Small Moment Treasures

The books I am using next for Writer's Workshop are all about treasure.

These books help the children think about what  things they treasure in their lives. I thought this fit in well for Thanksgiving, too.  Treasures don't have to be big  to be treasures.  That is the exciting part.  Sometimes small moments and memories are the most special treasures.  Thinking of ideas for stories is still tricky for some of my kids, so having them think of a special thing or time that they 'treasure' is another way to help them think of ideas.


What a Treasure by Jane Hillenbrand and Treasures of the Heart by Alice Ann Miller are very sweet books, about 'treasure' being what is most important to you.



Will Hillenbrand, who wrote What a Treasure, has a great website.  He has a  matching card game, sequencing game, and literary activities to go with this book FREE at his website!

 Alice Ann Miller helps the children think about the special things they treasure.

Poetic author Alice Ann Miller brings sentiment and importance to the treasures a child holds dear as he ever so cautiously shares them with his mother: "It's buried deep and very safe. I have it in my special place. Come along, it's through this door." Combining perspective with intricate detail and fanciful style, artist Kate Darnell allows us to envision our own treasures and to experience sharing them with those we love: "A yellow sock, my lucky rock...my favorite car, my cricket jar."

Another good book is The Treasure by Uri Shulevitz.

Here is a synopsis of the book:
Three times a voice comes to Isaac in his dreams and tells him to go to the capital city and look for a treasure under the bridge by the royal palace. Feeling a little foolish perhaps, but determined to see for himself if the dream is true, Isaac sets out on his long journey. What he finds makes a surprising and heart-warming ending to this retelling of a well-known folk tale. In a few words, Cadelcott Medal winner Uri Shulevitz draws a man who is innocent enough to have faith in a dream, and wise enough to understand the greatest reward of all.





 

 

These books would work really well when I do  My Favorite Things unit.  You can read what I do in this post.  I have each child bring in their favorite thing to write about, and we learn and LOVE the song.  We also watch version after version of the song on my Prezi. 

 

 

 

If you would like the Prezi, it is free at my TPT store.  We have a ball with it. I think I will revisit the books during this unit.  Maybe next year I will work it out so we do this all at the same time, but sometimes it is fun to go back and reread some favorite books.  

 

After we read our treasure books, it's perfect time to send home this Shape Treasure Hunt that the children complete at home and bring back. It's a great way to get the parents involved, and to let parents know the shapes we are learning in class. If you would like a copy of it, just click on the picture below!

I have little prizes for the kids when they finish. I have gotten shape books from the Dollar Store, or a bag of different shaped prizes- like a sphere super ball, cylinder of Smarties, a rectangular pad of paper... 

Of course it is also a great time to get out treasure (aka rocks spray painted gold) at Free Choice!

A Special Kind of Class has some cute Pirate Math Work Stations that would be a great tie in with all this talk about treasures.

 

 

And the kids go on a Treasure Hunt for words in the classroom for Write Around the Room.

 

I  wrote Sight Words on these precious cards from JK Curriculum Connection's Pirate Game.  It is FREE at TPT and adorable!

 

Fredia Shumway  has some cute treasure chest sight word cards  FREE at her TPT store!

 

Finally, this was part of my devotion the other day- from my favorite devotional, Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young.  It was too perfect for this post- and also a great reminder for me to look for and "collect" all of those treasures throughout the day!

As you go through this day, look for tiny treasures strategically placed along the way.  I lovingly go before you and plant little pleasures to brighten your day.  Look carefully for them, and pluck them one by one.  When you reach the end of the day, you will have gathered a lovely bouquet.  Offer it up to Me with a grateful heart.  Receive My Peace as you lie down to sleep, with thankful thoughts laying a lullaby in your mind.

Have a wonderful day!  Thank you for stopping by!

 

 

Five for Friday November 15th

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you, Kacey!

First of all, THIS was the view off our deck on Tuesday morning.  Boo.  When did this happen?!  I am not ready!  I am also not ready for it being dark before five.  

BRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I taught the children what a cornucopia was this week.  I decided to have them try to hear the sounds in the food they saw inside the cornucopia.  I loved hearing all of the words being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out!  They really tried hard, and I think they are doing well for this time of year. 



Just so you don't think they're all ready to skip a grade... yes- he used some '8's' in 'banana.'  



Tomorrow's words are ...   

They'll love them.

 

A while ago, I was asking for ideas for 'small moment' stories to use for my Narrative Writing Unit.   Kathy Griffin told me about the book  Every Friday, by Dan Yaccarino- and I love it. 

The author's story about why he wrote the book may be my favorite part because it is truly a real life small moment:

I guess the Friday breakfasts came about because like most dads, I sometimes didn't feel like I saw my son enough. Some weeks, our Friday breakfasts were the only time he and I had to talk or just share some time together.

I look back on when we started what became our little tradition. He was in preschool and had to start sharing his mom and dad with a new little sister. I wanted him to have some time when he didn't have to put up with a crying baby who yanked his ears, which he patiently tolerated. He and I soon looked forward to Fridays and the diner's owner, Nick, as well as a variety of regulars, warmly greeting us. To their continued astonishment, he consumed an entire adult-size order of pancakes and a side of bacon, of which I was very proud. I have fond memories of us watching people trudging through the snow and rain as he and I were cozily nestled in a booth, a little oasis from the outside world. As much as we loved Nick’s Diner, I think we both preferred the small journey we took each week to get there. It may have been a mere four blocks, but it was full of adventure: greeting familiar faces, window shopping and monitoring the progress of a building on the corner going up story by story.

My other favorite new book is Ralph Tells a Story.  It is PERFECT for writer's workshop.  Maybe everyone already knows about it, but if you don't, it is a winner!  The kids loved it.  They completely related to  the story, and the illustrations are adorable- with lots of speech bubbles and lots of fun.  Hey, it mentions "underwear" twice, so...  it doesn't get much better when you are five.

Nothing ever happens to Ralph. So every day when it’s time to write stories, Ralph thinks really hard. He stares at his paper. He stares at the ceiling. But he has no stories! With the help of his classmates, Ralph realizes that a great story can be about something very little . . . and that maybe he really does have some stories to tell. Debut author/illustrator Abby Hanlon’s endearing text and charming watercolor and colored pencil illustrations prove that writing can be fun! This story works nicely with Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop model of teaching.

Look at some of the illustrations:                 

                                                                           (I love this teacher! :)

I also found some other good books that I liked about treasures.  What a Treasure by Jane Hillenbrand and Treasures of the Heart by Alice Ann Miller are very sweet books, about 'treasure' being what is most important to you.  I thought this tied in really well with  choosing writing topics, because even though something may seem like a small thing, if it is important to the writer, it makes a good story.  So- because Amazon totally has my number   knew I was a total sucker for children's books was concerned that I got all the books I needed, they  thought that I may ALSO LIKE The Treasure by Uri Shulevitz.  I didn't want to hurt Amazon's feelings, so that is on its way. It looks really sweet, too. They are good, those Amazon people.

 

We kept practicing our Thanksgiving Story this week to go with our bracelet.  We are making  our bracelets next week, and I really want the children to know the story well.

As we move each bead, we tell part of the story.

The Pilgrims left England because they wanted freedom to worship God as they wanted. (1st green)

They left England on a ship called the Mayflower. ( white bead)

It was a very long trip across the ocean. (I say a word for each of the 3 blue beads: very. long. trip.)

Finally, they saw land! (green bead) (The kids love to say "LAND HO!")

They landed at Plymouth Rock. ( gray bead)

When they landed it was Winter. (I say a word for each of the 3 white beads: very. long. Winter.)

Finally Spring came! (light green bead)

They met Squanto, a Native American who helped them learn to hunt and plant. (Light brown bead)

To thank the Native Americans, the Pilgrims had a feast for everyone including:

cranberries (red bead), corn (yellow bead), turkey (brown bead), and pumpkin pie (orange bead).

We read lots of books and watched some videos.  The books I am proud to say I used are:

The other resources I used were great, too- not as "scholarly", but the kids really learned the story and loved them. I'm proud that they learned from them- how's that?

Don't forget this "documentary" told from Plymouth Rock's viewpoint...

If you would like a copy of the paper I send home with their bracelets, just click on the picture.

It's ok that one boy still says the Pilgrims came over on the Cauliflower, right?  He'll get it... The bead is even white, which adds to the confusion.  Oh gee.

Just because I loved this- and it is so true.  

Have a wonderful weekend!



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!