Igloo (924 milk jugs!)

    924 milk jugs
    3 1/2 months
    25 students
    countless helpers
 + $30 worth of hot glue
 -------------------------
    1 Awesome Igloo

My first grade class has built an igloo out of recycled milk jugs.  To our complete surprise, we collected nearly 1,000 milk jugs!  At the end of September we learned about the harm of too much waste.  Plastic takes 100's of years to break down.  We decided to do something to make a change.

Over the past 3 1/2 months we have practiced our counting skills, recording how many milk jugs we've collected on a given day.  We refined our sorting skills, organizing and counting milk jugs by color of lid, type of milk and so on.  We learned how to read "short-hand" dates.  We experienced what expired milk looks like.  We used our reasoning skills to decide how and where to bulid the igloo.  We expanded our estimating skills, making educated guesses about how many milk jugs were in a set group.

Thanks to all who helped us collect milk jugs and glue.  Huge "THANKS" goes out to Carol Brennan for spending countless hours each weekend gluing milk jugs (So sorry about the loss of your fingerprint to the glue gun.)!

Next step: Students are working on a presentation about recycling and our igloo.  Check out http://www.gogreenfirstgrade.weebly.com/ for updates in February.

New goal!

I have finished my Masters.  Now I need a new professional goal to work on.  Many ideas are floating around: second Masters in Leadership (not my cup of tea), National Board Certification (sounds like more schooling and I'm burned out), or...  wait for it...  yes, I am this nuts...  might need to take an extended leave to start think straight... write a book. 

Now don't get me all wrong here.  I don't think I have any great wisdom to pass along to others as I know I have so much to learn yet and soak up all I can.  I don't think I am an amazing writer as I am surrounded by so many talented authors that just amaze me.  I simply want to write. 

So now I must find something to write about that others would actually want to read.  My amazing colleague, Cary Roller, and I have been working on a year-long, project-based, community-in-action project (for a lack of a better word): IT ONLY TAKES ONE.  We have started bouncing around the idea of writing about our experiences together with this project...something that would be both informative and reflective:
 

A Year of Project Based Learning in 1^st Grade

(Let’s roll some snowballs)

Any thoughts (Other than, "The title is no good.")????

ActivExpression

When I was in first grade, I was awe-struck by the overhead projector.  What a machine!  It could display words typed on a clear page and you could use special colored markers to write on the screen and it would show up in black on the screen. 

As I look around my room I see no overhead projector.  In its place, sits an Elmo and on the wall, a Promethean board.  To usher students from one lesson to the next I open my desk drawer and pull out an iPod.  When students want to read along to stories on CD they turn on one of the netbooks.  To blog with other students across the school, my students scoot up to my desk computer and log on-line. 

What amazing advancements in technology in such a short span of time!  I never would have imagined the possibilities when I was 6, sitting in first grade, in awe of the overhead projector.

In December our school received 2 sets of ActivExpressions.  These hand-held voting devices work with the ActivInspire software and the Promethean board to allow students another method to communicate with the teacher and with each other.  I can formatively and summatively assess students knowledge and understandings of concepts with a few quick key strokes on the computer.  Results are visible to the teacher (in several graphs and charts) while students have anonymity amongst their peers.

This coming week we plan to use our ActivExpressions to record data for a class survey and graph as well as check students understanding of nouns and to solve math problems with anonymity.  As the teacher, I will be able to see who answered each problem correctly and who may need more work with each concept.  Students will have the comfort of answering questions without fear of other students judgement.   

Papermaking

Here is a little dialogue between a colleague and myself:

"We should recycle and make paper for Christmas projects." -me
"I don't know how to do that, do you?" -colleague
"Well...um...Yeah, I made paper when I was in 2nd grade." -me
"Okay.  How do we make paper?" -colleague
"Well...um...I'm sure I can find directions on-line.  But it must not be too hard." -me

Apparently, paper making is not that easy!  I learned a valuable lesson in childhood memories: just because it was easy as a child, doesn't mean it is easy as an adult (doing the "behind-the-scenes" work and all)!  That being said, we had a blast!

Mrs. Roller, myself and 4 student interns (Ms. Hoscheid, Ms. Kolbach, Ms. DiMaria, and Ms. Skjervem) combined forces and worked as an awesome team to provide our students with a fun, memorable, go-green experience that they will cherish.  Hopefully when they are adults, they will remember the joy of the experience, the laughter, the positive atmosphere, and the pretty (interesting looking) paper and not the smell of the irons, the sopping wet tables, or the slightly panicked look on the teachers faces.  :)

For a detialed lesson plan on how to make paper, check out Project Learning Tree resources.  (I will update the citation later when I dig out my book again.)

Snowball

This is a backpost from November...

On a cold and dark Friday night, Mrs. Roller and I sat in her classroom, diet coke in hand, munching on fries, and talking about the week (and month) ahead.  The Promethean board, humming away from a busy day in first grade, displayed a page from the PowerPoint we created this summer, outlining our ambitious goals for the year.  Our dialogue grew and grew, full of life and lofty goals of what we wanted to accomplish with our classes in the coming days. 

It hit me: Project-based learning is like a snowball.  As you watch the snow fall, you have great visions of the perfect, round snowball (Or in our case, students becoming active participants in their home, school, and community, making a difference, going green, learning about unsung heroes and modeling the virtues uncovered.).  All bundled up and with a bounce in your step, you fling open the door and bound down the steps and into the snow (All the materials, resources, and supplies are piled around the school lounge.).  As you start to gather snow, you smile, enjoying the creation and still dreaming of the end snowball (Dipping our feet into the project in September and October, staying on course with our end vision in mind.  Listening to the feedback from students and families who appreciate, value, and enjoy the project's direction.).  But then, as you roll the snowball across the yard to gather more snow, you start to notice that the snowball is getting quite large and moving faster than you anticipated (There is so much we want to do, experiences to share, artifacts to find, technology to develop...).  However, you keep pushing the snowball, hopeful and happy...

Sometimes our First Grade Community in Action project seems too big, slightly out of our control, and definately overwhelming.  As I take a moment to sit back and reflect, I smile and remember: this is what I wanted and this is what I'm getting...
 *Students motivated for a greater purpose than to please the teacher.
 *Students taking action, not only in the classroom, but at home and in the school.
 *Students learning the basics (reading, writing, and math) through authentic and meaning ful projects.
 *Students forming a true sense of community, appreciating, respecting, and valuing each other as individuals.
 *(And of course, a little dash of fun!)

Ghosts and Goblins, oh my!

Happy Halloween!  Today I am reminded of a fun book a colleague gave me a few years back, This is the Teacher about a teacher who is ready for school to begin.  However, by the end of the day, with all of the mishaps and adventures, the teacher is... all ready for bed.  I would like to recommend that the author write a sequel about the same teacher on Halloween.  Oh the sugar, sweets, excitement, and adventures that ensue in any classroom on Halloween. 

Please note, this is in no way a complaint, as I myself get just as giddy as the students.  Gooey treats, spooky art projects, learning disguised as halloween games...  I love watching their faces and hearing their excitement as they make pumpkins using 2-D shapes, mix a pumpkin snack by following 2 step directions, read and sing a pumpkin song that has wow words, and so on.

This is the first time I can recall students wearing costumes to school.  It went quite smooth.  We had a parade through the first grade wing to show off our spook-tacular disguises.  Pictures will be posted soon.

Yummy snack idea: Mix together pumpkin pie filling and whipped cream. Place a dallop of mixture on a graham craker.  Freeze for 1 hour.  Mmmm...kid (and teacher) approved.  (Source unknown.)

Meet Ms. Hoscheid

Ms. Hoscheid is a student intern.  She is working diligently to earn her bachelor's degree from Black Hills State University (my alma mater!).  We will be co-planning and co-teaching together during the course of the school year.  The program is intentionally designed to increase student learning in the classroom and provide both the student intern and the clinical faculty opportunities for growth.  Only the best graduate from BHSU - Go Yellow Jackets! 

It has been a joy getting to know Ms. Hoscheid and watching her blossom in our classroom.  She is a native of South Dakota, growing up in the state capital of Pierre.  She is an intern for the Rapid City Rush and has exciting stories to share about working with professional hockey players!  This summer Ms. Hoscheid worked for the YMCA summer program and has a plethora of experience to draw upon in regards to field trips, arts, crafts, and much more.  Ms. Hoscheid has taught us about sink and float this month.  We look forward to learning from her great ideas in November!

Catching up

School has started!  It was such a busy and exciting time that I forgot about my blog.  Our classroom is bustling with 25 Mighty Knights, who are thoughtful, insightful, and eager to learn.  In the first few weeks of school we talked about our role in the classroom and school community.  To culminate our discussions and learning we created a class mission statement and motto:
     **Think for ourselves.  Learn by trying.  Live like Mighty Knights.  Smile and have fun.**

A brief recap of the first 7 weeks of school (in no particular order):
*Bucket filling*Dream catchers*Hopes and Dreams for 1st grade*Goal setting*Building stamina*Read to Self*Read to Someone*Work on Writing*Combinations for 5*2-D shapes*3-D shapes*Small moments*Sink and float*Heroes*Recycling*Milk Jug Igloo kick-off*Schema*Comparing numbers*Kevin Henkes*Character traits*Singing*Class pet: Snowball*and much more...

Welcome Back Party Bus

Yesterday, a handful of staff from Knollwood, sporting the new Knollwood t-shirt, piled onto a big yellow school bus with boxes of school supplies and headed into the community.  While our gracious driver careful navigated the neighborhood roads, a quiet murmur of chatter abounded as teachers dished over summer adventures and shared dreams for the upcoming year.  As the bus turned in to the Lakota Homes community, honking its horn, teachers peered out the window, earger to see the faces of students from past years and meet the new faces of this year.  It took meer minutes to unload the supplies and get rolling.  What a fun way to kick off the school year!  It was so nice to chat with former students and their families and meet new families.  Can't wait to see our Knollwood students with their new Knollwood t-shirts on the first day of school! 

Next on the agenda: BLT in-service and staff meetings.  Oh, and free breakfast - woo hoo!  :)

1 week countdown

School starts 1 week from today!  Woo hoo!

Today has been crazy-busy just like the past week.  Searching for the best tabletop organizers, labeling new books in the class library, rearranging furniture in hopes of finding that perfect room arrangement, outlining lessons for the first week of school...  After several hours of running around the classroom (and school) in a frantic pace, I finally crashed into my cushy desk chair. 

The flourescent overhead lights are turned off.  The room is illuminated by the soft glow coming from the lamps scattered around the classroom.  Soft music is playing from the radio in the meeting area of the classroom.  I hope my students enjoy the calm feel of the room that I am enjoying this moment.   

Next on the to do list: hang curtains, store empty boxes, and set up new laptops with student links.