Apples Week

Wow, I now know why so many teacher blogs tend to disappear! With all the work of actually running a classroom, it is hard to find time to blog! I've been working sun up to sun down every single day, and still don't quite feel like I have a handle on things. But at least it is getting better... we're falling into some sort of a routine.

I like to do weekly themes, and during the first week of school I asked the kids to give me some ideas for future themes. But for the sake of being able to plan a little bit in advance, I had already chosen the first two themes. Last week we did Pete the Cat, and this week we did apples. Last week I was so rushed that I forgot to take any pictures and I barely even remember what we did. But this week was a little better, and I did get some pics to share.

Lets see... first of all, the ever important sensory bin. This week I poured in uncooked oatmeal, and added some apple pie spice to make it smell like apple pie! I had also bought these little apple erasers to use for a math game, and I added the extras to the sensory bin, Many of the kids love it! They get five minutes of free time at the end of our groups, and many of them choose to play with the sensory box.

For one of my math groups that is working on identifying numbers, I made a game called "Wormy Apple." It is played just like the game "Old Maid," but with a worm instead of an Old Maid. In case you've never played, players take turns blindly choosing a card from the hand of the person next to them, in hopes of getting a card that makes a match with one they already have. If they get a match, they set it aside. The Wormy Apple will exchange hands many times, and while the "winner" is the one who gets rid of all of their cards first, the good sport is the person who is left with the Wormy Apple when all of the other cards are gone. I made this with construction paper, but I might make a version for TPT if I get a minute. 

For my writing groups, I brought in a few actual apples, I made categories for each of the five senses on the white board. We went through and brainstormed words to describe the apples by sight, touch, sound, smell, and, finally, taste! This was harder than it sounds. They have a lot of trouble coming up with adjectives. Of course they all started off by saying "red" for the sight category, but then they couldn't get off the idea of color and kept naming random colors, such as blue. I had to really try to get them to look more closely at the apple. I was also trying to get them to veer away from using words like "good" as adjectives. But really, coming up with unique words to describe an apple is pretty tricky! Try it... we had a lot of trouble coming up with more than two or three words for each category.

Their favorite part of that activity was eating the slices of apples. Especially the golden apple, which they were convinced would give them extra energy. I think this is connected to Minecraft or something.

They then each chose a word from each category to describe the apple. We glued them onto apple shapes. At least they're supposed to look like apples. Some of the kids told me they didn't.

(This one says: My apple looks red. My apple feels light. My apple sounds loud. My apple smells flowery. My apple tastes sweet.)

On Fridays we always do a cooking project (and by always, I mean for the last two weeks, since that is how long we've been in school!) Last week we made Pete The Cat's Banana Pudding to go with the book Pete The Cat And The Bad Banana. It was basically just layering Nilla Wafers, vanilla pudding and banana slices in a cup, with a dollop of whip cream on top. This week we made mini apple pies. I found some packages of tiny graham cracker pie crusts at Safeway. The recipe was so simple, it was almost too quick... we just added a few scoops of apple pie filling to our pie crusts, sprinkled on some cinnamon and apple pie spice, and added our dollop of whip cream. (I enjoyed teaching them the word "dollop," because they like to add their own whip cream, and I didn't want them going crazy with it. I'm not sure dollop is an official unit of measurement, but it is a fun word, isn't it?)

Lets see... what else did we do?

I printed out this game from Kaylee's Education Studio. This is a game where you draw a card with an addition problem on it, and cover the answer on your worksheet. I colored the worksheets because I am a nerd like that, and I laminated them because I learned how to use the laminating machine and now I just need to laminate stuff all the time. We used the little erasers to cover our answers. I was actually afraid this game would go by too quickly for my short-attention-spanned math group. But it actually took us three days to play. THREE DAYS! Granted, each group session is just a half hour long, plus they always get there late and by the time I get them settled down we only have about twenty minutes left. But still... for three days, my math boys practiced addition happily. The reason we continued the game for three days is because they wanted to... they couldn't bear to leave the game unfinished. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're still not finished and we have to play it for at least ten minutes on Monday. 

With my 3td grade reading group, we read the book Apples, by Gail Gibbons. I love Gail Gibbons's books. They are so colorful and present such interesting information. Before reading it, we started a KWL chart, and then as we read we stopped so the kids could tell me facts they'd learned from each page. After we finished the book, I copied each fact down on a sentence strip. We sorted the strips into three categories: history, trees, and apples. I put magnet tape on the backs of the strips, so we could arrange them on the board in a sensible order. Then, for the next few days, the kids worked on copying the sentences and illustrating them. It was a lot of hard work for them, and I heard a lot of groans and grumbles, so I want them to see that their work created something pretty cool! 

Okay. I'm exhausted. I need to sleep. 

KABOOM! Game Variation

Hi everyone! Planning reading, writing and math lessons for six different groups with varying skill levels is a challenge. I like to have activities that engage the kids and let them have fun while learning and practicing, but sometimes all that thinking and making things is exhausting! Here is a game I sort of made up. It is actually a variation of the KABOOM! game that many teachers have used before (also sometimes known as BANG! and other loud noises)

The original KABOOM game goes like this: There are a bunch of craft sticks in a can. On most of the sticks, a number, letter, sight word, math problem, etc (whatever you want the students to practice) is written on the end of the stick that is at the bottom of the can and can't be seen. On a few of the sticks, the word KABOOM! is written, but also can't be seen. Without seeing what is on the sticks, players take turns drawing a stick. If they can say the letter or number, read the word, solve the problem, etc, they keep the stick. But if they get a KABOOM stick, they have to put back all of the sticks they've collected so far!

I actually first invented a variation of KABOOM while working with a first grader who would have gotten very upset and possibly violent if he had to put all his craft sticks back in the cup when he got a KABOOM stick. In my variation, the KABOOM sticks also say either -1, -2, -3, or -4, and that is how many sticks the player must put back if he draws the stick.

More recently, I added some more variations for some of my math groups.
For my first graders who are practicing number identification, tall players draw at the same time, and whoever has the highest number gets to keep all of the sticks... but if a player has KABOOM, he has to put back some of his sticks instead.

For my first graders who are starting addition, each player draws two sticks, and add the two numbers together, Whichever player has the highest sum gets all the sticks. Again, if a player has KABOOM, he has to put back some of his sticks. To help the kids who are struggling with addition, I added dots on the other side of the stick, so that they can count if they have to.

Just wanted to share that with you, in case anyone is looking for a last minute activity to throw together for a group!

A Sea Of White

As the first week of school comes to an end, here is something interesting to think about.
In the past, I have usually worked in school districts in low-income communities. The school I worked at in the state where I'm from had probably 75% of their students on free breakfasts and lunches. I've also had a lot of experience working with children who have been through trauma. So, when I first got hired, I asked the principal if the school had many children who were dealing with trauma.

The principal shook his head. He told me, "On the first day of school, what you will see is a sea of white. We are a very high income community."

I silently noted that I had not asked about race or income, but I didn't ask any more questions

Now that I've started getting familiar with the children on my caseload, I've heard about...

Three siblings who come to school dirty, tired and hungry each day and are often too listless to participate in class.
A student who comes to school tired because his family lost their home and he's been sleeping on the floor of his parents' friend's living room.
Two separate students who have witnessed domestic violence in their families.
Several students who are either in foster care or living with relatives because of a parent's drug addiction.
Several students who were adopted and experienced significant trauma as young children before their adoption.

The lesson I've seen here is that it may be easy to look into a "sea of white" and assume that every child there comes from a privileged background. But we really have no idea what any kid experiences once the school day ended, or what they went through before they came to us. One of my goals is to learn more about trauma sensitive teaching, so that I can be prepared to help any of my students who may have gone through these types of things.

What do you do in your classroom to help students who've experienced poverty, abuse, or other trauma?