.  But I have learned after making our own dice in the classroom that they are so much more than that!

The prelude to making the dice is important.  We began this week by reading Peter Reynold’s book The Word Collector.  This book is rich with language and encourages a delight in words: short words, multi-syllabic words, words that sing…. The book is great on its own…and then as my students predicted–we would be making our own word collections!

To keep them from collecting only one kind of word, I gave them some categories…and a few restrictions.  They collected nouns (but not people), verbs, describing words, and colors.  They chatted as they wrote their words, sharing ideas with each other.  Then we folded the collections, placed them in our notebooks, and left them for a while.

Today, we returned to our word collections.  I suggested that they might want to trade out some of the words they had collected on Monday.  I showed them on my list by crossing out a word that felt ordinary and adding another that I had thought about since then.  Then I gave them some time to read over their words, trade them out, or just add to their list.

Then I pulled out the highlighters.  (The magic of office supplies is real!). Since we were going to make poetry dice, students would need to narrow their collection down to 12 words (for a pair of dice).  We talked about including words from different categories and again, I talked aloud about some of my decisions as I highlighted my list.  Once the 12 words were highlighted, it was time to distribute the cube templates.  I use colored card stock so that the dice will have some firmness.

Students wrote their words, one per face, onto their cube template.  And at that point, it was time for the cutting.  This can be a tricky step with first graders, but they persevered and were careful, even with the tight corners.  We had time to fold before recess, but not time to tape, so we left our unfinished dice and headed out for a snack and some playtime.

When we returned I pulled out an old favorite of a poetry book, I am Writing a Poem About…  edited by Myra Cohn Livingston. (This is one of those oldie but goodie books–and I think it might be out of print!) In the book, described as a poetry game, authors are challenged to write a poem using certain words.  We read through quite a few poems that used 3 words: drum, blanket, and ring.  Right away students tuned in to listening to hear those 3 words in each poem.  They noticed that sometimes the poet used a different form of the word, like drumbeat instead of drum.  After marinating in the poetry game, we headed back to our tables to tape our dice together.

Pulling the edges of the cube together and taping them was challenging for some of these young poets, but again, they were up for the challenge.  And then it was time to start rolling the dice.  They were directed to roll 3 or 4 words, write them in their notebook and then to write their own poem including the words, along with some action, metaphorical thinking, and maybe the use of some of their senses.

I’m convinced that the making of the dice creates fertile ground for poetry to grow. Time to think about words, to play around with words, to list words, to select words, to hear words, to consider the words of others, and then to roll dice and write…and then roll some more and write some more. In our last few minutes before going home, we took some time to read some of these pieces-in-progress out loud.

O, who doesn’t usually read, was ready to share today. Rolling robot, rainbow, and teal, O wrote:

A rainbow in the sunset

with a robot running through all the colors

with not a speck of teal

B seems to be using poetry to process feelings, rolled scared, blue, purple, and green. B wrote:

Making new friends

is scary

but blue, purple, and green

fill my heart

And J rolled three words, but ended up with just one of the words in the poem. J wrote:

A lizard’s brown crispy scales

match steaming cocoa

first smell

then blow

I rolled kaleidoscope, microscopic, collect, and singing and wrote alongside my students. Here’s my draft:

They collect words like gems

holding them up

to reflect the sun

A kaleidoscope of poems

emerge from this microscopic

piece of the universe

singing out a world

imagined by children

I’d love to hear your experiences making and playing around with poetry dice–either for yourself or with your students. Any variations to suggest?

Poetry Ecosystem: NPM25 Day 8

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Some days it’s the unplanned lessons that have the best results. A few weeks back I came across a picture book that looked interesting. I ordered it, it arrived, and I set it aside. Then yesterday, our first day back after spring break, I found myself with some unclaimed time and reading a book seemed like the perfect solution.

I walked over to the shelf where I stash the books I haven’t gotten to yet…and Together, a Forest: Drawing Connections Between Nature’s Diversity and Our Own called out to me. I started reading the book and those wiggling post-lunch students settled. We learned about different students in the book and their affinity to plants and animals in the forest. There was the student who was interested in everything–and forgetful–just like the squirrel who buried acorns and the ones it forgot later grew into trees.

We started to think about the plants and animals who were like us…and while we didn’t have enough time to finish the book, the seed was planted in the poetry ecosystem that is our classroom.

Today our planned ceramics project went well and we finished successfully before recess. That meant the time I had allowed for the completion of the project after recess was now open and free. So, we went back to Together, a Forest and completed the reading and discussion. And then we started thinking about that question from yesterday…what plant or animal are you like?

The first graders grabbed their notebooks and started to write. They asked the usual questions, “Does it have to be a plant?” (No) “Does it have to be a part of a forest?” (No) “Can I use metaphorical thinking?” (Yes). I wrote–and I made the rounds around the classroom peeking over shoulders, listening to ideas, watching these comparisons turn into small poems, taking root in this poetry ecosystem.

J wrote:

I am an army ant. My super power is strength and I work with people. I eat fruit and I get it at the store then bring it home. My strength is teamwork.

H wrote:

I am an octopus. I am smart. I act like I have eight hands and I am super fast and tricky and change colors.

B wrote:

I am moss. I am like moss because I soak up everything I hear. I remember everything and if it is something bad I can squeeze it out.

And I wrote:

I am an egret. I am quiet and still. Patience is my super power. Most of the time I am good at waiting and thinking. Other times I startle and fly off in a flurry of feathers. I am good at being alone without being lonely. I love to reconnect with my family at the end of the day.

These first drafts will be fodder for the writing we will continue to do, this month and into the future. Right now, my students are writing easily, adding details and elaboration, beginning to play around with language and ideas…and willing and eager to read their writing aloud to their classmates. We have truly built an ecosystem of poetry and writing in our classroom.

That Magical Buzz: SOL25 Day 4

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Some days in the first grade classroom chaos rules. It seems that everyone needs help at the same moment and a single word (think birthday, soccer, lunch…) makes every voice rise in frenzied simultaneous conversation.

But today was different. We had started a writing project on Friday, but ran out of time (and focus) before we got it completed. And since it is March and I had some time this morning after our class watched another first grade class perform a play, I gave my students a list of four things to do.

  • Reread the writing from Friday and finish, making sure all five senses are represented
  • Use voice to text (something we have done before) to type the writing into Pages
  • Meet with me for a quick review and a reminder of how to share the document with me
  • Go onto a particular app for independent math practice

When we started this, I wasn’t sure I would be able to meet with students with others working independently. But…my students proved their maturity today and that magical buzz settled over the room. Students focused on completing their writing. They helped each other navigate the iPad and reminded each other how to make the technology work. If I was working with a student, others waited patiently for their turn with me. And those on the app worked without needing reminders to stay focused. It wasn’t quiet, but the noise was productive. Most students were able to complete and share their writing and everyone had meaningful learning work to do.

I love when this breakthrough happens. Now I will stay alert for opportunities for students to exercise this independence and work as a team. That magical buzz is priceless!

#writeout for NDOW: Exploring Senses in the Garden

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I picked today…October 20ish…to celebrate the National Day on Writing (NDOW) with my students. And since we are also into #writeout, we combined the two.

We are lucky to have a school garden and while it is not exactly exploding with plant life (yet), it does have some plants growing, some rustic seating, shade (essential on a sunny fall day like today), and hosts bugs and worms and dirt and all the other things kids love.

So, after recess today when I walked my students back to the classroom, I read them the book Outside In by Deborah Underwood. This gorgeous book talks about the wonders of the natural world–and the ways we often do not pay attention to those wonders. It also includes all five senses in wonderfully descriptive and somewhat subtle ways.

I recently had the opportunity to interview author Kate Messner, who is serving as an author ambassador for the National Writing Project’s #writeout, as part of their Write Time series. In response to one of my questions, she talked about the power of the senses to help students (and writers) extend their writing. So before we headed out with our sketchpads to write, I asked my students to pay attention to not only to what they saw, but to all five senses. As we walked we noticed…and once we arrived at the garden, we began to write.

Students listened and sniffed. They rubbed leaves, touched pumpkins, and imagined the taste of fruits and vegetables. And they noticed bugs and birds and spider webs. When they needed inspiration, they moved around the garden and wrote some more.

I love watching my students develop stamina and confidence as writers. There is something freeing and motivating about writing outdoors, writing in a sketchbook, sitting on a stump, and even writing standing up. Writing still takes effort when you are six or seven. Putting all that wonderful thinking onto the page is an opportunity to put phonics into action, exercise those developing fine motor skills, and focus attention for a sustained period of time.

I hear a June bug buzzing in the sky.

When we returned to the classroom, I asked student to pick their favorite sensory description to read in a classroom whip around. Student were all willing to pick and read their descriptions, creating a symphony of voices celebrating our garden and our community of writers.

Here is the collaborative poem that includes a line from each student in our first grade class.

Senses in the Garden

A National Day on Writing Celebration

I hear a car.  It sounds like a dinosaur roaring.  Rooaarr!

I see the leaves swirling in the wind going to land on the ground.

I smell the sea by the beach.  The waves are blowing in the wind.

Taste is like tasting popcorn.

I hear a june bug buzzing in the sky.

I hear the tip tap of my shoes. I see the reflection of my sparkle skirt.

I hear the birds chirping in the sky.

I see the spiky squash on a stem.

I can hear a hummingbird humming.  It was sucking pollen.

I see a passion fruit on the table.

I touched a pumpkin.  It was soft and it had a hole in it.

I hear waves crashing on the shore that the surfers ride on.

I can smell oak sap flowing down the bark of the tree.

I can taste blackberries getting eaten by me.

I smell a passion fruit.

I spy with my little eye someone walking by.  A game!

I feel a pencil in my hand.

I see a moth fly like a jet.

I hear birds chirping and flying.

I smell the acorns.  They are like the seed and the trees.

I see a big pile of dirt.

I hear leaves getting smashed.

I see and feel and hear the garden.

By Room 3 First Graders

10/18/24

How will you and/or your students celebrate the National Day on Writing (and #writeout) on or around October 20th? My students and I would love to see what you do!

Exploring Acorns: A #writeout Adventure

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When life gives you acorns…make art and poetry!

Most weeks I work with my friend and colleague Carol over Zoom since we live in different parts of the state. So when we got to meet in person a few weeks ago, I was delighted to be gifted with a bag of acorns to explore with my students. The acorns where Carol lives are huge…and they have the caps that look like knitted beanies.

So, in honor of #writeout, a collaboration between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service, we got out the acorns and the hand lenses AND our sketchbooks to really study them carefully. We also read two wonderful picture books: Because of an Acorn by Lola Schaefer–a book about the interdependence of the ecosystem where acorns thrive–and Acorn Was a Little Wild by Jen Arena–a fanciful book about an adventurous acorn who after an encounter with a hungry squirrel preparing for winter, ended up as an adventurous oak tree.

And…we had to watch the wonderful video with Ranger McKenzie from Sequoia National Park about how oak trees drop tremendous numbers of acorns every few years…all at the same time in a process called masting, and that scientists have figured out that trees “talk” to each other through their root systems.

All this science and nature provided the perfect foundation for an art project inspired by Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement. Today the first graders in my classroom used scissors, construction paper, oil pastels…and wait for it…white glue to create the most adorable acorn art. Scissor work can be challenging for young learners, and to add to the scissor demand I didn’t provide a template. Instead I showed them how to trim the square of paper into the shape of the acorn nut…and another square of paper into the shape of an acorn cap. A few students expressed frustration, but with some encouragement and insistence that they keep trying, all students were able to cut out acorns and their caps independently.

We added some whimsical texture with oil pastels…and then the most challenging part, they had to use white glue to attach their acorn pieces to the background we had assembled. Trust me, white glue can be downright scary in the hands of young artists! But with admonitions to use the glue sparingly, we were successful!

Of course we had to do some writing. Poetry seemed in order–after all this year’s #writeout theme is Poetry for the Planet and I was wanting to keep it short…so we attempted a first grade version of Haiku–a three line poem (without worrying about the syllable count). Here are a few first grade attempts.

J wrote:

Acorns are hard

cozy as fall nears

Spiny as a hedgehog

O wrote:

Don’t fall yet.

Squirrels will get you.

Crunch!

And R wrote:

Acorns look like a balloon that got blown by a man.

Acorns look like a man with a helmet riding a bike to the store.

Acorns look like a top that someone is spinning on the table.

#Writeout we’re off and running! We’d love to know how all of you are celebrating nature and the outdoors in your classrooms and in your lives!

How to Write a Poem: NPM24 Day 30

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All this month I have challenged myself to write a poem and post it here…AND I have been working with my young students, creating opportunities for them to write poems in lots of different ways. I’ve been inspired by poets at #verselove who have offered daily prompts and thoughtful feedback to my mostly first draft poems. So on day 30, what would I offer my students…and myself as impetus for composing?

Today we headed back to Grant Snider and his book Poetry Comics. (You can read a mini book review here and a bit about Haikomics here). I read them the four “how to Write a Poem” pieces from the book and we talked about what advice we might give aspiring poets. Grant recently wrote a blog post teaching his readers how to make a poetry comic. When I read his post, working my way all the way down to the end I found my own students’ Haikomics featured there! So after reading Grant’s blog post and showing my students all the ideas he shared about how to create a poetry comic–I also showed them that some of their poems were a part of his post! (That definitely created a lot of excitement!)

With all of that as inspiration, I invited students to write their own poetry comics–maybe even a “how to write a poem” poem. And they are off and running! Unfortunately, creating a poetry comic takes a bit more time…I’m hoping we can get them finished tomorrow.

Of course I wrote with my students…and I, too, need more time to get the comic bit completed. But I did take some time to revise my poem when I got home today…and will share the words that hopefully will become a poetry comic with some work with my students tomorrow.

How to Write a Poem (with first graders)

Dip into lots and lots of poems

swim in the language

play in the wonder of words

Notice the pitter patter of ideas

tap dancing like raindrops on the roof

like dew drops slipping off the leaves

Soaking into childhood’s wild fresh colors

unleashing a sky full of rainbows

Settle in the moment

and wait…

poets will bloom