Thursday, December 19, 2013

Wreaths, Trees and Reindeer!









Penguin Books

The children put their penguin books together today, complete with a dedication page and a table of contents.  Their writing has improved so much over the past couple of weeks.  Some were writing multiple pages this week (super wowed and proud)!  They used a 'key words' frame to help organize and focus their writing on one topic.  Today, we revisited the 'what we already know' and 'what we wonder' charts from the first day of our penguin study.   Some of the statements were incorrect, which the students were quick to identify.  They were also able to answer many of the questions they had asked.

 


 

  




Sunday, December 15, 2013

Over and Under the Snow

Over and Under the Snow, by Kate Messner is a stunning winter book.  Over the snow the world is hushed and white but under the snow, a secret kingdom exists where squirrels, bullfrogs, deer mice and queen bees live through winter safe and warm.  A beautifully illustrated and magical book revealing the wonder and activity beneath the snow.

 




Students created their own snow covered winter woodlands, complete with towering trees in shades of green, splattered in snow white paint.  The trees were glued purposely, sparingly to give the woods perspective and dimension.  Here is a sneak peek at a few finished winter wonderlands.

Folding, drawing and cutting trees!
Assembling the trees and splatter time!


Stranger in the Woods

On Friday, we read Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick.  The animals in the story are curious as to who the stranger in the woods might be.  When the bravest of animals decide to take a closer look they realize the stranger, a snowman, comes baring gifts.  The wildlife photography is beautiful and the tale, charming.  


The children in the story hide and watch as the animals enjoy the treats they've left for them.  We made bird feeders by following a recipe with a few simple ingredients.  They were drying over the weekend and will hopefully make their way home tomorrow to be hung for the birds to enjoy.




 



Books for ME

Each month the class looks forward to a visit from Books for Me.  They love choosing their very own book to bring home with them to add to their growing home libraries.  This month, winter and non-ficiton books were both popular choices.  Some find the perfect book right away and others scour the tubs patiently searching for just the right one.  By the end of our fifteen minutes, every child has printed their name inside a book to call their own.




    

Penguins

The class has spent the month of December learning about penguins.  Also, about non-fiction text features and writing informational text.  The students are in the process of writing their own books on penguins.  We started our first lesson on penguins with a book pass.  Students had an opportunity to have a quick look at a variety of books on penguins.  To begin the activity, students are seated in a circle and each start with one book.  When the teacher says pass, about 30 seconds later, everyone passes their book clockwise and has another 30 seconds to flip through another book.  After looking at many books we stop and sort the books in groups:  fiction and non-fiction.  One of the books seemed to fit both categories so the class decided to overlap the two hoola-hoops to create a Venn diagram.  The overlapping section represented 'both'.  We also spent time discussing and recording non-fiction text features such as diagrams, photographs, captions, sidebars, maps, table of contents and bold faced words.  They were very observant!
 

Next, in small groups, they recorded what they already knew about penguins and what they wondered. They came up with some excellent questions.  We'll refer back to their questions at the end of the unit to see what they learned.



They have drawn diagrams and written about their appearance, habitat and diet.  We're practicing writing the facts while making it interesting for our audience (you, the reader).






We have been keeping our work in folders, which will become our book covers.  We used New York illustrator, Nancy Wolff's images of penguins for inspiration on our title pages.  Her work has appeared on virtually every imaginable surface like gift wrap, rugs, stationary, fabric and books.   We will be wrapping up our penguin unit this week and the finished books will make their way home.