Birds and Kevin Henkes

We had so much fun with birds this week that I wanted to share it with you.

We read Birds, written by Kevin Henkes and illustrated by his wife, Laura Dronzek.

 

It is such a special book to read and share with children. Look at these pages!



If there are lots of birds in a tree, and they all fly away at the same time, it looks like the tree yelled,

 SURPRISE!



This page was maybe my favorite to share with the children. We talked about all different types of birds and the colors they may leave in the sky, if their feathers left marks. I had seen an idea from Ready, Set, Read with feather painting and feather patterning to go along with this story. I just loved the idea of feather painting!

I made this paper so that we could make our own feather paintings. I printed it on light blue for the sky color.  If you would like a copy, just click on the picture.

 I let the kids  use different feathers for yellow, blue, and red paint. 

These paint bricks worked really well. I just had to remind the kids to be a little careful "flying" over the words- so we could still read them.  

I  also made a bulletin board in the hall with some of our artwork. I had the children only paint the feather marks on the paper for the bulletin board, and then tell me which birds they chose to make the marks. 

As I called a couple children at a time up to paint , the other children worked on this Types of Birds Easy Reader from Debi Forsyth.  It is free at her TPT store.  

I made this little paper to go along with her book, to show the children what each bird really looked like, so they could use it as a guide as they colored their books.  If you would like a copy of my bird pictures, just click on the picture below.  

I actually saved the page as a picture, and printed it out as a 5x7 picture, just to save some ink.  Then, I cut each one in half (since there are two strips on each page) and stapled a strip right onto the cover of each child's book.

The books came out so sweet!

My post about Birds and Bird Nests has LOTS of other bird ideas you might like to use.

This is my  Bird and Bird Nest Prezi at my TPT store, if you would like that, too.  I used it to show the pictures of the birds we talked about before we made our books. The children loved choosing which birds they would pretend left marks in the sky. 

I also just updated my Author's Prezi and listed it at my TPT store.  I included Kevin Henkes because I LOVE him and his books.  I use so many of his books throughout the year. The children loved learning more about him- and seeing some of his work.  The other authors I have included in my Prezi are  Eric Carle, Theodor Geisel, David Shannon, Jan Brett, Laura Numeroff, Donald Crews, Shel Silverstein, Norman Bridwell, Robert Munsch, and  Mo Willems.

Thank you for stopping by!

Small Moments

When I introduce our Narrative Writing unit, I try to get my class to think about possible writing topics, like we all do.  I have tried to come up with some different ways to get my kids thinking about "small moments" from their lives that they want to choose as a topic for a story.

 

I show them a Lego house  that I made, and tell them that each day is like that completed house, but it is really made up of little pieces, just like the Lego house.  I  take some of it apart and say, "This piece was when I woke up this morning because the cat jumped on me. This piece was when I ate breakfast and spilled the juice all over the floor.  This piece was when I got dressed and chose to wear my lucky shirt..."   I explain how during the day, there are lots of things that happen that would make great stories.

 

Another day, to review "small moments,"  I bring in cookies- because you cannot go wrong with cookies.  Each child gets a cookie.  You guessed it- I tell them that everybody's life (or day) is like the whole cookie, but it is made up of special little moments which are like those special chocolate chips.  I have the children each  take out one special chocolate chip from their cookie, and while they do that, I tell them to think about a special moment in their life that might make a great story to share.  When I bake the cookies, I put in one mini Hershey kiss, so it is like a "big chip" that they take out. Almost everyone takes out that chip. There are always a few who dig out one of the other ones! It's fun to watch.  As they eat the cookie, they are supposed to be thinking of some of their own special small moments. We share some of the moments after we eat the cookies.

(These were actually SO good- I just bought Tops brand pre-made cookie dough, and the were great! Go figure!)

Then, we make an anchor chart to share which "small moment" each child might choose to write about for this story.  

 

Another fun visual for "small moments" is to show the children a Seurat painting.  He style of painting was pointillism (or 'dots' as we say...).  He is one of the artists we study in the class. "Seurat, Seurat, he painted with a dot,"  is how we remember him.  I show them some of his paintings from far away, then explain that his paintings are made of many, many small dots. Each little dot is very important for the whole picture, just like each small moment is very important for our whole day or life.

I also like to use The Important Book  by Margaret Wise Brown as a mini-lesson for "small moments."

 

I love to use this book for so many things. I also use it when we talk about how each child is special when they write about what is important about themselves.  For this mini-lesson, I use it to show that although many things happen in each person's life, there are some things that stand out and are really important to each person.  They  don't have to be big, huge, things, but important things to you. If it is important to you, it makes a great story to share.   I share some things with them that I remember about being little, like when my friend would come over to play and would walk to the store to buy Big Buddy bubblegum, and we would take forever trying to decide which flavor to buy.  I always loved orange-mint the best.Then we would walk home happily chewing our gum.  Or when I would go to my grandparent's house and we would cross-stitch, play Flinch, or play Bingo for little prizes. I loved when my grandmother made waffles for dinner right on the table with the waffle maker. When I went to bed I remember that I loved hearing the big trucks go by outside the bedroom window. 

 

Another great book to use to help the children get the idea of a "small moment" is Zoom by Istvan Banyai.  If you haven't seen the book, it is a picture story that keeps zooming out into a bigger and bigger view of a picture.  Here is a sample to give you an idea.  The kids love it. It is a great conversation starter for details and small moments.

 

 

We also read Shortcut by Donald Crews, because I always like this story for a "small moment" mentor text.  It is perfect for my kids' level and attention span. 

I made an Author Prezi and put together links for some of my favorite authors that we study during Writer's Workshop.  It has pictures of the authors, some links to interviews with the authors, and some videos of their work.  It is just handy to have it all in one place when I want to quickly show the kids a picture.  At the top are links to lots of wonderful author interviews and lists of good mentor texts. Click on the picture below if you would like to have it!

 

This is a special "small moment"- in a different sort of way.  Since I have been working on my narrative writing unit, looking up some good mentor texts for small moments,  it made me think of some even more important "small moments" in teaching.

 



 I was talking with one of my sweet, sweet former students who now has two precious little girls of her own. She was one of those sweeties who never demanded any attention at all, but because of that was the type I loved making sure got the attention she really deserved. I think I am extra sensitive to the quite ones who could easily be overlooked because they are just doing the right thing and don't "need" constant reminders or redirection. I want them to know that I appreciate them, and they do deserve to be noticed for that.

She and I were talking the other day on facebook, and she said that what she remembered about Kindergarten was one particular day when I was talking to the class about being good listeners, and she happened to notice the word "boo" on the wall.  She said that she looked at it, and realized at that moment that she could spell "boot" by adding a "t" to the end of "boo!"  That was over 25 years ago.

I told her that I hoped and prayed that I had been excited and happy for her wonderful learning moment- and hadn't said, "We aren't talking about that right now, we are talking about being good listeners!"  She assured me that I was happy for her, and luckily she has that moment as a really happy memory.  (Thank GOODNESS!  Otherwise this post might have been labeled "sad moments!)

That story, once again, made me realize that children remember MOMENTS.  Not necessarily the moments we plan and prepare for them to remember, or spend money on, or hype up-  but just moments.  We never know which ones. (Cause I remember some "moments" from my school career that weren't so great!) I am always praying that I remember that and give each child happy, wonderful moments to remember- with excitement, joy, soft, kind answers, and lots of love.

Have a great night!

Five for Friday- September 6th!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! 

First three days of school... Always the longest shortest week.  My class is sweet and excited- a perfect combination.  Here is a sample of what I have in store this year. This conversation happened at 9:03 on the first day of school.  "When I say your name I want to call you Christmas Kisloski."  (Which, by the way, does sound a lot like 'Mrs. Kisloski' I did realize.)  So I said, "Oh- well, just don't call me Santa Claus!" To which she replied, "Could I call you Mrs. Claus?"  

The day ended when we were sharing some of our first day favorites, and another little girl said, "I was SO excited for this, I woked up at 20!"  (I think I woked up at 20, too, and never went back to sleep!)  So sweet!

Today another little girl came into the room and said, "It is SO good to be back here!"  So- we are off to a good start, I think. 

Here are my FAVORITE FIVE for the week!

I was so honored that the WONDERFUL Debbie Clement asked me to post at her Pre-K + K Sharing Blog. Please stop by if you can and leave me a comment!  :)

I will be posting on the 6th of the month. My first post is sort of a random sampling of my favorites. It worked out well, because my brain has been going in a million directions this week trying to remember to say this and not forget to do that- very random.  You know how it is!  I will start next month with some different topics. 

Debbie has a new Pattern Song that is so much fun! I can't wait to use it with my new class!

Here is her post about Patterning. You can get the song here, too.  We cannot figure out why Patterning is not in the Common Core Standards.  It is so important. Remember when it was such a great base skill for Algebra?  What happened to that?  How about those A and B Level books which are ... patterns! Anyway, I love my patterns.  I do. I do. I do. 

Speaking of Common Core leads me to ...

I am not exactly sure what CCSS it is where a student finally realizes that he will NOT be flushed by the automatic toilet flushers,

but, let me just say that as of today- day 3- we are all on board as a success with that one.  It was touch and go for those first two days, but with lots of coaxing, encouraging, and persuading- it's a done deal.  There was only one little guy who was pretty sure he was going down, but this got a spot on my five because it seemed to consume quite a bit of my beginning school routine!

I started introducing some Whole Brain Teaching yesterday.  They LOVE "Class, Yes."  Love it.  I posted about WBT here.  Here is my Prezi I made about the WBT Class Rules and explanations of each from Chris Biffle. The videos on the bottom are some of my favorite samples of teachers using WBT in their classrooms. 

 My rules are similar- but not exactly like these.  The ones I use in my class are

1.  Follow directions quickly.

2.  Raise your hand for permission to speak.

3. Make smart choices.

4.  Hands in your lap. Eyes on your teacher.

5.  Be safe, be kind, be honest

Then- I just have a big smile face on the end of the poster with no writing. I tell the kids that is 'Secret Six'- Make your dear teacher happy!  They love that it is 'secret.'

(This picture is a little disturbing- yeah- ...but I am leaving it just because- it's a 4.)

Next week we start our color weeks! We review a color each day for two weeks.  We do activities with each color, learn the words, and take class pictures for our Color Books.



I got out my Ten Black Dots book and wondered if when  Donald Crews wrote the book, he had any idea we would be so into tens frames?

 I made a bundle of  Kindergarten Math Common Core Prezi Bundle which includes  the best links and videos I found for each of the 22 CCSS for K Math.  (Actually 25 because there are 3- sub standards.) OK- that doesn't sound right calling them "sub standards." But-

One activity I did for 10 Black Dots was hot-gluing  magnets to the back of  ten black pompoms so we can use them on the magnetic white board to show ten.  I will probably work mostly with five of the dots since it is so early in the year.

I will also use the dots on the whiteboard to show how I can turn the dots into different things by adding details to them- like four for the wheels of a truck, two for eyes of a ghost, one for a spider in a web, six dots on a ladybug...  This is the activity I have the children do after we read the story. I have all sizes of black dots cut out of construction paper so the children can chose how many and what size they want to use- and then create whatever they want.  

Donald Crews is one of my featured authors on my Author Prezi at my TPT store.  I love his books. They are so good for teaching so many literacy concepts. 

He is also featured in my Writing Prompts and QR Codes for Authors packet!  I love this packet. There are over 100 books by 8 featured authors.  I use it the prompts and QR codes all. the. time!

 My Author Prezi is part of this packet, too!

The last thing I am going to do with my 10 Black Dots is to use mini oreos on a tens frame  as my 10 black dots.  Again, I may just use five- since we are really going to be working with five at this point in the year. 

The last thing I have to share is my "I can" interactive writing chart that we did.  This was about all we accomplished writing so far... We have some work to do on letter formation, but I always love the idea of this.

 I also make these very non-technical- homemade things for my kids to practice their ID numbers.  Each of our students need to punch in their own ID number when they buy lunch or log into the computers.  SO- it is important that they know their numbers ASAP.  I make these because they look just like the little pad that they use in the cafeteria when they buy their lunch.  After morning work, they practice saying and punching in their numbers  on this fabulous cardstock replica.   Just so you know- my class was the ONLY one who had children know their numbers at lunch today- so... it worked.  :)    Already!  They are five digit numbers- not easy to remember!

Have a wonderful weekend!  I am going to sleep so well....  How about you?!