We finished our ZooPals Animal Reports today! These are my favorite reports to write because my kids do ALL of the work and they are so proud when they are finished. 

 Let me tell you there was a lot of training involved. We spent a week writing an animal report together our the desert tortoise. Click here to read all about it.

Here is a outline of how our Animal Reports went:

DAY 1

I made groups with 2-3 kids per group, I tried to mix ability levels so the groups would be more successful. To determine which animal each group got, we used these "Grow Capsules" that I found in the dollar bins at Target! 

(I gave one capsule to each group)

 Simply place the capsule in hot water and watch as the magic begins! 

(We only have access to cold water in our classroom so it took slightly longer for the magic to begin, but they kids were mesmerized and SILENT as they were watching and waiting...AHHH quiet time) 

Then...

So cute right?!

Then we wrote our planning page for our animal report. We did this whole group and students just changed the animal name to fit their report.

Page 1: What a __ looks like

Page 2: What a ___ eats

Page 3: Where a ___ lives

Page 4: Cool facts about ____.

DAY 2

Let the research begin! We began whole-group by reviewing the topic we choose on our planning sheet.

Each group was given 2 non-fiction books about their animal. They had to work together to write 3 facts about what their animal looks like. They did an amazing job of working together! 

Here is a sample of what the lion group wrote for page 1 (What a lion looks like)

DAYS 3 - 5

Research and writing days. Each day we began by reviewing the topic on the planning sheet and the kids got to work scouring their books for facts that fit the topic. 

 

 DAY 6

We spent day 6 editing and revising our reports. I met with each group that day to read and help them revise their reports. 

Day 7

Publishing and Presenting! 

I am a techie teacher and I try to get my students really excited about using technology. We went to the computer lab and typed our reports. It took a little time but the kids were so proud of themselves!

(WARNING: THIS IS NOT OUR FIRST TIME TYPING and this may set you over the edge if you don't have helpers). Having students work in their groups to type is also a great way to publish these reports. 

To be sure kids are engaged during their peers presentations, I have created a little Wild About Animal Reports Book that students complete while their peers are presenting. This just revised my ZooPals Packet on TpT to include this book. Please re-download if you already own this packet.  

The kids were little animal experts reporting their information to the class. It was AWESOME! Click on the picture below to get this packet! 

2014 Update: We took our projects one step further this year and created a large diagram for each animal. Here is the diagram and report that the giraffe, cheetah and elephant groups created. LOVE!  

Give the EARTH a Helping Hand!

Have you read this book?!

I LOVE Todd Parr! His books are incredible! This is one of my all time favorite books for Earth Day. In this book, Todd writes about some of the small things that we can do to make a big difference for our EARTH. 

His kid-friendly language and art is so engaging to first grade students. One of the pages in the book says:

 "I remember to turn off the lights and shut the refrigerator to save energy because....I love the polar bears and I want the snowmen to stay cool."

We had an amazing discussion about global warming today in our first grade class! 

WOW, thank you Todd Parr! 

After reading the book, I challenged the kids to give the earth a helping hand and make their own Earth Day Pledge. Here is what they came up with! 

(So sorry about the picture quality, I only had my iphone camera today)

 

I pledge to plant more trees because if there are no trees we won't have oxygen. If there was no oxygen we would die. 

I pledge to plant new trees because I want to have paper. And I want to respect the earth.

I pledge to recycle and turn off the lights because I don't want to make the earth a disaster.  

To make the art project we used coffee filters and markers. After students drew the continents and oceans with their washable markers we sprayed the coffee filters with water to blend the colors together. Here is our Earth Day bulletin board! 

   If you would like to download the writing page click here to get it! 

Marzano Student Rubric

Our school district has adopted a new teacher evaluation tool this year. I just had my formal lesson observation and a HUGE part of the new evaluation tool emphasizes the idea of having students use a rubric to assess their learning throughout a lesson. 

This is not something new in my classroom, I am always asking students to show me their understanding of our learning goal on a scale of 1-4 but I wanted to create a visual for the students to reference and I wanted my administrator to have an idea of what we were referring to when the kids showed me their level of understanding. 

  I kept the rubric super simple with kid-friendly language. 

Click on the picture above to get these posters for your class! 

Of course I have the BEE theme going on in my classroom but I am going to be making a circus theme one soon for my teaching neighbor next door. Any other theme I need to make?

Animal Research Reports

Hey All! 

We are working on Informative Writing and we are about to begin writing our Animal Research Reports! Before I let my students begin their report, we write an animal research report together from beginning to end so that I can model the steps to informative writing. 

Our whole-group research report is about desert tortoises because we have a desert tortoise as a class pet! 

Meet Shelldon! 

(For the record he has had that name long before the TV show The Big Bang started)

Shelldon became part of my class about four years ago. A former family called and asked if I was interested in adopting him because they were moving and needed to find him a new home. FYI a tortoise is a GREAT classroom pet, they are super low maintenance,  and the kids LOVE him! 

I went to the library and found several easy-read non-fiction book about Desert Tortoises.

(Desert Tortoises by Christopher Blomquist, Desert Tortoises by Sophia Lockwood and Desert Tortoises by Elizabeth Thomas)

We brainstormed the topics we would like to research and wrote them on our planning sheet. We decided to write about:

• what a tortoise looks like
• what a tortoise eats
• where a tortoise lives
• cool facts about the desert tortoise

Each day we read through our non-fiction text looking for facts that fit our topic. The kids did a great job. We tackled one page a day so we spent about one week researching and writing. 

 

Page 1 - A desert tortoise has a hard shell that covers its body. Their back legs look like little elephant feel. An adult tortoise is nine to fifteen inches long. 

Page 2 - A desert tortoise is a herbivore. They eat cactus, wildflowers and dried plants. They get water from the plants they eat.

 Page 3 - A tortoise lives on land. They dig burrows to stay cool. Desert tortoises live in Arizona, California and Mexico.

Page 4 - Desert tortoises live up to 100 years. They are in danger of dying out so laws protect them. A hatchling is about 2 inches long.

I wanted my students to get the FULL report writing experience so we did revisions then "published" our report by typing it in the computer lab! 

(I love technology and try to incorporate it whenever possible, this was NOT my students first experience using Microsoft Word) It took a little time and patience when they typed their report but they were so incredibly proud of themselves when they finished.

 

We made this cute little tortoise art project by painting a bowl brown and gluing on tissue paper.

 

Next week, my students are going to work with a partner to write their own Animal Research Report! We are going to use my Animal Research Report with Hefty ZooPals packet! I will be back to let you know how it goes! 

I shared this post at Critters In the Classroom! What a cute blog! 

  

April Fool's Day!

Have you seen Lesson Plan SOS's April Fool's Joke?!

 I tried it today, and it was AWESOME! I firmly believe that teachers should receive some kind of bonus pay for showing up on April Fool's Day! Listening to young children tell April Fool's Jokes all day is EXHAUSTING! 

But if you can't escape beat them...join them! 

I told the kids all day that if they were well behaved and tried their best I would give them a brownie at the end of the day. They were so excited, they called me the "best teacher ever!" They were well behaved all day anticipating their brownie! When they walked back in from specials today they found this on their desk

There was a (quick) moment of silence as the students tried to comprehend what had just happened, then the protests began!
  "Hey, we thought it would be the kind of brownies we could eat!"

They were so cute and my one little guy said "You got me Mrs. Neal, you really got me!"

Of course I felt bad, so I gave them real brownies.
Oh how I love Cosmic Brownies!  

Thanks Lesson Plan SOS for the awesome idea, if you have not been by their blog stop 

 by and check out some of their amazing ideas. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here is 5 random things for this week (Thanks Doodle Bugs for Hosting)

1. AWWWW...Look at this bunny! I am sorry, I swear can't help it, my five month old daughter makes the cutest bunny ever and I had to share! Oh the things we do to our children! I would have my older daughter in the picture too but she is in school today and I am off. My kinder daughter goes to school in a different district that is closer to our home and our days off don't always align :(

2. It is CRAZY but the end of the year will be here before we know it! (I am doing my happy dance) Each year I make these books and use them as my end of the year gift for the students in my class. By the time May comes, I have NO MORE MONEY to spend on my classroom so this is an affordable but incredibly meaningful gift!
The theme of my classroom is bees so the title of the book I make for them is "I Loved BEEing with you in First Grade!" We pick one student each day and everyone in the class writes two sentences about why they liked being in first grade with them.

 The kids do an AMAZING job writing these books and it is the most precious keepsake ever! (I still have the one that was made for me in second grade!) I write the last page in the book and students get really excited to read what special secret message I wrote just for them :)

I have created a BEE theme, Circus theme and Owl themed book but if you would like a different theme book for your class just let me know and I would be happy to create one for you! I just posted these on TpT for only $3 and each packet comes with a title page for Kinder, First and Second Grade and two different writing pages. Click on the pics below to link to the book!

 3. In honor of the holiday weekend I am going to put 5 of my favorite items from my store on sale. You will have to hunt to find them! Click on the pic above to link to my store!

4. Cathy from First Grade A La Carte is having a birthday giveaway week! She will be giving away my Ice Cream Unit soon so stop by and show her some love!

5. My newest discovery! Are you kiddin' me?

I am off to go spend some time with my new best friend! So sad....the poor little bunny never live to see Easter! HA! 

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

Five for Friday Linky!

 1. It's my BIRTHDAY! Truth be told...I am NOT happy about this getting older business but, I am having a TpT sale to celebrate. This weekend everything in my store will be 20% off! Click on the image above to link to my store. 

2. The clipart above is so super cute right?! My new favorite clipart store is Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah Designs, I LOVE her clipart! 

I just purchased her Base Ten Clipart package last week and created a Base Ten Around the Room activity. Simply cut out the 8 cards and post them around the classroom. 

Students use the recording sheet to show the number by:

 1. coloring their base the blocks to match 

2. writing the numeral 

3. writing the expanded notation

 My kids had a blast with this activity! This activity is part of my newly-revised

 UNIT 4 FIRST GRADE CORE MATH but I also posted it as a FREEBIE in my TPT store, click here to grab it!

3. Last week I posted a pic of my new chevron maxi skirt that I am completely obsessed with and so many people commented and emailed me asking where I got it. My daughter's kinder teacher introduced my to a new boutique in Gilbert, AZ called Junky Trunk and they have some of the cutest clothes EVER! This is what I bought this week! 

The best thing about this store is the owner,  (that is her modeling in this pic) does phone orders and ships anywhere the worst thing about this store is that she posts pics via facebook ALL DAY and being the shopping addicted person that I am, I go crazy! 

Follow her on facebook by clicking here!

Don't say I didn't warn you when you become addicted to her boutique! 

4. I am still working on revising my First Grade CORE Math packets, I have finished Units 5 - 8 and will have the revisions uploaded to TpT this weekend! 

Exciting News...I have had so many request and I have decided that 

 I am going to begin creating CORE math units for 

SECOND GRADE!

(as soon as I finish revising my first grade units)

 

5. Next week we are going to start working on our Animal Research Reports. I will be sure to take some pics so I can share with you! 

Have a wonderful week everyone! Thanks Doodle Bugs for hosting this linky!

Five For Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Five for Friday Linky Party. Here are 5 random things from my week.

1. IT'S SPRING BREAK! 

 Ha! Just kidding! That has so NOT been my week but Ahhhhh remember those carefree college days??

 Sorry...snapping back to reality.

I have had a wonderful time this week being home with my little girls! In Arizona its has been in the high 90's all week so we have been outside enjoying the weather before it gets too HOT!

2. I bought new glasses yesterday. I am still trying to decide if I like them. You see, I am very blind and I HATE wearing glasses but since I have no choice, I figure I might as well make it fun and wear some funky frames. My five year old daughter took this picture, excuse my messy closet in the background!  

3. I have been working very hard this week during my daughters nap time and at bedtime to revise my First Grade CORE Math Units! I have totally revised the first quarter units (units 1-4) and I think they are SO much better! 

My First Grade CORE units were the first items I created for TpT over two years ago and I have learned so much more about the CORE curriculum and technology since then. I am now working on revising the second quarter units (5-8) and should have those posted in the next week or so. If you are already using these units in your class just re-download them if you are looking for complete CORE curriculum with daily lesson plans, math journals, practice pages and assessment you should check them out! Just read the feedback from other teachers and you will see how valuable these units could be in your classroom!

 4. I bought a new skirt last week and I am totally obsessed with it!

   5. Let's see if I can make this last thing school related...How about a FREEBIE? I just made these greater than, less than and equal to posters for Kindergarten CORE Math Unit 14 that I posted late last night. Click here to download the posters for FREE! (If you download the freebie, I would LOVE it if you would take the time to leave feedback).

Happy Friday everyone!

HEY AZ Bloggers

Fifth in the Middle has a linky page for all AZ teacher bloggers to link up! What a great way to get to know and support other Arizona bloggers! Take a minute to link your blog so we can get to know you!

Ice Cream CRAZINESS!

My maternity leave came to an end and I went back to work this week :( It was really hard to leave my sweet little baby, there were several days this week of driving away from the babysitters house in tears. 

I had heard from my teammates that my class may need a little "help" with their behavior when I return so I pulled out my ice cream unit early. I usually use this unit at the very end of the year to keep those little kiddos behavior on track until the end of the year. But desperate times call for desperate measures! So here is a look at our ICE CREAM week!

To begin our week, the kiddos were given a Ice Cream Behavior Challenge page. In order to participate in our Ice Cream party at the end of the week students had to earn green and blue lights for the week. We used the writing lines on the right to review our classroom behavior expectations and explain the rules of the Ice Cream Behavior Challenge so parents could read all about it. 

When the kiddos came in on Monday there was a envelope taped to the whiteboard. It was addressed to Mrs. Neal's First Grade Class from Cold Cow Creamery.  The kids were given a planning sheet to brainstorm the ideas for their new ice cream flavor then they began writing. I love this time of year because their writing is amazing and you can totally see their personality coming out in the writing. I loved the use of the word "epic" in the picture below.

 

We did a guided art drawing of an ice cream cone and students painted their ice cream to display next to their new ice cream flavor.

 We LOVE Mo Willems so we also used an Elephant and Piggie book called "Should I Share My Ice Cream?" to complete a persuasive writing piece.

 

We also reviewed and learned about Fact and Opinion, ABC Order, Adjectives, Building Words, Fractions, Measurement, Fact Families, Addition, Subtraction, Graphing and Solving Word Problems. 

WHEW! What a CRAZY fun week! 

The kids had a blast and they were super motivated to behave and earn their ice cream party that I had a wonderful week too!

I put all of these activities into a packet for you, check it out here!  It is 74 pages of fun!