The kiddos are FINALLY getting into a routine of what our everyday procedures are, we are mastering Praise Friday songs and their actions (St. Paul readers, you know what I'm talking about!), and they're constantly making me chuckle.
Here's a glimpse at how we started our school year!
Anyone who took education classes with me, or just knows me well, knows how much I LOVE Mo Willems and his pigeon. Sooooooo, naturally, the students are greeted with this on our door everyday!
Because our school year started with two half days, we devoted the second half day to Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
But first, we rocked out with Pete the Cat and his school shoes! The book is great, but to get the full effect, you HAVE to accompany the story with its CD. (Click here to preview!)
After we read the story, the students had to think about what they like to do in their school shoes.
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| I am "decorating" in my school shoes! |
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| I am "running" in my school shoes! |
We then compiled these pages into a class book - complete with a reading pointer! This book is a HOT item in the reading center. I even had to take it away for a few days...
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| The library pocket is taped to the inside of the front cover. (I have to give credit to my mom for giving me this idea!) |
On our second half day, pictures of Pete the Cat randomly appeared all over the school! So, the two first grade classes went on a Pete the Cat hunt looking for these images. (Once again, I have to give credit to my mom! She really should have her own blog...she would TAKE OVER Pinterest with her ideas. But, her pre-schoolers have a "Clifford Day" and they follow Clifford prints all over the school to get to know the lay of the land.)
Pete was taped to the library, office, bathroom, water fountain, the basket we turn papers into, etc.
We decided that anywhere we saw a Pete the Cat, it must mean there was a special rule associated with it. Whenever we saw the picture of Pete, we stopped and brainstormed together some important rules. We ended in the gym where I was surprised with cupcakes and students singing "Happy Birthday" to me! (Thanks, Shaunna!!)
Then, we moved onto the ever-so-sassy pigeon!
We read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. I started by asking if they noticed anything special about the cover. This lead to a discussion on the Caldecott Medal and what it means. Right away they started critiquing (positively!) Mo Willem's illustrations. They came up with several fantastic reasons why they thought this book won the prestigious Caldecott Honor. I was so excited that they were beginning to love the pigeon as much as I do and it was only day two!
The students then had to decide if they would let the pigeon come to first grade. Not only was it a fun topic for them, but it also served as a writing sample for their portfolio. Their answers were pretty creative!
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| "No because he berbe." ...TRANSLATION... No because he is DIRTY. (We are working on our b's and d's!) |
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| "Yes, because I kan floy on hr bak." |
Then, we graphed our answers.
I will leave you on a comical note... I couldn't resist posting this....
During the first week of school, we gave a pretest in spelling.
They were suppose to spell the word type...
They've always got me laughing!
Here are the pages for the Pete the Cat book or the Pigeon project!
(Regular primary paper with room to draw a picture would work just as well!)
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