Women's History

     To celebrate Women's History Month last year I came up with a project that gave my first graders a small introduction to important women.  The librarian at my school was very helpful and together we made it a across curricular unit.  Each class I gave the kids a brief intro on a different woman.  They filled out a Famous Women form I created and drew a picture of that woman.  I also had them do a small project or craft to go with each woman.   

     They learned about 8 different women and then had to pick one to write a short report on.  Our librarian helped them research their chosen woman a little more and pick the facts they found most important.  Once they had written their rough drafts and gone through the editing process they got the all clear to type it up on Pixie.  They then had to draw a picture to go with their writing.  We used Anmoto to turn all their slides into a video and presented it to the kindergarten.  Our art teacher helped them come up with a design to make a bottle person to match the woman they picked. 

You can see the video below. 

As I teach each woman this year I will post my plans and the activity we do, just in case anyone is interested.  

February Fun

Does anyone else think February is too short for all the stuff we need to cover in 1st grade?!  I mean really Ground Hog Day, 100th Day, Valentine's Day, Presidents Day and Black History Month?!?!?  In 29 days?  Of which we are really only in school maybe 20?  We have a 4 day weekend this year around Presidents Day so I have even less time!  Thought I would post a bit of what we have been up to what I plan to get to and what might get left behind or pushed into March.
     First off, my door--- each month we decorate our doors and post kids pictures.  I am not sure who came up with this but Mrs. Cap taught me my first year and I really enjoy it.  This time I decide to incorporate Catholic Schools Week, Snow and Valentine's Day.  I think it turned out pretty cute but I might tweak it for next year...

     We celebrated Ground Hog Day with Jennifer's Ground Hog Freebie and a short video on the Phil. We also read a story from Treasures.  

For centers and Valentine theme units I decided on these:

• Abby's Valentine's Day Mini Unit
• Lindsey's Valentine's Day Unit 
• Cara's Love Splat Unit
• Abby's Sweetheart Snatcher Activity
• Abby's Candy Caper Game

Part of my to do list this weekend is to figure out what I am taking from each and get a list of materials together.  I have all these units sitting next to my computer as we speak.  If I have time I would love to make Jennifer's Valentine Friend as well.   

Up next the 100th Day of School celebration which for us is this Tuesday.  As you can see from the picture below I will be basing everything off of The Wolf's Chicken Stew.  I was lucky to find a copy at the library and am using Michelle Oakes' unit along with a few other things I found on Pinterest.  I am making these for the kindergarten-1st teachers at school tonight.

At our school kindergarten and first graders bring in a 100 Days project.  It is supposed to be something that either has 100 items or says 100.  Last year AJ made the number 100 out of 100 100 Grand Chocolate bars.  Can I just say it was soooo yummy!  Gish thought up that project last year so it was up to me to think up this years.  Though last years wasn't super crafty I felt the pressure to come up with something good.  Gish takes pride in telling me his project made all the teachers happy once it was over because we got to eat them all.  I have this competitive side to me that had to find something good so he would be quiet.  Sad but true I do battle him out on little things.  

I had seen a wiggly eye t-shirt on Pinterest and asked AJ if she would be down for making a monster on canvas.  We looked at a whole bunch of friendly monsters online and then she told me what she wanted hers to look like.  I sketched it on canvas and had her paint it in the colors she liked.  I outlined some parts for her and then we let it dry.  The next evening we counted out 100 wiggly eyes, grouped them into 10's and then started sticking them on.  I was scared they wouldn't all fit but they did.  I think it turned out really cute.  She named her monster Hundy and can't wait to take it to school.  

Social Studies is where I am having trouble..  For Black History Month I plan to teach about Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks.  I would love to get more in but haven't found much on this topic.  I am hoping to get to Presidents Day and use Rachelle's packet but how do I get all this in and finish our mapping unit, when we only meet 2x's a week?!  

Instead of a brownie pan this month my class will be trying to fill a box of chocolates.  I painted the inside of a canvas red and added black stripes.  Then I put little mini muffin liners inside to place chocolates in.  I will post a picture as soon as I can.  

The thing I am still debating in Mardi Gras.  So does anyone else think February should be just a bit longer or not have as much going on???

Martin Luther King Jr.

     I teach social studies to both first grades at HR and have come to realize that there are not a lot of fun resources or ideas out there.  So in hopes of helping any other social studies teachers out will post pictures and links of anything we do.  For MLK Day read Martin's Big Words and showed parts of his I have  dream speech.  We also discussed segregation and touched briefly on Rosa Parks.  I then had the kids color a school bus and put people of all colors in the windows in random order.  My kids made the picture of Martin that Cara showed on her blog.  Lastly they wrote about their dreams for their family, school and world.  I picked one and had them write in on this paper from Classroom Freebies.  

     I have to be honest and tell you all that this years lesson was a bit harder because my own sweet AJ is in the other first grade and I couldn't really use my normal example of "if things were still the same I couldn't be your teacher".  I have always found it hard to explain to sweet innocent faces that in our countries past people were not as accepting, but this year to have to look at my little girl and tell her that she wouldn't have been allowed to do many things she enjoys so much was even harder.  Thankfully, as has happened every year since I started at HR, the kids think it ridiculous pretty silly.  This year I have decided to make Black History Month more about celebrating African American accomplishments than history.  I still plan to talk about Ruby Bridges because its one of my favorite stories and think it is the perfect example of someone living Jesus's teachings, I mean really she stopped and prayed for all those people screaming at her!  Anyone else have good social studies ideas/lessons?