Kindergarten Writing

Two school years ago I had the opportunity to work as a Teacher on Special Assignment at one of the schools in my district. During that year, I was able to have small creative writing groups on Fridays for grades K-6. I have taught most grades, but kindergarteners absolutely terrify me. No joke. I still put on my happy face and decided I could still handle a group of 10 on my own for writing. To this day, I still believe kindergarten teachers are super heroes! I was exhausted after 30 minutes once a week!

Anyway, here are two of my kindergarten writing projects. I tied both of them with literature.

Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller
Since this book is on adjectives, the best way to describe something is to experience it for yourself! So all my kindergartners got to try their very own lollipop in class! What a treat! We brainstormed adjectives to describe them, then jotted them down. After I checked their work and assisted with spelling where needed, they made a giant lollipop out of card stock circles (Precut, but you can have them do it. I only had 30 min/week) and popsicle sticks. I added the cellophane (seran wrap) afterwards.

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss.
Love this book! I read this book and we talked about how we felt on that particular day. The kids wrote their sentences down on paper and then painted a paper doll to match that color. As you can see, a couple students had a many colored day!

New Year, New Ways

Sorry, I am a teacher, therefor I get summers "off." Ha ha, we (I am assuming most of my readers are teachers) all know that is not true. But I did decide to give my blog a rest.

I started school with my new group of 6th graders about 2 weeks ago. I am LOVING it. I just love my job. Period.

I did have a few management "issues" I needed to iron out this year. Since my 6th grade team rotates between classes, my room seems to collect many items that are not mine nor are they my homeroom class'. To battle this dilemma of students finding items and coming up to me EVERYDAY showing me these items or asking to return the to the rightful owner, I decided to up-cycle my many disinfecting wipe containers into a useful tool....Graveyards: where missing tools go to rest until the owner or a new, loving owner decides to resurrect it. Plus a convenient "Lost and Found" section for the bigger items (Pencil cases, books, hats, etc.).

My graveyards include the following: crayons pencils, markers, colored pencils, and the favorite, and eraser graveyard. No longer will student come up to me with the little (or the big) items that don't belong to them. They will glad take the item and put it away....students are told they can "resurrect" any item from the canisters and claim them as their own. No longer does a student say they don't have their pencil, crayons, etc....they just get what they need. So simple, so easy.

An added bonus: everything smells like lemon!

Pinning Education

Pinterest. A no man's land for men, and a haven of crafting, fashion, and cooking for women...not that I'm stereotyping, much. And for teachers, a gold mine.

I love to share ideas (obviously) just as much love to "steal" ideas. And now, Pinterest has created a virtual bulletin board that makes it a walk in the park. I have found some really great ideas in which I have used this year. Some winners, some losers.

Here are my winners:
Reflection Name Art
Original Pin from teachkidsart.blogspot.com


And here are my kiddos:


This was so much fun and went well with math standards on geometry. I did this lesson slightly different than the directions given, here's how I did it.

1. First I gave the kids a 12" x 12" white construction paper square.
2. We folded together to get our 8 triangles.
3. I then modeled the bubble/block letters in the first triangle (in pencil). Kids had 5 minutes to work on their own.
4. After they were done with the first letters, we traced over ours names very dark. Then we folded the paper once and rubbed the backside. This gave the mirror image pretty well.
5. We then just traced over the new name dark and repeated the steps. Then color!

I will do this again, and again, and again.

Angry Verbs
Original post from supersweetsecondgrade.blogspot.com


And my kids:
Oh, no, I forgot to take a pic! :( However, this was so much fun. The kids were pumped up for this assignment, and the icing on the cake? I let the student(s) who had the best story with the most incredible verbs play Angry Birds on my iPad during computer lab. What an incentive!

Next time I will do this at the beginning of the year to create stronger writing from day one.

And now the losers: Wah wah.
Yarn Balls


My kids:


So, some turned out very well, and others....well, we dropped the ball. I enjoyed this project, but here are the reasons why I think this didn't turn out well. Number one, this was using waaaaaay too much glue for my pocket books and I started getting stingy. Less glue = limpy yarn. Next, some of the yarn was very thin and was not stable enough. Finally, I didn't anticipate the balloons deflating from the drying of glue (it makes sense now), which collapsed some of the yarn and deformed the shape. This also happen when some kids popped their balloons, but had too much glue on the actual balloon, which also collapse the project.

End result: very frustrating. Not doing it again.

Bubblegum Art/Writing: theteacherwife.blogspot.com


My kids:


Perhaps, I should just stay away from balloons. Hrmphf. I thought that this was going to be an awesome lesson after state testing where the kids could have some fun. The kids loved the gum, and did very well following the rules that I gave for them. Instead of doing a step-by-step writing on how to blow a bubble, I let the kids have a free write on gum (a memory, a narrative, a poem, point of view from the gum, etc.).

To tell you the truth, the end product turned out alright, but the process with the balloons was a fiasco. Probably my fault, but many kids popped their balloons, lost them in the few minutes they had them, or they deflated after a day. :( I bought 125 balloons ($20ish) and it just didn't see worth it. So sadly, this won't be an assignment I do again.

Jack N' Jill

Blogging this year has brought many (great) surprises, and this prompt was a thriller! I struggled thinking of creative writing prompts at the beginning of the year, so I used a wonderful resource, Unjournaling by Cheryl Miller Thurston and Dawn DiPrince. This book has so many inventive prompts that really challenge the students and make them THINK about their writing. This prompt showed me that my students are creative beings and can really stretch the limits.

Here is the prompt:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

There is too much left out of this story. Who were Jack and Jill? How did they go up that hill? Did they walk? Ride a horse? Drive in a car? Why did they need a pail of water? Why didn’t they just turn on the faucet? What made Jack fall down? How far did he fall? How serious was his “crown” injury? What made Jill tumble? Was she hurt?
Rewrite the story, filling in details to tell us what really happened. (Unjournaling, DiPrince, Thurston 34)

*You can write in any genre: science fiction, fantasy, humor, mystery, etc.

It dawned on me that some students may not understand the word "crown," as I have many English language learners in my class. But I decided that I would not explain. Turns out, students used the word in many different meanings: a king or queen's headpiece, their head, and one I didn't think of, a crown on a tooth.

The one thing I didn't expect was a full discussion between students on the meaning of the word. Here is their conversation:
Student 1: What’s a crown?

Student 2: A crown can be a crown as in like on a king’s head or a cover for teeth.

Student 1: I thought it was the head…

Student 3: Me too. . .

Student 3: or a tiara but for boys. Ya know, like for a king or something.

Student 4: I think you are all correct.

Student 1: Yeah, I think we are all right! :)

I never commented or spoke to them. It was a great learning opportunity for them and they came to the best possible conclusion, everyone is right. Gush...I love teaching.

Now, my favorite story that came from this prompt.

The Well
Bright lights of lightning flashed the gloomy sky, and thunder boomed the gigantic town of Krakalot, as the majestic king, Jack, bent down to his wife’s bed. Jack’s handsome and magnificent face was now shrouded in misery and despair. His wife, Queen Zexel was frail and feeble, for the illness called Owchfulness had captured and weakened her. This disease was one that was feared by everyone. It would first destroy the insides of its victim with a virus, and then slowly, slowly crush the target’s heart. King Jack did everything to save her, but misfortune was upon them and Queen Zexel’s life seemed hopeless. Jack had called every doctor he could find to come to heal his wife’s life. Each and every one of them had unsuccessfully cured the infection, and was forlornly rejected by the miserable king. Everything seemed to be doomed to failure, until Dr. Broccoli arrived at the royalties’ grand castle.

After the doctor finished examining Queen Zexel, King Jack pleaded, “Dr. Broccoli, can you restore my wife’s health?”
“I’m so sorry your majesty, but healing the Owchfulness is beyond my power. It is way too tricky and dangerous for me. However, a brave warrior might be able to do it, king,” Dr. Broccoli responded.
“What do you mean, Dr. Broccoli?” interrogated King Jack.
“Well, in the Hill of Doom, there is a well called the Well of Tylenol. It is rumored that if one drinks a bucketful of water in that well, their health will be revived.”
“Why, that’s easy!” cried King Jack. “I shall go!”
“That’s not so, your majesty. The evil candy witch, Witch Jill, is guarding the well. She has evil powers beyond our imagination, king,” sadly answered the doctor. “Everyone who has gone has failed.”
“It’s okay, doctor. I, myself, am a warlock. I shall be able to do just fine. You have been a great help,” thanked Jack.
“N-n-n-no, husband,” croaked Queen Zexel weakly.
“It is fine, my wife. I shall cure you once and for all!”

So the next day, King Jack set out with his staff and wand to defeat the wicked witch, Jill, and gather water from the Well of Tylenol. According to the map King Jack used, he would have to go through only a few forests to get to the Hill of Doom. Even though trudging through thick forests was difficult work, King Jack was always fully nourished because he had brought a whole bag of food and water for the journey. After trekking past the forests he saw a humongous well. “That must be the Well of Tylenol,” thought Jack. Therefore, he marched up the hill, but suddenly a bolt of red light zoomed past him. Startled, he looked up the hill and saw the witch, Jill. Her face looked hideous and a huge wart was placed on her nose. She sneered and guffawed when Jack approached her.
“Whahahahah!” cackled Jill. “How sweet! Another visitor! Get ready to fight, my guest! Whahahahah!”

Jack quickly took out his staff and started shooting alternative zigzags of red, white, and blue. Meanwhile, Jill shot rock-hard gummy bears and gummy worms. After an exhausting exchange of strikes, the two sorceresses had many battle scars. Furthermore, sweat was dripping down their faces due to perspiration. Suddenly, Jack shot a yellow beam of lightning at Jill and she was thrown backward.

“Ugh!” she groaned. “I never had someone as strong as you! Fine, then! I’ll have to use my ultimate attack! Then, she began to mutter, “Gummy, yummy, tummy, mummy, funny! Gummy, yummy, tummy, mummy, funny! Gummy, yummy, tummy, mummy, funny! Whalah!”
Suddenly a pair of black lasers shot out of her wand and landed right in front of Jack.
“Ha! You missed!” teased Jack.
“Oh really?” snorted Jill. “Look in front of you!”
And certainly there was a frightening sight…

A colossal sized gummy bear and gummy worm appeared and were preparing to lunge at Jack. Jack was shocked at the sight of the monster gummies, but he managed to keep control. The gummy worm struck its tail at Jack, but the warlock skillfully dodged it and shot a rainbow colored beam at the worm. Then he shot two more lasers, a gold one and a silver one, which made the worm dizzy, fall down with a “thud”, and vanish with a “POOF!” Then, King Jack dashed over to the well, lowered the bucket, and pulled out the magical water in the Well of Tylenol. Jack had accomplished his task! However, the lumbering gummy bear had trotted all the way to the well and punched Jack causing him to roll down the knoll. On the way, he knocked over Jill and both of them continued to tumble down the hill. When they landed at the base of the slope, the bucket that Jack had carried with him was now empty and was good for nothing!

“Argh! Why, why, why? No, no, NO! All the water is gone!” whined the evil witch.
Jack was wide-eyed with nervousness when he came to realize that without the water, he couldn’t heal his wife. He rushed back to the well, sidestepping the gummy bear, but found out that there was no water left. As Jack sobbed, Jill flew away on her broomstick, still grumbling about the water. If there was no water, there wouldn’t be any reason to guard the well. Tears welled up in Jack’s eyes and slowly dripped down the contour of his cheeks. A puddle of water formed on the ground as Jack cried his heart out. As glum as he was, Jack knew he had to try something to heal Queen Zexel. Therefore, he took the leaves of the plant which the magical water had been spilled on. Melancholy, he dragged his feet across the forests to get to his castle in Krakalot. As he entered his wife’s bedroom, he sighed a deep sigh.

“W-w-wife, I have something for you,” stuttered Jack.
“Is it the magic water?” questioned Queen Zexel.
“Um, no, but this might help,” whispered King Jack as he fed a leaf to his wife.
His wife instantly fell asleep. That night, King Jack lay down on his bed all night, worrying about Queen Zexel. Finally, he closed his eyes and slept.

The next morning, Jack visited Queen Zexel. Queen Zexel was sitting up and grinned warmly when he came in.
“Wife, are you all right?” uneasily asked King Jack.
“Yes! The leaf you gave me certainly restored my health!” jauntily exclaimed the queen.
“Hooray!” cheered Jack.

After 1,000 years past, medicines were made. One medicine was called Tylenol, which healed many kinds of illnesses. Many people called this amazing and magical. But, this remedy all came from the leaves of the plants that King Jack spilled on. Even now, in the Hill of Doom there are plenty of plants that can be made into Tylenol.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Swoon!

I asked my students where he got his ideas. He told me that his father had just asked for some Tylenol before he started writing. Inspiration is everywhere!

Orange County Writing Faire

Earlier this year my students competed in the OC Technology Showcase event. They created digital stories and recorded their own voice to make their stories come to life. We did fairly well in that event (we won a 52" flat screen TV for our classroom!), and we were then invited to participate in the OC Writing Faire.

The students created new digital stories with their friends to submit. We used the application Voicethread to make our stories. This time, the kids had to make their own pictures and not ones from the Internet (copyright free). Some students recorded video, some drew photos by hand, and others created slides on PowerPoint. I was really impressed by their creativity.

The event was held today at the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) from 8-noon. I was really impressed by their generosity. Every student (even if they were not an author at the event) received a goody bag full of swag (pencils, stickers, blank books to make their own books, and a free book)! The guest speaker was Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, so the students got a brand-new hardcover copy of his book, What Color is My World? Plus the students were given a delicious pancake and sausage breakfast courtesy of the Kiwanis Club.

Over 1/3 of my kids showed up! We had so much fun. There were face painters, animals, booths with tons of freebies, authors, live entertainment, etc. I will definitely be participating in this event from now on.

Here are some pics from today's event:

Swag!

Sky Hook Shot!

21st Century Writing. I'm a bit too tall and I need sunglasses!

Colorful Rainbow Writings!

Love, love, love this project! You can do it for students in any grade-level. I have done it for 1st, 3rd, and 6th grade! The writing that they produce can be treasured for a lifetime. ;)

For both grade levels, I start by reading the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. I usually have the students close their eyes and visualize the objects in the poem. I have used other books as well, such as My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. I just do one color a day for the little ones, and move up to two for the upper grades (I always do red very slowly). We then brainstorm ideas for a certain color and write them on chart paper or now, on the SmartBoard. Be sure to save the file, as students will always ask to go back and review the ideas.

After brainstorming a variety of ideas, I usually reread the color poem again just in case we want to add more! For the writing, I do an "Is" poem. Red is...Orange is...etc. I give them a few examples first: "Red is a juicy red strawberry floating in my summer lemonade." I have them add in a prepositional phrase to make their sentences "stronger."

The students create about 6 sentences and record them down. The lower grades have a packet to keep them organized, while the upper graders just record in their writing composition books. I check the lower grade writing for errors and have them circle their favorites with the color crayon that matches. Not all the sentences will fit on their rainbow, but it is good to have extras.

When students finish they may begin making their rainbow. I created this crazy contraption to help the kids draw an evenly spaced rainbow out of 16 pencils and duct/masking tape. The little kids will need help, but it works fairly well. You'll need to fill in some missing lines. Just don't break a tip! It isn't easy to fix. You can make traditional rainbows or have them make any other pattern.

I make the rainbows on 12" by 18 in white construction paper. The kids will need to draw really dark, so it can be seen through the was paper. Make sure they also use the traditional colors (no sea green for green, etc.). I always add the wax paper....just stapled on. Any kind will do.

When the students get to writing on the wax paper, use pencil first. It will not show up very dark, which is fine. Tell them not to push too hard or they'll rip the paper. I have them put as many of their sentences they can fit. If they think they'll run out of room, they can shorten their sentence, and if they have a little room, I have them add a small sentence (Red is fiery.). At the end, they use a sharpie. I started adding their name in a pit of gold decorated with gold glitter in the past few years (top photo).

Some of my students have been really creative in their writings and have chosen themes. Here are a few:
Sports theme (red: Chicago Bulls, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Red Wings)
Birthstones/Gemstones (red: rubies, garnet orange: topaz, fire opal)
Childhood memories (Red: strawberry picking, blood (ouchies))
Animals: *difficult on blue, indigo, and violet, but used fish, whales, dolphins, and the color of the ocean at different depths....

Enjoy!

Character Ed "Bookmarks"

This is one of my favorite lessons to do, whether I am teaching 1st grade or 6th grade! It is easily adaptable and is a great way to teach about adjectives, character education, and bullying. I decided to create this lesson when my first graders were struggling at getting along with one another.

First, I have students brainstorm positive adjectives that describe others. I had the first graders brainstorm whole group on the SmartBoard, while my sixth graders worked in small groups, then shared aloud in teams. The upper graders quickly learned to grab a thesaurus and started coming up with incredible words.

After our discussion on positive adjectives, I give out a sheet of paper with everyone's name on it (with every name in a box, like flashcards). Students then write one positive adjective for each student, and I only let them use that adjective once! This makes the children really think about their peers and can't put "nice" for all the students.

When all students have finished writing a positive adjective for each friend, we cut them up and deliver to the students like Valentines (which I have done this lesson on Valentine's Day before). I give each child an envelope to put the word inside. In the end, the students will have 20-30 adjectives about them from their peers.

The upper graders then typed up their own "bookmark" in the computer lab with a partner (Used Microsoft Word. We formatted by using two columns (each partner used a column), placing name at the top, centered, then scrolled down 4 inches to leave a space for the photograph). The words in bold type mean that the student received that adjective more than once. For the littler kids, I enlisted some parent help to collect the envelopes and help the kids type them at a later time.

I like to add photos and laminate them so the students can go back and look at when they are having a rough day. We all need a reminder that people do see the best in us!